Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-01-03
TURKEY CHASING IN MEXICO
Wild Sport Of a Gallop Through the
Thorny Chaparral with Swing
ing Lassoes.

At the very mention Of a turkey chase
in Mexico the enthusiasm OF the man
or woman who has been fortunate
enough to be a participant in n will
rise and tingle the blood with delight
full recollections, says a Mexico letter
to the New York Evening Post.
We are in the saddle at daybreak. for
the turkeys come down early to drink
and feed in the open vegas, or parks.
The greyhounds have not been fed
since shutdown, and have an eager. hun
CRY look about them that presa 3 q
keen, quick run when the game il
found. One of the young women is
mounted on a stylish-looking pinto;
the other on a flea-bitten roam, who II
better than he looks.
For ourselves, we have a pair Of iron.
grays well Injured to the business, and
at each pommel hangs a light buckskin
lariat, made especially for this work.
Pedro (the peop) alone carries a rifle,
in case of emergency or the appear
ance Of big game, and with the hounds
in leash we head for the mesa, near
Elias creek.
We are on the ground now, in the
shelter of the timber, and every eye
is strained for the sight of the game.
Dolores points quickly towards a NOV
ing object in the edge of the woods, 200
yards away, and you utter an exclama-
ton of establishment, for there, with
an undulated sweep like a wave on the
sea beach, you see a line Of glossy plum
age surge out on the open stretch.
Ten, 16, 20 minutes pass, and still they
come. The last straggler has entered
the chaparral, and we uncoil our lari-
ats.
Sit deep in you saddle now and ride
as vou never rode before. The air In
fr.nt of you is black with rushing forms,
but their flight will be short, and there
is open ground ahead. The thorny
chaparral tears at you, and you know
now why the senoritas ride astride and
eschew habits. Mark them in the van,
with lassoes playing a rataplan on their
horses tanks and hair streaming In the
wind. Now we have reached the open
ground and break into a run. The
hounds are closing up rapidly. A fran
tic gobble of terror, and the hindermost
bird springs into the air, but his fat
body has been over-nurtured by the
abundance of mast, and the take-o1 is
slow. A streak of tan colored hair
springs up after him, and in another Sec
ond we hear the champ of the dogs
jaws as he rolls him over in the loose
soil. Another leap through the cloud
of dust, and the other hound is fast to a
magnificent gobbler which Is still kick
ing as we ride up. Bravo, Flash!
Good dog, Swift! After them, boys!"
and, leaving the dying birds for Pedro
to pick up, we fly onward in swift pur-
suit.
Three times this is repeated, but the
flights are getting shorter, and now
the hounds kill them on the ground.
They scatter confusedly, and Dolores
swings her lariat over her head. Zip!
and there is a laughing cry Of triumph
as the flying moose encircles the head of
a big gobbler and doubles him up with
a broken neck. But you have not been
idle. Well thrown, my friendi But
your loop was a trife large, and the out
stretched neck is very long and thin.
The noos catches him around the body
just in front of the wings and he will
be loose Immediately.
Turn and gallop Hike mad
through yonder clump Of ~greasewood
dragging him through it where lie
| shall catch and break his neck in the
branches. But see yonder! For the
third time the old don is coiling his
rope on the run. A huge turkey leaves
the ground in a last spasmodic fight,
but the big black is almost on him as
he raises. Once, twice, thrice, the old
mans arm whirls above his head; then
the slender coil leaves his hand in an
unbroken circle. and, gradually dimin-