Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1909-11-19

turkeys were bred and reared on farms-a mat
ter Of no great difficulty to accomplish, say the
experts-they would be docile enough, and, with
proper protection, would multiply rapidly.
The fact that wild turkeys have maintained
their foothold to some extent in long-settled parts
OF their old territOry-as, for example, in Vir-
ginia and Acknowledgements to indicate that it
would be entirely practicable to restOck portions
OF their former ranges. But, inasmuCh as the
country anciently occupied by them is now for
che most part populated by human beings, it is
necessary, in order to accomplish the object sug-
geSted, that their multiplication shall be encour-
aged under conditions of at least partial domes-
tiCatiOn-that is to say, by farming the birds for
pleasure and profit.
1t is believed that, If proper protection were
given to such enterprises by the law, sporting
club and wealthy individuals owning or leasing
large tracts would gladly go into the business Of
breeding wild turkeys-not for market of course,
but for the pleasure derivable from such an enter
prise. At the present time not a few such Organi-
zations and proprietors of great private estates
maintain similar preserves for the quail or bob
white" holding field trials in competition, to test
the ability of dogs to find and point the birds.
These field trials are in reality dog races, and no
shooting of the quail is allowed.
Where wild turkeys are concerned, however,
there is no reason why such extensive preserves,
covering in some instances many thousands of
acres, should not afford admirable sport under
suitable restrictions. There is no form of outdoor
amusement more delightful than turkey hunting.
But. If farmers could be persuaded to take up the
idea, and to breed the birds, they might sell shoot
ing privileges to sportsmen at a rate which would
put much more money into their pockets than
they could gain by sending the fowls to market.
If the business were suitably managed farms of
500 to 1000 acres would yield a larger revenue
from wild turkeys than from poultry, sportsmen
being usually willing to pay several times more
for the fun of shooting birds than the latter would
fetch as marketable game. For such purposes, of
course, it would be neither necessary nor desir-
able that the fowls should be too tame. On the
other hand, experience has shown that wild tur-
keys are not disposed to go far away from an &C
custOmed source of food supply.
The wild turkey is prolific, and takes kindly to
civilization. Like its tame congener, it is q great
consumer of injurious insects, particularly grass
hOppers, and as such would be useful to the farm
er. The female lays from Is to 20 eggs for a
clutch" but raises only one brood in a year.
Foxes. hawks and owls are deadly enemies, but 1t
would be the business of the farmer to protect
the birds from these foes, as he does in the case
Of his farm-yard poultry. As for human poach-
ers. adequate laws for protection against them
would have to be passed; but the sportsmen, IL
once they became interested in the matter, could
be relied upon to exert in this direction a power
full influence, which has never yet failed of sue
cess in affairs of the kind.
1t seems difficult to realize that less than 100
years ago wild turkeys were so abundant that
they often sold for six cents apiece, a very large
one, weighing Is or 30 pounds, occasionally fetch
ing as much as rs cents. To-day a large speci-
men, gobbler preferred, is worth SIS. The species
has been wiped out, not by sportsmen, but by pot
hunters, who kin the birds on the roosts, trap
them in pens, or lie in ambush for them, attract
ing them within easy shooting distance by imita-
ting the call of the hen or the young '.poult."
On Fishers island, in Long Island sound, a most
Interesting experiment has already been made liz