September 15, 1881.] 



FOEEST AMD STREAM. 



127 



made a good start for a full bag. About a mile from camp 

 we came to a high bill, with open woods on every side. 

 Concealing ourselves in a fallen tree-top, at a point from 

 which we could s.e two hundred yards in every direction, I 

 fUt sure we would bring Tip a gobbler before suudown, es- 

 pecially since I knew tliis hill to be a favorite range in the 

 spring lime. 



I yelped a while without any response. Then I tried 

 gobbling, (r am one of l ho few men in this State who can 

 gobble successfully.) My first effort was successful, for 

 some three hundred yards off two turkeys gobbled their loud- 

 est. In a few moments we saw them coming toward us in a 

 full trot, the front one holding his wings down in a sort of 

 half strut. 1 whispered to F. to cock both barrels and wait 

 until I fired, then to try them both on the remaining turkey, 

 if necessary. F. was a good wing shot, and I felt sure he 

 would bag liis game. On they came, one of them fully thirty 

 feet in advance of the other. Waiting until the front one 

 came, within twenty-five yards of us, I whistled and brought 

 both to a full stop. 1 fired at the one furthest off, and 

 dropped him in his tracks. F. let drive the first barrel at 

 the other one. He staggered and fluttered, I think, witli a 

 fatal shot; but he didn't die fast enough for F., so he fired 

 into him again mid settled him forever. I don't think lever 

 saw a finer turkey but once, and I am sure I never saw a 

 prouder man than my friend. 



Concluding that we had had enough glory for one day, 

 and it now being quite late, wo return to camp. 



After supper, a fainter, living a mile away, came down to 

 chat with us a while. During his stay, he told us that he 

 heard turkeys gobbling that evening back of his field, and 

 that whenever he heard them there of evenings he always 

 heard them near the mornings following ; so he felt sure the 

 ones he beard in the evening roosted near his field. He was 

 quite certain that they usually roosted in some large oak trees 

 which grew on a steep lull side, a place very easily fouud, as 

 a path ran near by. 



Waking up about two hours before day the next morning 

 F. and 1 started for the place in the hope of finding the 

 turkeys by moonlight. Arriving at the place designated by 

 the farmer we got down and commenced hitching our 

 horses; during which the owls in the creek bottom half a 

 mile off began one of their pandemoniac concerts, and, to 

 our amazement a turkey gobbbled near them. Once before 

 1 had heard a turkey gobble on a moonlight mght, but that 

 was where they were very plentiful and but seldom hunted. 

 This did not cause us to change our programme, but we went 

 right on and hunted through the limber on the. hill side. It 

 was surely a fine place for turkeys, but they were not there. 

 Meanwhile the owls kept hooting and the turkey in the bot- 

 tom kept gobbling. At my suggestion we concluded to "go 

 for him." Leaving our horses at the edge of the bottom we 

 walked in. When about a hundred yards from the turkey 

 we. came to the creek, wdiich was too wide to jump across, 

 but a small log was near by. On proposing to cross on this 

 1 was astonished to hear F. say that, he could not walk a log 

 in day time much less iu the night. The oniy thing then 

 was for me to to lake the shot gun and go after the turkey. 

 This I did in a few minutes, and with " many a flutter" he 

 came to the ground. 



We concluded to separate, F. going back to the place which 

 we had hunted to wait until day, feeling assured that the 

 turkeys could not be far off, and he was not disappointed. I 

 went down the creek a mile, then struck out into the lulls. 

 Before I had gone as far as I wished I heard the red birds 

 begin to whistle, and I knew day was breaking. Going a 

 Httic further I happened to scare out of a tree, and almost 

 right over me, a very heavy turkey. Stopping quickly I 

 listened for him to light. Soon I heard him strike in a tree 

 a good distance off. Riding in that direction as far as I 

 deemed it prudent I dismounted and hunted for him. He was 

 soon discovered perched in the very top of a small oak tree. 

 It was quite dark yet, but I didn't want to wait, and I knew 

 I bad killed many a turkey with my rifle when I had no 

 more light than now, so 1 fired. Away he flew, but he made 

 an awfid fuss. I knew he was badly shot, so I listened, and 

 in a moment heard him strike the ground. Tt was no trouble 

 to find him, as he did not fly more thau a hundred and fifty 

 yards. 



By tins time T heard turkeys gobbling in several directions, 

 but none seemed neater than a mile. On arriving near two 

 1 saw it was too light to get a shot on the roost, so I resorted 

 to the best plan any man ever tried for killing a turkey in 

 gobbliug time. I went out on the very crest of the hill iu 

 which the turkeys roosted. Concealing myself, I gave alow, 

 soft yelp or two. The gobblers both rattled loudly. I knew 

 they would come, so fixed myself. In a moment I heard one 

 fly, and then I saw him light within thirty yards of me. On 

 comes the other one, but he dropped down furthf-r off. It 

 was too dark yet to shoot at heads, so I fired at the body of 

 the one he.r me, and down he came. 



Loading quickly, I slipped around and headed off the 

 other gobbler lour hundred yards from where I shot. I 

 yelped; be strutted but would not gobble. After waiting 

 some time he came in sight but would not come close. He 

 was promptly -killed at one hundred and twenty-seven yards. 

 1 Stepped it. From litre I returned to camp to find that F. 

 had killed a young gobbler and had fired at a largo one, but 

 didn't hurt him. We concluded to go home, feeling well 

 satisfied with our trip, having killed a deer and nine turkeys, 

 two of which were the first F. had ever bagged. 



I am very found of a " breech-loader " for all small game : 

 but wheu I go after turkeys or deer, I prefer the old rifle, a 

 muzzle-loader, with which I have killed hundreds of deer 

 and turkeys. Texas. 



Roastbk AV'ooDOTtPOK. — The Postman, in your issue of 

 Sept. 8, is not the only one who knows the flavor of wood- 

 chuck when well roasied. The first one I ever cooked was 

 about eight years ago, during a trip with team and camping 

 outfit through the State of New Hampshire. We had stopped 

 a day or two a few miles west of Dccrfield Old Dime, our 

 houud, had holed a "chuck." We unearthed, dressed, 

 stuffed and cooked him, using an open tin baker set before a 

 hot fire of hard wood coals (by the way we could bake 

 biscuit in that same baker in ten minutes.) We basted well 

 with salt pork cut in three slices, and did wait till our game 

 was done brown; but with the savory roast-pig dik-odor, 

 it was a. big strain on the patience. One fall before that 

 while camped near the head waters of PaBsadumkeog Stream 

 iu Maine, we had dined on rabbit boiled ten minutes with- 

 out salt, and learned a. lesson. But our wondchuck was well 

 roasted. Was it good ? I only wish that the Postman could 

 have been there. The meat was rich, juicy and delicious. 

 It was just like every other woodchuck we have roasted 

 since, and we always eat them while in camp ; and we go on 

 our regular fall hunt every year.— H. L. M. 



WILD TURKEY CALLS. 



Mn.LERsnrjRG, Pa,, Sept. 8. 



" Keouk" in the last number of theFomtsT asd Stkkam 

 asks about turkey calls. Having had some experience in the 

 matter, we may perhaps impart some information, but it is 

 doubtful if "Keouk" or any one else will ever learn a cer- 

 tain method to call up a wild turkey. The instrument 

 adopted by us is the little horn with a stem three or four 

 inches iu length. We have used the turkey bone to good ad- 

 vantage, but found it too severe on the lips,- and the hand 

 should be used to cover the end of the bone in order to give 

 the note that far-off sound so necessary when the birds are 

 wary. We have used scrapers of many patterns, but have 

 found them wanting in one or more particulars, and have 

 discarded them. A common clay pipe scraped on a piece of 

 slate makes as good a sound as any scraper, if properly 

 handled. The best caller we ever met called with his mouth 

 only ; he somehow twisted his head to the, right and down- 

 ward, twisted his mouth to oce side of his face, and, placing 

 one finger to the side of his nose, pushed it over to the other 

 side and gave forth the call of a turkey. As the occasiou 

 might require, he could do the old hen or the old gobbler up 

 to nature, or imitate the young birds to perfection. That. 

 hoy would be worth five dollars a day to any one wanting a 

 day among the turkeys. 



We use the horn ; all things considered, it is the best wh.n 

 an instrument must be used. As to the Btyle, tone and num- 

 ber of yelps, we invariably leave that for the birds to de- 

 cide. We do as they do; if they make three or four yelps 

 we do the same; if they make one yelp, we come down to 

 thur figure ; if they call cautiously and shy, we do likewise ; 

 in fact, we imitate their call. In case that we suspect that 

 turkeys are about and are too shy to call, which often occurs 

 late in the season, we come the old hen on them, and most 

 likely the bird will come, unless it be the old hen herself ; as 

 to that we cannot say. The mother turkey's call will gen- 

 erally bring the answer, and is ihe best to start a stray 

 youngster to yelpiug, or will even make the father of the 

 flock come to bag. We would advise " Keouk," or any one 

 else so inclined, to visit the turkey hen and learn. She may 

 now be found surrounded by a numerous family. Scatter 

 that family well and listen to her plaintive note. If a wild 

 brood is not at hand, go to her tame sisters and cousins and 

 aunts, and have your.farmer friend scare the flock badly, 

 and you will hear the mother's note. She knows how to do 

 it as well as her timid relative of the woods. It is made up 

 of two or three long, fine, plaintive whistles, finished up 

 with two or more coarser notes. Turkeys do not, however, 

 always call alike, and there is as great a difference in their 

 voices as in the voices of men. Sometimes the sound is 

 cracked and grating, sometimes it has a bold, metallic ring, 

 and sometimes it is quite subdued. We have heard them 

 give from one to a great, many yelps. Times, circumstances, 

 docks and individuals differ widely, and the hunter must, if 

 he wants to bag the bird, come down to his whims. 



Sometimes a flock can be walked into and the birds do not 

 seem surprised very much — they even appear in no hurry to 

 get away, but they do get away pretty quick, anyhow. A 

 flock of turkeys, knowing that they are pursued by either 

 dog or man, will generally run some distance, and not fly, 

 unless forced to do so, and if they do fly they will nearly all 

 take the same or nearly the same course, and no calling, 

 however good, will bring them back. If one bird should get 

 astray, that one may be called in ; if a flock is surprised and 

 quickly scattered in all directions, they may be called back ; 

 in fact, some of the birds will come back without being 

 called at all. It is next to impossible to call up a turkey 

 after he has seen the hunter ; therefore the hunter should be 

 well hidden and not move until he is sure he has the bird 

 near enough to kill him. We hunt turkeys with a "yaller 

 dog." Our dog gives no tongue until she gets into the midst 

 of the flock. She leaves none upon the ground, and usually, 

 when she is done with them, they are well scattered, and 

 some of them can be called in and bagged. Sometimes a 

 number of birds wdl take to the trees ; we would prefer that 

 they would not, as they are hard to approach, and will cer- 

 tainly see us, which lessens our chance of making a good 

 bug. Sometimes one or more of the treeing birds will see 

 the hunter make his blind and fixtures, and when the call is 

 made this bird will sing out, "Pec, pee, pee," very low and 

 somewhat long drawn, and as long as that bird is there none 

 of the rest will move or utter a sound in reply to the hunter's 

 call ; and even after the fellow has been driven off or shot 

 the chances for bagging a turkey out of that flock, for the 

 time being, are slim. When a flock is scattered we secure 

 the dog and hide ourselves and dog where the dog struck the 

 birds as near as we can tell. When everything is quieted 

 down we try the old hen's call very cautiously ; by and bye 

 again, until we either get a reply or are convinced that none 

 are coming. In the latter case we get. the dog to stir them 

 up again, if possible. If not found we try the next best new 

 ground and new flocks. 



We have failed many a time, and always promised to do 

 better next time,- we have, however, brought to bag four or 

 five at one sitting and out of one flock, and we think that 

 glory enough for one day — and turkey enough, too. 



Noise does not seem to affect turkeys, but the sight of 

 man or dog makes them scamper. Tobacco smoke arouses 

 their suspicion, and they can see a black coat or hat quicker 

 than any other garment worn by man. They can carry off 

 more 9hot than most men would imagine possible, and un- 

 less the head or neck is riddled they will get away with a 

 handful of shot. We use No. 4 shot, and find it to answer 

 the purpose well. We hunt turkeys on high ground, not on 

 the tops of the mountains, but just below the tops. We sel- 

 dom meet them upon flat or low ground. They do some- 

 times come down to the fields to feed, but they come with 

 their eyes open and seldom lose any of their number. They 

 are a wary bird. 



We think turkey hunting fine sport, and have never seen 

 any one who was not well pleased after a day among the tur- 

 keyB, when things were done according to instructions arid 

 no blunders made. We have never baited turkeys with the 

 purpose of killing them. Wc have never hunted them in 

 spring, when all good turkeys should be hunting a mate and 

 housekeeping, and all good sportsmen should let them alone. 

 No game should be hunted between January 1 and Septem- 

 ber 1. C. X, 



Saedis, Miss., Sept. 4. — I notice "Keouk" in this week's 

 issue asks how to Ball turkeys. From his letter it is my opin- 

 ion that he gets a little excited and calls too fast and loud, 

 which was fi ir a long time my fault. I have often been 

 squirrel hunting in the creek-bottoms of Carroll and Benton 

 counties, Tennessee, where I would flush a flue drove of tur- 

 keys. After waiting a reasonable length of time I would 



build me a blind of old chunks of logs and brush, and with 

 caller I began to fool the poor creatures, but the fooling 

 would not last long because at about the second or third an- 

 swer my excitemert would be. at such a pitch that I would 

 strain myself to bring them just a little faster, and conse- 

 quently would "yelp" too long and frequently, and scare 

 the turkeys off. But I have found that a turkey is not at all 

 easily deceived — at least such has been toy experience. 



My way now is when I scatter or flush a drove, first to get. 

 them well separated, then to build my blind not far from 

 where I flushed them, to wait about forty-five minutes or an 

 hour, and then call slow and low, and with not more than three 

 or four "yelps." When I get an "answer" I keep perfectly 

 composed, and am fully ready for an emergency. The next 

 time I call I am cartful not to make the note too loud or fre- 

 quent. A turkey has a splendid car. 



When the turkey gets within 200 or 300 yards he gradual- 

 ly stops calling, and reconnoitres for danger, especially if lie 

 is an old gobbler, ami be is just as apt to put in an appearance 

 on the opposite side from that expected as otherwise. Then 

 is the time to hold your piece of horn or bone away from 

 your mouth, and u<"t try to call, for if you do, nine times in 

 i en you lose your ebance for baked turkey. Now is the critical 

 moment, but if you are bound to call or^die^from impatience, 

 call just twice aud loud enough to he heard about forty yards, 

 but it is much the most sure to keep silent. If the turkey is 

 not assured that it is one of his companions he will come up 

 through curiosity to sec what you arc. I have had old gob- 

 blers in the spring come wilhin 100 yards of me, >md get be- 

 hind a log or large tree, and there strut and gobble for h 

 or three-quarters of an hour, but I had "been there before," 

 and it was only a question of time as to who con Id hold out 

 the longest, I or he, and every time the turkey comes to ruin. 

 In the whiter and fall you don't have to be near so cautious, 

 as most of the turkeys are young and do not understand the 

 "ropes" as their long-bearded forefathers do. 



I think if "Keouk" will try my plan he. will have better 

 success. I will, if he wishes, explain how to make a "cid- 

 er" that any person with a little practice cau fool the smart- 

 est old gobbler in the woods with. W. H. C. 



A BADLY SCARED MAN. 



CAPTAIN 8 , now of Canada, late of n. M. Service, 

 who is the most orthodox and conventional of British. 

 sportsmen, is in the habit of coming South every year for 

 the quail shooting and is fond of relating his first day's ex- 

 perience in Virginia. 



The Captaiu's host, being particularly anxious to insure 

 him sport of the best, with warnings that he was going to 

 take bim into a back county where some of the social ameni- 

 ties would have to be sacrificed for the sake of unusually ex- 

 cellent shooting, landed him on a bright November morning 

 in County, and had a goodly muster of local sports- 

 men well, if somewhat rudely, armed assembled to do the 

 sporting honors of the neighborhood. 



The Captain, though an excellent s; ortsman, was id' that 

 strictly conventional order so often found in the mother- 

 country that like to follow the sports of the field under cer- 

 tain conditions fixed in his own mind, or not at all. His 

 boots must be of a certain description, or tbey hurt him to 

 walk in, and consequently put him ol't his shooting. His 

 party must be either tvo or four—" any other number is ab- 

 surd." He must be on a particular side of the line, or he 

 cannot shoot. If a companion, who dies not know atiy bet- 

 ter or from a spirit of mischief, cuts down a bird in front of 

 him, he is deeply shocked and scandalized — a heinous crime 

 that cau never be forgiven. So, when he found himself be- 

 striding a Mexican saddle on top of a mule aud going along 

 at a shuttling canter, with six other sportsmen kicking up 

 the dust with all sorts of gaits and upon all sorts of quadru- 

 peds, clad in the rustiest and most (to him) unsportsmanlike- 

 looking garments, with powder-horns and shot flasks that 

 he never recollected to have seen before out of old armories and 

 curiosity shops, he felt and looked a miserable, man, and 

 could not for the life of him reconcile such crude surround- 

 ings with "true sport." Everybody did his bc"st t'd make 

 bim feel at home, as Virginians of all classes always do; but 

 the Captain, having been in a quiet infantry regiment and a 

 non-hunting man, was in agonies upon such a saddle aud 

 such a beast. 



Some of the sportsmen, who had met together to do honor 

 to the stranger's visit, had not handled their rusty old muz- 

 zle-loaders for two or three years. Others were not professed 

 sportsmen at all, or, at best, turkey and squinv! mini, alld 

 brought, in all good faith and in the highest spirits, the most 

 awful blunderbusses to the fray, with a vague intention of 

 having a frolic and a good time generally. The dogs, too, 

 though each individually excellent — far more excellent, j n 

 fact, ihan they r looked to the orthodox Captain — were apt, ia 

 company, to lose their heads to a demoralizing extent and 

 to transform themselves at a moment's notice into houuds or 

 'possum dogs, when ihey thought that the . ccasion demand- 

 ed independence of action. 



This was nothing, however, according to the Captain, to 

 the shooting. He declares that at no time during the day at 

 Inkeiman and the Alma, in both of which engagements he 

 conducted himself gallantly, was he in one-half the danger 

 that he was upon this memorable occasion. He says his 

 horse, or rather his mule, was shot tinder bim early in the 

 day— or shot from under him would perhaps bo the correct 

 term— for the noble charger left the Captain upon tho 

 ground, an I made for home witli the deliberation and ac- 

 curacy that only a mule, charged with a. load of "pure 

 cusseduess" and half an ounce of No. 6 shot, cm do. 



The roar of musketry that followed the closing up of the 

 column on a devoted covey resounded in his ears for three 

 weeks after the day was over. 



By twelve o'clock two dogs bad fallen, one badly and the 

 other slightly wounded ; and a npgro b >y had been shot 

 twice — both times, fortunately, in the head. The Captain 

 so far had not fired off his gun, as there was no ^uch thing 

 as outside and inside the line, and he had been so erjgr0sa- 

 ingly occupied with ducking and dodging the leaden hail, 

 which he declares fairly filled the air, that so far out {M , . 

 forty birds (for there were some really pood shots out) that 

 had "found their way into the hag be could claim none. 



He thought ho was getting used to it, aud would soon be 

 able, with luck, to get on a bird, when a s'ray quail got up 

 behind him, was fired at by his next neighbor, «« ho Wheeled 

 around for the purpose in utter disregard of sportsman num- 

 ber sin who, with his back to the gun but in a straight line 

 with the bird, was lying his shoe against a. fence about fifty 

 yards off. A violent rubbing of the back of the head and a 

 torrent of unparliamentary language from (lie said number 

 six, was the only result of the shot. The shooter in the 

 meantime, with his hand over his eyes, still marking the 



