RECREA TION. 



2 3 



making of fires. This lighting of fires 

 under the tree is done in some localities 

 where heavy green foliage hides the 

 birds from sight, as in the pine trees of 

 New Mexico or the live oaks of Florida. 

 The stratagem is not always successful, 

 especially if the birds keep still. 



The trees usually selected by the tur- 

 keys for their roost are the tallest in the 

 woods and those leaning over water, if 

 such trees can be found. Where several 

 trees, larger than the rest, stand close 

 to water, it is always well for the hunter 

 to examine them to find if turkeys have 

 roosted there recently. If so, the fact 

 may be easily ascertained in the day 

 time. If such trees are near a small 

 bluff or hill so much the better. The 

 turkey being so heavy a bird and not 

 fond of flying, takes advantage of any 

 hill that will bring him near the same 

 elevation as his roost. 



Turkeys usually feed just before going 

 to roost, and appear to be hungry early 

 in the morning. They feed on acorns, 

 berries, pecans, grass seeds — almost 

 anything if the next better cannot be 

 found. Pecans, I believe, give the flesh 

 of the turkey a finer flavor than does 

 any other food. If killed early in the 

 night their crops will be found to be 

 full of food; if toward morning they are 

 utterly empty. 



When not much hunted the turkeys 

 go to and from their roost about the 

 same hours as their barn yard cousins 

 do. A roost having been located during 

 the day the hunter usually waits till all 

 the birds have gone to sleep, then quietly 

 gets the best position he can find for one 

 sure shot, for he cannot be certain of 

 more than one while under that tree. 



Sometimes several maybe killed with- 

 out the hunter having to move out of 

 his first position. Usually, however, the 

 roost is emptied as a result of the first 

 shot and the hunter looks for his 

 birds in other trees in the neighbor- 

 hood. The best light for shooting 

 turkeys from their roosts, at night, is 

 not bright moonlight, for the glare on 

 the gun barrel is bad and the bright 

 light on the turkey frequently seems to 

 leave visible only that part of him not 

 touched by the moon's glare, thus ap- 

 parently diminishing his size greatly. If, 

 with moon at her full, we can get thin 

 clouds, or, better still, a light, drizzling 

 rain, the conditions are of the best. 



We can then see fairly well and can 

 move about without being heard. 



As a rule, the birds do not perch near 

 the main body or trunk of the tree, and 

 if in tall trees, they appear very small at 

 night. Often a large gobbler will 

 look like a short stick lying across a 

 small limb. When the head can be 

 seen to move the bird is awake and on 

 the lookout, and frequently flies with- 

 out giving other warning. 



In a single large cottonwood or pecan 

 tree, as many as fifteen or twenty tur- 

 keys sometimes pass the night. Usually, 

 however, the flock will be much more 

 scattered. Sometimes a single turkey 

 will be found all alone in a big tree. 

 After the first dawn of day I have seen 

 at one sight — just once — as many as ioo 

 turkeys still on their roosts. I had 

 shot several on the edge of that piece 

 of woods and knew not of the presence 

 of this great flock. 



When much hunted, turkeys become 

 wild and are hard to approach on the 

 roost, taking flight when first hearing 

 the hunter and never allowing him a 

 shot ; so that the finding of a turkey 

 roost does not necessarily imply that a 

 single bird will be even shot at. After 

 leaving the first spot selected by them, 

 they frequently light on the ground 

 and roost there the balance of the night. 

 After two or three visits from the hunter 

 the flock of turkeys will look for a new 

 place to sleep. 



The turkey in falling from a tall tree 

 top, if shot dead, makes a loud noise on 

 striking the ground. Other birds that 

 appear at night fully as large, make no 

 such noise. Many a buzzard has paid 

 the death penalty for looking like the 

 king of game birds when asleep on his 

 roost at night, and many hunters have 

 been deceived by the great resem- 

 blance, until the buzzard began to fall, 

 catching from limb to limb and break- 

 ing his fall so as finally to make little 

 noise in striking the ground. 



The wild turkey, like many other game 

 birds and quadrepeds, is being rapidly 

 exterminated. Nowhere on the conti- 

 nent can this noble bird now be found 

 in the great flocks that a few years ago 

 were common throughout the south and 

 southwest ; and unless stringent meas- 

 ures are taken to protect it, it will be 

 known to posterity only through books 

 and museums. 



