370 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 27, 1890. 



THANKSGIVING TURKEY. 



THE TURKEY HUNTER'S EDUCATION. 



AT turkey hunting we are only amateurs, Lawrence 

 and I, The truth of this is generally strongly im- 

 pressed on us after having taken one of our annual trips 

 after this wary bird. A ten years' study of his peculiar 

 and adroit ways has not made us at all proficient in bring- 

 ing bim to bag. 



A young man can enter college for four years, and at 

 twenty-one or thereabouts if he be studious and of aver- 

 age ability can walk out full fledged with a smattering of 

 the dead languages and some knowledge of French and 

 German. And the chances are he thinks he knows some- 

 thing. Now, if it is desirable that the conceit be taken 

 out of him, and Timothy Titcomb says "the first thing a 

 young man in starting out should learn is that he kn jws 

 nothing, and the more thoroughly this is learned the 

 better it will be for him," let him take to the woods and 

 maneuver with the wild turkey on his native heath. It 

 may take him a week to find out where the old gobbler 

 has scratched, and it may take another week to find out 

 whether that scratch is a day old or six months. When 

 he has got eo far he has reached A and B of the turkey 

 alphabet. In a year, if he works hard and takes to timber 

 kindly, he may master the alphabet and begin to spell a-b 

 ab. By that time he will begin to understand what 

 Timothy Titcomb meant, and when he reaches out into 

 the future with his anticipations of a diploma in wild 

 turkey lore, including its higher mathematics, dead lan- 

 guages, etc, , he will surely feel that he knows nothing as 

 yet, and has a long road to travel before he does. If he 

 goes further he must love his work and have time to pur- 

 sue it. The chances are ninety-nine to one hundred that 

 he will go on, until stopped by some cause beyond con- 

 trol, for the course of most temperaments is one of ex- 

 treme fascination. 



There is a plenty of turkey hunters who are up in the 

 business— to hear them tell it— persons who can go out 

 almost any day, bag their game and be back by 9 o'clock 

 A. M. We have heard them talk. Why, it is easy 

 enough. First, find where the turkey is rising, locate at 

 a favorable point within hearing, and make a certain 

 note. You have only to keep cool and shoot straight 

 when he comes up, and you have him. Easy enough — 

 can get one at any time. 



This same L. and the writer have in mind a person who 

 uses language of that kind freely. He is a good talker 

 and hailed us one day as we were returning home down 

 the bayou from a rather unsuccessful hunt. Had we had 

 much luck? "Only moderate." Where did we go? 

 "Twenty-five miles above." "Went too high. Should 

 have hunted lower down the river. Around my place 

 they are thick. Can hear them gobble at daybreak every 

 morning in three or four directions from my gallery. I 

 want one only occasionally. We get wild turkey here 

 until the family tire of it. ' Three mornings ago I went 

 in the timber west of the house and located at a favor 

 able spot and gave a yelp, and up came three fine old 

 gobblers on a full run, one just behind the other. I shot 

 the largest one first with my rifle, and as one was wanted 

 for a friend who was visiting me, I touched the trigger 

 on another. This was done in short order. The third 

 turkey was still monkeying around in the locality, and, 

 not wanting him , I took my hat in hand and chased him 

 down through the woods." 



If L. and I had indulged in any conceit over the small 

 bag made in a protracted hunt of several days' duration, 

 it was now thoroughly dispelled. We asked to be made 

 unfast, when we proceeded at once on down stream, 

 contemplating how easy it was for some persons to bag 

 turkey and how difficult for others. But in the years 

 that followed we improved in our skill somewhat, and 

 began to make inroads into the haunts of these same 

 birds that gobbled so lustily in hearing of this gentle- 

 man's residence. 



One day, through a mutual friend, we heard that this 

 expert had expressed a fear that we would kill an ex- 

 ceptionally fine gobbler in his hunting grounds, which he 

 was reserving for breeding purposes. We sent him word 

 to tie a red ribbon on his turkey to mark him for identi- 

 fication, as the lawyers would say, and the noble bird 

 Bhould go unmolested. But the chances are that if he be 

 such a specimen as represented with his years of experi- 

 ence in eluding his enemies, he wouid go scot free from 

 us without such identification marks. 



An old gobbler as a rule knows his business. The fact 

 of his existence is the proof, as his known enemies are 

 numerous; and from the time he first breaks through his 

 shell his path is beset with dangers, which keep him 

 constantly on the alert for self-preservation, Having 

 been hatched and reared in the forests he is thoroughly 

 familiar with all its parts, including the forms of its in- 

 numerable thickets and open spots, the mpandering of all 

 its streams, the varying ligh<s and shades that constantly 

 play through the woods— and the thousands of voices 

 that are to be heard every day , he has booked in his vo- 

 cabulary to a nicety. If a sound not quite to his under- 

 standing is put forth it will be interesting to observe him 

 for a brief time, for it will be but a very short time that 

 he can be observed, unless the sound be made out to 

 come from a friendly object. If the least suspicion is 

 attached to it a pair of legs or a pair of wings is called 

 into use, and Mr. Turkey is soon habitating in a more 

 congenial locality. If the amateur hunter thinks the 

 bird's hearing is not accurate let him get within gunshot 

 range and turn a leaf over; but unless it is desirable to 

 eliminate that turkey from that part of the woods in- 

 stantly another must not be turned while he is paying 

 attention. And what about his eypsight? If there is any- 

 thing in the woods sharper we have not found it. Both 

 eyes stand on the outside of its head, and he appears to 

 see i,n all directions at once. It is quite easy for him in 

 fleeing from the sportsman, whose gun he fears, to get a 

 tree to intervene, while he streaks it through timber to a 

 place of safety, keeping the tree accurately in line all the 

 time. He is also when in a tree a fair ventriloquist, and 

 if he desires to do a little clucking or gobbling on the 

 ground without being there in person he can iust do it. 

 that's all. 



As to his coming to call down through a certain part of 

 the woods that a hunter may pick out for him, that is all 

 bosh. He can come down through that part of the woods 

 if he wants to, but the chances are about nineteen to 



twenty he won't want to. Some other route will suit his 

 peculiar motives better. 



The way of a certain gobbler in substantiation of this 

 is still fresh in mind. He was not located until 8 A, M., 

 rather late for a successful call. Report had it that a 

 party previously had. taken a shot at this fellow, and 

 warning was given that it would take some skill to get 

 shot among his feathers. His answer to the call was 

 annoy ingly suppressed, so much so that his position could 

 not be located at first sound. In about ten minutes he 

 answered again, still in a subdued tone, but his direction 

 was had this time, and paddling the canoe to that Bide of 

 the stream, the bow was cautiously pushed to the bank 

 and made fast, and the woods entered as stealthily as 

 possible. A favorable location was sought behind an old 

 log, where the hunter's head could be pulled down fre- 

 quently to fight off the myriads of mosquitoes that con- 

 tinually swarmed about, and which constituted a very 

 unfavorable factor in the chance for a successful shot. It 

 was fully fifteen miuutes before the third answer was 

 made, when his lordship seemed to be exactly in the 

 same spot where first located. The call of the hen was 

 but little more frequent, and with as much indifference 

 as could be injected into it. It seemed an age before 

 another note was had from the male, and during the 

 interim the hunter's head went down behind the log 

 many times to polish off the mosquitoes, and when the 

 note was made it was still in the same half hearted way, 

 though it seemed nearer and in a slightly different direc- 

 tion, showing that the bird was not as supremely indif- 

 ferent as he would make believe. Then he quit entirely, 

 and for nearly half an hour the woods seemed to be as 

 silent as death. But the sportsman was not nearly so 

 dead as he was silent, for he had a belief that some in- 

 vestigation on the very sly would be made by this very 

 cautious turkey. It was then that the bloodthirsty 

 insects got in their villainous work, while the woods were 

 being motionlessly scanned by a pair of watchful eyes, 

 covering the semi-circle on the opposite side of the log, 

 and investigating carefully every visible spot. Not a 

 motion could be seen nor a sound heard. The mosquitoes 

 unmolested were still feasting with voracious appetites, 

 and the hunter had lain so long in one position without a 

 movement that one leg had ,s gone to sleep," and a new 

 position was being as quietly obtained as possible under 

 the circumstances, when a slight rustle in the leaves was 

 distinctly heard in the rear. Turning his head in that 

 direction the hunter sees his game in full view, and a 

 noble specimen he was, walking in a stately manner, at 

 60yds. distance. Too far for a shotgun, or a quick shot 

 at his head and neck would bring him to bag. Uncon- 

 cernedly and without betrayal of the least alarm in his 

 aristocratic gait and in his handsome plumage, leisurely 

 he walks on; but ere a rifle can be trained on him, a tree, 

 as if by mere incident, intervenes. It is enough. Mr. 

 Turkey knows, amid one hundred and one other smart 

 things, the stupendous advantage of an intervening tree, 

 and swifter than the wind he runs through the woods, 

 rattling the dry leaves, but keeping the tree so nicely, in 

 line that on either side not a feather can be seen. In an 

 annoyingly brief space of time he gobbles 200yds. away, 

 and loud enough now to be heard throughout the entire 

 county of Sharkey, and having slowed up to a walk he 

 goes on through the timber distributing his music with 

 lavish freedom at intervals of 50yds. or less, but contain- 

 ing in its tone more of exultation and defiance than of 

 enjoyable music to the discomfited, out- generated, oft- 

 vanquished, mosquito-ghawed , cramp-limbed, eye-wea- 

 ried sportsman bebind (?) the old red log. 



And it never was clearly ascertained whether that old 

 gobbler went in the air over the earth or in a subter- 

 ranean cavern through the earth, to bis advantageous 

 position on the other side of things— it is not believed, 

 however, that he took the usual method of walking on 

 the surface, as that route had b< en subjected to an in- 

 tensely eager search without his being revealed. 



And now, Mr. Forest and Stream, just here, before it 

 is forgotten, let me speak of some experience with guns 

 for turkey shooting. The gun that was used at this time 

 was a double-barreled heavy 10-bore shotgun, with an 

 auxiliary rifle barrel in one" chamber. The rifle barrel 

 required a special sight, which was setup just back of 

 the hammers and was made to fold down when the shot- 

 gun side was used. I carried this auxiliary barrel two 

 seasons and discarded it for the reason that I found it not 



f sufficiently accurate for long ranue shooting, and greatly 



( in the way for close work when both barrels were needed. 



1 1 then clung to the shotgun for years, and when a turkey 



j could be gotten close— inside of 40yds. — he stood rather a 

 slim chance, if he would show part of his head and neck. 



| If a second shot was needed at a flustrated spot, for be 

 assumed something is going to be flustrated if the tur- 



I key is not killed the first shot, the shotgun is just the thing. 



I After years of trial I adopted No. 6 shot as the proper 

 size, as containing enough shot to hit a vital spot at 

 40yds. and with sufficient force to kill. This is the first 

 barrel. For second barrel I used 000 for the body, having 

 abandoned all hope of doing anything with the head and 

 neck after the above flustration had been created. 



After awhile I weakened on my favorite shotgun. I 

 lost a couple of fine old fellows at 45 or 50yds. that had 

 cost me hours of patient and hard work for the chance of 

 a shot. The first was only wounded, the second went 

 away apparently unhurt. All the ways of loading that 

 could be thought of or suggested by others were tried at 

 the target to get a charge that would kill with certainty 

 at say 60yds. None were satisfactory. Ely's wire cart- 

 ridge was a complete failure and the thread wound but 

 little better. I was advised to get a rifle and try that, 

 but I had tried that with the ordinary sights and failed. 

 I wanted a gun that was almost certain death when the 

 trigger was pulled at as long a range as possible. For a 

 shotgun nothing is certain in turkey shooting outside of 

 40yds. This gives the sportsman command of a circle 

 equal to an area of but little more than one acre. That 

 is not a very formidable territory, and it is rather a con- 

 tracted circle for the hunter and wild gobbler to occupy 

 both at same time. Suppose the radius of this circle 

 could be doubled and the sportsman could possess a gun 

 that was sure death at 80yds.; he thus would command a 

 circle of more than four acres in area, quadrupling the 

 shotgun area. Ordinarily a wild turkey will step inside 

 that area without rigid scrutiny, whereas the narrower 

 limit he would naturally subject to the most rigid ex- 

 animation before entering it. I must confess to having 

 scratched out some hair in trying to solve this problem of 

 a better weapon. 



At last a little light broke through on the subject. 

 Some one suggested a rifle with telescope sight with a 

 cross-hair (thus +) for a center. I knew something 

 about telescopes and cross-hairs and was not slow in 

 catching the idea. An investigation led to the owner- 

 ship of a gun that money could not buy, if it could not 

 be replaced. It is as certain death to a turkey at 80yds. 

 as the shotgun is at 40. It is more than that; it will give 

 light to show whare no other kind of rifle sight could be 

 used. It magnifies the game and shows it so clearly that 

 the spot to aim at is easily selected. The eye end having 

 an aperture of -Jin. in diameter, only the front sight or 

 cross-hairs require attention in sighting. I have killed 

 turkeys in trees with this sight in a dim light, almost 

 dark; can shoot them in the morning early when the first 

 streaks of day appear, and can kill with reasonable cer- 

 tainty from trees any moonlight night. This sh-ht was 

 made for me by Wm. Malcolm, of Syracuse, N. Y, It is 

 a fine piece of workmanship, and is the delight of every 

 spor tern an who examines it. The glasses are in a tube 

 nearly fin. in diameter, which extends from within iin. 

 of the muzzle to the eye, when the gun is held naturally 

 to the shoulder. It is more cumbersome than the ordin- 

 ary sight, and requires more careful handling, but its 

 other advantages over all other sights are too great to 

 compare. To the sportsman, especially oue whose eyes 

 are at all failing from age or other cause, this sight as 

 made by Malcolm, is just the thing. With it accurate 

 aiming is not a question of eyesight; it is one of steadi- 

 ness only. In fair light a nail head can be distinctly 

 seen in old fences or buildings at a distance of 200yds. 

 For me it has solved turkey shooting, and now I grieve 

 only for those grand old fellows that have heretofore 

 been bungled often with the ordinary gun. Gads, but 

 many a one has gotten away! Hereafter they want to 

 gobble and strut a long way off, and keep beyond view 

 of the searching glass of this telescope. 



Now, mind you, I am not boasting this sight in the in- 

 terest of Wm. Malcolm, who is an utter stranger to me. 

 My sight has been bought and paid for at the regular 

 price, and I can get another one for the same money if I 

 want it. What I am interested in is the sportsmen who 

 want a good sight and don't know what to get or where 

 to get it, especially the older class of sportsmen like 

 myself whose eyes feel the need of some artificial aid. 

 This rifle sight will surely bring game to view that often 

 cannot be seen with the naked eye at all. 



It must be confessed that in using it at first on game 

 some of tbe most abominable shots were made. That 

 will probably be alluded to further on, when we get up 

 among tbe turkeys. The truth is I thought so well of 

 the new arm that its powers were overestimated. It was 

 found that I had a part to take as well as the gun. It 

 took two or three days to work this fact into my noggin 

 thoroughly. It was proved the rifle was a mighty partic- 

 ular thing to handle, even if it did havp a telescope sight 

 — that it shot with reasonable accuracy where it looked — 

 and did not splatter over an unlimited area of woods. I 

 had to get cool, hold the cross-hairs hard on the vital 

 spot and keep them there until the game was seen to go 

 down. Afterward some game went to camp, and the 

 sight that had taken a slight tumble rose up again. 



W. L. Polk. 



CALLING GOBBLERS IN TEXAS. 



YEABS ago when I left the country I gave away mv 

 dogs, sold my gun and horse, and made a resolu- 

 tion that hunting was a luxury I was not able to indulge 

 in and that my hunting days were ovf r. But, alas and 

 alack, after all of these years the old instinct, ineradica- 

 ble, returns to torment me. 



While in Richmond recently on business, a friend sug- 

 gested the idea of a turkey hunt to Beeville, Tex., that 

 paradise of the sportsman.; The temptation came to me 

 in a moment of weakness, and I yielded. Beeville is a 

 pretty town, situated in a rolling prairie country. 



After a hearty dinner we started for the home of a 

 friend of former vears living in Live Oak county, sixteen 

 miles west from Beeville. This friend is an old one, true 

 and tried, with whom the writer has had many an excit- 

 ing chase over praiiie and through bottom, and with 

 whom many a happy hour has been idly wasted around 

 the camp fire. As we drove along, on either side of us 

 were constantly rising bunches of quail, but we only shot 

 a few, because it was so late that we ha<l no time to lose. 



We arrived at my friend's house at 9:30, and I attempted 

 a ruse on him. We had not met for more than seven 

 years, and it was thought by my two traveling compan- 

 ions in the hack that time had altered each of us so much 

 that recognition would be doubtful. We sat in the hack 

 at the gate and hallooed, and when my friend came to the 

 gate asked the privilege of camping in hi* pasture for the 

 night, saying that I bad letters to him from friends at his 

 old home, which I would deliver the next day. But the 

 scheme did network; my voice betrayed me; he recog- 

 nized me even in the dark and gave us a htarty welcome. 

 In five minutes we were at ease, chatting of old times and 

 planning a hunt for tbernorrow. Our host said we would 

 take a hunt near the house in the morning as a start off 

 t«» get our hands in, and that there would be no trouble in 

 getting among the turkeys if the weather was favorable. 



Just as we were in the middle of our best nap and im- 

 agined we were hardly yet aslee p good, a light flashed 

 into our room and our friend and host announced that 

 "coffee was ready." He had set his alarm clock for 4 

 o'clock, but did not call us until coffee was ready. The 

 morning was not favorable, as the wind was blow- 

 ing from the east in strong and fitful gusts, and we 

 feared the turkeys would not gobble. The only light to 

 guide us was the stars. We were rather vext d that the 

 weather should have taken so unfavorable a turn when 

 we had come so far for a little sport. Though the weather 

 was not good for turkeys it was by no means a bad morn- 

 ing otherwise, and we enjoyed the walk of a mile out 

 through our friend's pasture in the clear, bracing atmos- 

 phere of the beautiful morning. 



We went perhaps one and a quarter miles before halt- 

 ing, and then began to see the first streaks of approach- 

 ing daylight come peeping through the scattering live 

 oaks, and were charmed to find the wind lulling a little. 

 We felt more hopeful then and prepared for business. 



Our host placed my Richmond friend in a good position 

 between two roads among some clumps of trees, and then 

 he and I moved away from him bo as not to interfere with 

 each other's roosts, 



The best way to hunt in the early morning is to Bit still 

 in the vicinity of the bMn and listen fgr the gqbbjtsjfe t* 



