December, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
663 
PHOTOGRAPHING WILD TURKEYS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
D URING the adventure years of 
early life, when I was frequently 
allowed to accompany an expert wild 
turkey hunter on his numerous trips 
throughout the old south country, I 
grew up to believe that the wild turkey 
gobbler was the shrewdest and most 
wary bird that ever flew. 
In later years, however, after a good 
deal of practical hunting experience of 
my own, I have definitely come to the 
conclusion that, aside from his native 
timidity and extremely wild instincts 
— which resemble the ruffed grouse — 
the Tom turkey is frequently and eas- 
ily outwitted by an experienced hunter. 
Once I went into the old Mississippi 
valley cypress swamps, at a period 
yvhen the back water from the Miss- 
issippi River inundation was well up 
through the swamps, and stalked and 
bagged three fine wild turkey gobblers 
on three successive hunts. The second 
turkey was badly crippled with BB 
shot, but flew for two hundred yards 
over the back water. I was very care- 
ful to mark the spot where my fine 
Tom seemed to have come down, re- 
moved my rubber hunting boots, threw 
off my hunting coat, leaned the gun 
up against a tree, and waded in water 
above my armpits in order to drag out 
and bag the eighteen pound gobbler. 
1 1 daresay that some turkey hunters 
would contend that I would never have 
made the bag if the turkey had been 
an old timer; but on the very next 
turkey hunt, about ten days later, 1 
stalked, walked up and shot a real old 
grandfather wild Tom — judging from 
his beard which seemed to extend al- 
most down to his feet. Also the old 
Tom had large, thick scales on his legs, 
with fairly long and stubby spurs, 
hence I imagined he was quite old 
enough to be shrewd and elusive. How- 
ever, the fact was that I just happened 
to run upon him when he was very 
busily engaged in picking some fat 
grubs from an old cypress log. The 
old chap seemed to be very hungry for 
his breakfast, and was not aware of 
the soft-footed approach of danger, un- 
til I had gotten him well within range 
of a hard hitting, full choked gun. He 
made desperate efforts to repair his 
careless mistake by a hurried rise for 
flight, but he flopped down ignomi- 
nously on the very edge of the back 
water. So I came to the fixed conclu- 
sion that wild Tern’s reputed shrewd- 
ness comes very largely from instinct. 
If a ruffed grouse hears an unnatural 
noise — maybe at a two hundred yard 
range — just as likely as not the old bird 
will flush for a wild flight. Actually 
I have seen them flush wild from in 
front of my setter, who was trying to 
hold a long point, and fly so straight 
for my face that I have had to dodge 
in order to let the bird pass, so I think 
the ruffed grouse has a temperament 
somewhat like that of the wild turkey. 
At a later period, while on a winter 
visit to the old Southern-home country, 
I chanced to come in contact with an 
expert wild turkey hunter who had ex- 
changed his trusty shot gun for a good 
Photographed by Edward R. Wilbur. 
Wild turkey 
camera and he had succeeded in pho- 
tographing the life-size wild turkeys, 
in many of their graceful native poses. 
He had learned well the habits of 
the very wild birds. The first phase 
of his undertaking was to find the range 
of a nice flock of turkeys; then to thor- 
oughly and carefully bait them until 
they were accustomed to come to the 
same wild spot each day. The second 
phase of the game was to build a very 
natural-looking blind, with trails of 
tempting grain leading on either side, 
just within the range of his camera. 
Then, accompanied by a real expert 
turkey caller, he caught the turkeys at 
the late afternoon feeding time. I re- 
call one picture he took entitled, “Lis- 
tening to the Call.” The handsome, 
glossy Tom stood almost perfectly 
erect, with the neck stretched to full 
length, intently listening. One could 
almost imagine hearing the old gob- 
bler’s quick, short notes of “put— put — 
put”. There was a later pose of pos- 
sibly the same love-sick feathered Ro- 
meo as he was all ruffled up in a vain, 
red-headed strutting position, and he 
named that picture “Coming to, Call.” 
The old hunter who took these pic- 
tures had probably gotten tired of wit- 
nessing a handsome Tom turkey un- 
gracefully kicking his last strokes in 
the final death struggle and had be- 
come more humane in his advancing 
years. He very readily turned his wide 
experience of wild turkey hunting into 
the more difficult work of photograph- 
ing them. 
An old friend of the South country 
recently wrote me that a lai’ge lumber 
company purchased extensive timber 
rights in the cypress swamp where 
this hunter made his pictures and be- 
gan erecting a saw mill. The wild tur- 
keys stood not upon the order of their 
going and had suddenly taken them- 
selves off to parts unknown. v It is con- 
tended by hunters with wide knowledge 
of the wild turkey habits that they will 
not remain in a forest where any kind 
of unnatural noises can be heard. 
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