60 
FOREST AND STREAM 
February, 1919 
HUNTING MERRIAM WILD TURKEY 
AIDED BY TURKEYFOOT THE APACHE, THE SCIENTIST SECURES 
SEVERAL FINE SPECIMENS OF THIS RARE BIRD FOR A MUSEUM GROUP 
By H. H. SHELDON 
Group of Merriam wild turkey in the Colorado Museum of Natural History 
I N the United States 
there are four varie- 
ties of wild turkeys, 
all sub-species of the 
Mexican wild turkey, 
from which our domestic 
fowls descended. The 
common wild turkey is 
found from the New 
England states west 
to Kansas and Ok- 
lahoma. The Flor- 
ida turkey is an in- 
habitant of the re- 
gions of the Gulf 
Coast and Florida. 
These two forms are 
not noticeably differ- 
ent in coloration, and 
to the casual ob- 
server would pass 
as one and the 
same bird. The 
western forms 
known as the Rio 
Grande, ranging 
in Texas and 
northern Mexico, 
and the Merriam wild turkey, whose 
range of distribution is limited to New 
Mexico, Arizona and possibly a few 
points along the southern border of Colo- 
rado, are also much alike, but differ from 
the eastern forms in size and color, be- 
ing slightly larger and showing a con- 
spicuous rump patch of huffy white 
tipped feathers, with the tail band the 
same, while in the eastern birds the white 
is replaced by chestnut. These are the 
distinguishing characters and the most 
noticeable occurring in the four forms. 
The following account of hunting the 
Merriam wild turkey is taken from my 
notes of a biological survey in the state 
of Colorado, in the interest of the Colo- 
rado Museum of Natural History, at 
Denver, and while the number of turkeys 
secured, was in excess of a bag for one 
hunter (from the sportsman’s point of 
view) I might explain that for scientific 
reasons it was very necessary to repre- 
sent the species by several specimens of 
both sexes and different ages. 
During the summer I had made fre- 
quent inquiries concerning the possible 
existence of wild turkeys in the state. 
They had for a number of years been re- 
garded as extinct within the border of 
Colorado, where at one time and within 
a score of years past they were com- 
paratively abundant in the country they 
frequent^, which was chiefly west of 
the Continental Divide. The earliest 
records, however, tell of turkeys inhabit- 
ing the greater portion of the state west 
of the plains, in all of the yellow pine 
and pinon forest areas, but they were 
hunted and trapped to such extremes in 
the early days that now they are found 
only in the most isolated wildernesses of 
the semi-arid regions of the southwest. 
D uring the latter part of November 
news reached me that turkeys were 
to be found close to the line of New 
Mexico at a point some sixty miles away, 
and I at once made preparations to make 
a trip to the said turkey country. 
I was fortunate in securing the services 
of Mr. Jess Ewell, an apt linguist of the 
Apache tongue, and to whom I am in- 
debted for making the hunt successful, in 
consequence of his acquaintance with the 
natives and knowledge of the country 
traversed. So one frosty morning, in 
November, Jess and his team of hardy 
bays trotted into my camp and soon after 
we were wending our way through the 
big spruce timber and aspens, down the 
Navajo River and to the lower and semi- 
arid country in New Mexico. 
Upon reaching an Indian village the 
whereabouts of one Lucas Turkeyfoot 
(an Apache, named for his prowess as a 
turkey hunter and known by Jess as the 
one Indian who would locate the turkeys 
for us) was investigated, and we for- 
tunately found him though some hours 
later. A rapid conversation took place 
between the Apache and his friend Jess 
which consisted of a mixture of Mexican 
and Apache, and with occasional inter- 
mittant pauses in which the writer re- 
layed through Jess an offer for the In- 
dian’s services, an agreement was finally 
made and Turkeyfoot promised to meet 
us on the following morning at a given 
point some twenty miles away; with as- 
surance that he would overtake us at the 
end of the trail, before we had breakfast 
next day, and lead us into the turkey 
country. 
We then proceeded 
through a delightful coun- 
try of yellow pine forest 
and sage brush flats, typical 
of a large area of New 
Mexican scenery. At even- 
ing our trail encircled a lake 
from which a flock of 
green-winged teal rose and 
flew directly over us, 
the 12-gauge hurriedly 
pulled out of its place 
in the pack, was 
slapped together 
and we managed 
to get two of 
them which later 
made a very ap- 
propriate feast — 
for this day was 
the last Thursday 
in November and 
very keenly we 
enjoyed our 
Thanksgiv- 
ing dinner of 
roast duck and 
sweet potatoes 
and hot biscuits (a la Dutch oven), to- 
gether with a goodly supply of appetizing 
accessories including that always de- 
licious “camp coffee.” How good it all 
tasted in that cold-dry, sharp November 
atmosphere of the southwest, and I, too, 
enjoy the mental picture of the camp sit- 
uated under those big pines with a pitchy 
log fire crackling out its friendly 
warmth. My big mountaineer companion 
caused me to chuckle at his droll sayings 
long after we had crawled under the 
heavy canvas “tarp” to sleep — that first 
night on the ground under the stars. 
It was seven next morning when the 
odors of bacon brought the long-haired 
Apache galloping into camp and he was 
not at all slow to desert his pony and 
partake of the white man’s grub. Turkey- 
foot was in every sense of the term “a 
good scout,” and after a hearty break- 
fast he fell right into the work attached 
to breaking camp and it was only a mat- 
ter of minutes that we were hooked up 
and making our way to the not far dis- 
tant turkey country. Riding ahead on 
his little broomtail bronco Turkeyfoot 
led us over some rough and uneven 
country that he knew by heart. Porcu- 
pine spring, the only water in the region, 
was the point of termination of our 
journey and we were just a short dis- 
tance from that anticipated camp site 
when I noticed the Indian a few rods 
ahead was scrutinizing the ground in an 
interested manner — and reached him to 
find that turkeys had recently been in 
the vicinity. To see their tracks in the 
soft earth under the pinons helped con- 
siderably to stir up my anxiety for the 
coming hunt and we hurried on to make 
camp preparatory to a little scouting 
