January, 1919 
FOREST AND STREAM 
13 
A HOLIDAY HUNT FOR A TURKEY DINNER 
INFRACTIONS OF TURKEY-HUNTING ETHICS ARE RARE EXCEPT AT CHRISTMAS 
TIME. WHEN A BIRD ON THE TABLE IS WORTH TWO AMONG THE TREE TOPS 
By OSCEOLA 
C HRISTMAS week was dull. Heavy 
rains had fallen for several days 
prior, making our flat woods very 
wet for tramping and we did not get 
out until the Saturday after Christ- 
mas. Even then we found the lower 
places in the road and much of the 
timbered river swamp afloat. About a 
week before Christmas we had been 
up the Wakulla river for a look at 
the birds and while we found some 
sign, the scratching was close down 
by the river and not very fresh and 
rather scarce. Maternal cares kept 
Fanny at home and Tom’s dog was 
not entirely dependable so he and I 
concluded to hunt together unattended. 
I drew on my long wading boots and 
Tom went in old shoes as his boots 
leaked badly. Crossing Boggy Branch 
we found the creek over bank and 
quite deep. To save a detour I packed 
Tom and the two guns across, but soon 
after he was so wet that I announced 
“toting” was too much of a luxury for 
him and he splashed along, often well 
up to his knees in water. Going in 
towards the river we separated, agree- 
ing to meet along a ridge a half-mile 
farther up. It was still dull, cloudy 
and foggy and I got astray and found 
myself close down by the river several 
times when I should have been much 
farther out in the woods. 
There was no glimpse of the sun and 
our southern woods are not dependable 
to steer a course by the moss. I found 
plenty of old sign but no show of recent 
visits from the big birds. 
The woods were unusually quiet; I saw 
one or two squirrels — a Phoebe swinging 
her tail derisively. A crow cawed away 
up in the woods and far down the river 
an occasional shot was heard, some one 
after ducks I judged. 
Along the river and in the low wet 
stretches the cypress trees hung in myri- 
ads of short brown tassels. Flowering 
in December seemed rather early but evi- 
dently the abundance of warm rain had 
started them. I could see no other evi- 
dence of fresh plant growth. 
1 FINALLY managed to get out from 
the river although it seemed to re- 
quire quite an effort of will power to 
force myself from that section. While 
I knew perfectly well my general posi- 
tion, it seemed that the tendency was to 
keep in touch with a known landmark 
rather than risk wandering in a big river 
swamp and doubtless soon get entirely 
bewildered, as has frequently happened 
right where I was then hunting under 
similar weather conditions. Presently I 
struck the dry ridge and following it up 
soon heard Tom’s whistle and joined him. 
He had also found plenty of sign but 
nothing real fresh. We ate our lunch 
Tom had shot a fine big turkey hen 
and again separated to meet if either 
fired, or if no game was found then to 
come together higher up where a road 
makes in towards the river. 
I now went farther out from the river 
on somewhat higher ground and quickly 
found an abundance of fresh sign. Un- 
der some oaks the leaves were whirled 
and scattered as if by a rake and pal- 
metto berries were evidently being sought 
most eagerly. In one place I wondered 
if I had not scared off the birds but 
could find no tracks in the mud of a 
nearby slough and felt sure none had 
flown away at my approach. 
Within a half-hour of our separating 
I heard Tom’s gun and found he was 
not over 200 yards from me, right out 
towards the river. I heard no thud of 
a falling bird, and after waiting two 
or three minutes for any stray turkeys 
to fly or run my way and seeing none, 
I worked over towards Tom’s locality. 
Presently I heard him calling, perhaps 
100 yards distant and quickly seeking 
shelter of a small cedar bush and two 
or three palmetto “fans” I laid low. 
Tom continued calling for a half hour 
at brief intervals and then I found he 
had moved on. I followed and after two 
more stops when he moved and called I 
overtook him and found he had shot a 
fine big turkey hen. He said he had 
been making his way easy and decided 
to try calling not really expecting any 
response, but as he too had found 
much real fresh sign he thought the 
birds might be near and he would 
get a response. His call bone proved 
choked and he stood up to hunt for 
another in his hip pocket when he 
saw a turkey fly down to the ground 
from a fallen tree-top about 75 yards 
distant. She must have had her back 
to him and may have heard his effort 
to call; at any rate, when he dropped 
to the ground and made a single call 
with the second bone she came around 
the tree-top in full view on a trot 
with head down and never stopped 
until he picked up his gun and dropped 
her at not over 30 yards. Of course 
I remonstrated at such unsportsman- 
like shooting, but Tom says he is too 
much of a “cracker” to wait for a 
bird to get up off the ground for 
when he hunts he wants the game. 
Now Tom is a fisherman all the year 
round and only hunts at odd times 
during the winter — at holiday times 
and between fishing trips — and a tur- 
key now and then is a big help to a 
scanty larder with seven months to 
fill, so I couldn’t bear down very 
hard on him for an infraction of 
hunting ethics. He had seen no other 
birds and we now returned to near 
where he had shot and called for 
some time but with no answer. Then 
we went nearer the river and called, on 
down the river and again out into the 
woods, frequently stopping for ten to 
fifteen minutes at a time for calling, 
and hoping to come up with the bunch; 
for we felt sure from seeing so much 
sign there was a good big bunch of birds 
in the neighborhood. 
T he sun was getting well down the 
line of the tree trunks by this time 
and we decided we must give it up 
for the day and so worked off homeward 
through the heavy woods. 
Live oaks and pines make up for the 
most part these heavy-timbered river 
swamps, with some sweet gum and other 
sorts of oaks in the dryer sections, 
cypress and tupelo close down by the 
river and along the streams, and cab- 
bage palmetto trees scattered throughout 
the whole area but most abundant in 
the lower places. Not a great deal of 
thick undergrowth usually, but at inter- 
vals a lot of small cedars and small 
growth that make traveling uncomforta- 
ble; while on the higher, dryer parts 
great patches of scrub palmetto grew 
from two or three to six or eight feet 
high, often cutting off the view com- 
pletely and compelling a detour. 
Coming out towards a “bend” or even- 
ing that cut well down into the swamp, 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 40) 
