Jan. 6, 1912.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
17 
Almost every sort of sub-tropical game stirs 
about here—quail, turkeys, ducks, deer—while al¬ 
most the only variety of the finny tribe found 
in the waters is the catfish, large and gamy, 
while at Mayport, at the mouth of the river, 
there is fair sheepshead fishing. In the central 
part, in and around Weirsdale and Leesburg, 
there are a number of clear water lakes in which 
bass are plentiful, while birds of all kinds await 
the scatter gun. 
Across to the west coast at Clearwater, near 
Tampa, at Sarasota, south to Englewood, Punta 
Gorda, Fort Myers and Naples, the quail, deer 
and turkey shooting is good, but the great feat¬ 
ure is fishing—tarpon, kingfish and jewfish being 
found in great numbers, while in the Caloosa- 
hatchee River large-mouth black bass from two 
to eight pounds are caught. Over on the east 
coast the Indian River has the call. New Smyrna, 
Titusville, Cocoa and Fort Pierce offer wonder¬ 
ful quail, turkey, deer and duck shooting and 
such fishing as to make the most particular ang¬ 
ler take notice—channel bass, mangrove and red- 
snapper, sheepshead, grouper, cavalli, sea trout, 
ladyfish and bonefish, and occasionally a tarpon. 
Back north again to Tishabee, Ala., the home 
of bear; and deer, quail and turkey, too, are here 
to a considerable extent, though not as plentiful 
as in Florida. In Mississippi, turkey, bear and 
deer furnish good sport about New Albany, 
Scorba and Arcoola. 
Tennessee has a close season on deer until 
1915, but bear are impudent around Hickory Val¬ 
ley, Campbell and Anderson counties, as well as 
along the slope of the Great Smoky Mountains. 
A tremendous variety of feathered game, includ¬ 
ing quail, grouse, pheasants, turkeys, doves, snipe, 
woodcock, swans, geese, brant, abound. 
Louisiana and Texas are probably the greatest 
game centers in America to-day. The entire 
gulf coast teems with tarpon, kingfish, mackerel, 
jewfish and ladyfish, the latter being a relative 
of the tarpon and rightfully is called the gamiest 
fish in the South. Ducks, swans, brant and other 
species of waterfowl may be killed to your 
heart’s content. Louisiana protects pheasants, 
prairie chickens and wild turkey hens to 1916, 
while Texas protects until 1915 pheasants, prairie 
chickens, antelope and mountain sheep. In Louis¬ 
iana the likely places are Covington, Lake 
Charles, Pearl River and Athens. 
It seems almost impossible of belief, and yet 
it is true that within a few miles of Houston, 
Tex., a city of nearly 100,000 inhabitants, deer 
are abundant in the bottomlands, and wild tur¬ 
keys are bagged daily in season. Wild geese, 
cranes, canvasback ducks, redheads, widgeons, 
pintails, black mallard, blue-wing teal and the 
common variety of mallard are found on the 
bays and on every inland lake and stream. Jack- 
snipe and woodcock are plentiful, plover by the 
thousands, and every field has its covey of quad. 
Wildfowl shooting, the best months for - which 
are September, October, November, December. Jan¬ 
uary, February and March, is mostly done from 
blinds and over decoys. The nearest and most pre¬ 
ferred shooting grounds are Port Lavaca, Robs- 
town, Palacois, Brazoria, this neighborhood being 
particularly prolific in bear and deer. For jave¬ 
lin hunting, than which there is no more ex¬ 
citing sport, Kingsville and the surrounding 
cacti,, mesquite and chaparral offer abundant 
opportunity. Mountain lion, wild cats, bears and 
deer are frequenters of this section. 
The Old Kentucky Turkey Shoot 
By WILLIAM BRENT ALTSHELER 
T hank goodness not all the interesting cus¬ 
toms of the dear old frontier days are dead. 
There is one which is very live just now, 
and that is the turkey shoot. In colonial days, 
before the Revolution, one may recall traditions 
SINGLE-HAND LONG RANGE REVOLVER SHOOTING AT 
TURKEYS. 
TWO-HANDED REVOLVER SHOOTING AT A LONG RANGE 
TURKEY MATCH. 
of frequent matches in the straggling communi¬ 
ties of the backwoods country now incorporated 
in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The tall 
lanky hunters attended then with their long flint¬ 
lock rifles, and, used to the pursuit of the buf¬ 
falo, elk, whitetail deer, black bear, wild turkey, 
panther and smaller mammals and birds, accurate 
shooting was second nature to them. From the 
Atlantic to the Pacific, marksmanship is now 
practiced in new and different ways, the only not¬ 
able exception perhaps being in Kentucky where 
the turkey shoot with its unique features sur¬ 
vives. The firearms only have changed. Little 
different are the people. They are mostly thin 
and wiry, many from the farms and shops, a 
few from the professions and business callings. 
There are various kinds of turkey shooting 
matches, but the one that carries the stamp of 
approval is where the live turkey is the target 
and the shooter, paying five or ten cents a shot, 
gets the turkey if he draw's blood, and then it 
is immediately decapitated, so that it is not the 
cruel sport that one might suppose it is without 
due consideration. 
The length of the range is regulated by the 
skill of the marksmen, the size of the turkey, 
the color and topography of the background and 
the conditions of light and atmosphere. It is a 
business proposition between the shooter and 
gamekeeper. If it is a losing game, the keeper 
will extend the range, pick out a small hen, and 
of a color to harmonize with the background, 
require shooting against a quartering wind or 
toward a bright blinding light, or, under the 
most aggravating conditions of all, on a dead 
flat range where one cannot gauge his elevation 
and windage. 
I have seen the gamekeeper push his advantage 
in the selection of range conditions to an in¬ 
judicious extreme, and the shooters case their 
rifles, jump the game and go home in disgust. 
The wise keeper will refrain from shutting out 
his patrons and even help them to win enough 
to keep up their interest and enthusiasm in the 
pastime. It is a poor sportsman who will not 
stay by the game as long as he has a fair show 
to win. 
A few years ago I could rely upon a choice of 
several turkey shoots in easy reach on Thanks¬ 
giving day, Christmas and New Years. The 
ranges then were about as follows: Shotgun, 
75 to 100 yards; pistol and revolver, 75 to 125; 
.22 caliber rifle up to 350 yards, and big rifles 
from 400 to 500 yards. Old shooters will re¬ 
call when the ranges were not so long, especially 
for the short guns. Then a turkey was safe 
from pistol and revolver at a distance of 100 
yards, and often the keeper won out on the fifty- 
yard range. 
The development of arms and ammunition has 
changed this greatly. Strange to say, however, 
the rifle range has not increased in proportion; 
in fact, the rifleman from time unrecorded has 
been willing to spend his money on the shoot 
as long as he could draw, with the naked eye, a 
bead on the bird, and that cannot be much fur¬ 
ther than 500 or 600 yards. 
Continued on page 26. 
