Missouri Turkeys. 
Doniphan, Mo., June i .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The first question asked by visiting- 
sportsmen in southeast Missouri is, “Can I get 
a turkey?” The' invariable reply is “Yes, but 
that word sometimes implies lots of arduous 
work, and frequently the reverse. 
To be a successful turkey hunter, unless ne 
depends on sheer luck, one must know his coun¬ 
try and conditions, for unless the ground is 
covered with snow and the pea crop has been a 
late one, the birds keep to the woods where hid¬ 
ing from man is greatly assisted by the tangle ot 
hazel and blackberry. But one requisite foi 
plenty of turkeys is a good crop of mast, for the 
chief food of the bird in fall is the acorn, and 
where the supply of them is greatest the feed¬ 
ing grounds of the birds are there. If the crop 
fails" in the swamps the majority of the birds 
move into the rough hill country, for it seems 
an assured thing if a failure of the mast crop 
in the lowlands occurs, it is a certainty that, the 
hills will have a bountiful supply, and the reverse 
of conditions often follows. But the mere fact 
of knowing the best feeding grounds is not a 
certainty of finding game, for no bird on earth 
has the ability to disappear quicker than a turkey. 
With all the wisdom of generations of turkey 
hunters at your hand the youngest flock will 
baffle you in vour attempts to locate them. Should, 
you be able to get them scattered and know how 
to call, then more than likely you will secure 
several. But I have often seen whole flocks ot 
young birds refuse to listen to a call. In our 
country, especially those sections that have never 
been settled and never will be, turkeys are very 
numerous. In spite of their great numbers they 
are difficult to approach within gun range, and 
the art of stalking takes more caution and stay¬ 
ing powers than when stalking deer, and the 
hunter who secures several birds in this manner 
feels rewarded, for he has outwitted the smartest 
denizen of the southeast Missouri forest. 
Then, again, one may blunder into them right 
along the whole day without any extra effort on 
his part and feel convinced that he has solved 
everything about turkey, and the next day never 
Copyright, l!) 0 (i. by Harper & Brothers. 
CAIRN OF NET-MAKING CADDIS WORM 
get within two hundred yards of his game. Like 
every other kind of wild game, turkeys are often 
caught off their guard. On one occasion last 
winter I ran into a flock while quail shooting 
in a ragweed field. So unaware were they of 
my presence that I was within thirty yards of 
them and could distinctly see one hen carefully 
preening her feathers. When alarmed the whole 
flock flew to a rocky post oak ridge and I never 
got another shot at them. # 
On another occasion I saw nine feeding in a 
wheat field, and to assure myself that they were 
not our own bronze domestic fowls hastened to 
the barn lot to find that those in the field were 
wild. Trving every method to approach with¬ 
out alarming them *1 failed, so attempted to cut 
across country and risk a shot at these awkward 
but speedy runners. I certainly would have 
failed had' not a nondescript dog flushed an old 
hen into a fallen treetop. 
A very easy method of approaching the game 
on Current River is by boat. Early in the morn¬ 
ing or late in the evening one can take a stand 
and watch for a flock to fly from bluff to bluff 
to roost. Then the boat will glide slowly along 
and the hunter with a rifle will pick off the big 
fellows. As they hustle to cover the natives 
always claiiji to shoot them in the neck, but their 
claims for such remarkable accuracy have seldom 
been proved by the specimens they killed, for a 
running gobbler is very hard to hit even in a 
more conspicuous part of his anatomy. 
There are so many different methods of hunt¬ 
ing this fellow that to describe all -would be an 
intrusion on valuable, space, Riding through the 
timber on horseback is a very successful method, 
for the birds are not as wary at the approach 
of a rider as a footman, but riding has its 
disadvantages, especially when the turkey sdeks 
cover in a thicket or in the swamp lands. Some 
wet cypress break or an area of down timber 
will make the horse an undesirable feature. As 
a rule turkeys roost over a watercourse or slough 
as an additional security from danger, but early 
in fall, especially in the hills, the birds do not 
seem to affect any particular territory for a 
roosting place, and this aids in their capture. 
The native foxhunters frequently frighten a flock 
From “ Nature's Craftsmen. 
SHOWING ITS NET AND SILKEN TUBE. 
from its roost, and when one learns of the place, 
if he is an early riser, it is not a difficult matter 
to. call them together before sunrise.' An old 
hunter will know that turkeys are in a certain 
vicinity by signs without footprints to aid him. 
It is an art in itself to tell whether a gobbler has 
been working for worms or ants at some old 
rotten log or a gray squirrel, for the scratching 
is visible in both cases, so the keen eye of the 
woodsman must look deeper for signs, to be able 
to distinguish immediately. 
Tracking the birds in the snow is an interest¬ 
ing and invigorating sport, but it snows so sel¬ 
dom here, or rather the snow stays on the ground 
as a rule so few hours, that we look upon it as 
a treat when it does stick, for then we are cer¬ 
tain of results; for a man that once gets on the 
track of a gobbler will never leave it even though 
the footprints of a huge buck try to lure him off. 
Shooting the birds from the roosts at night .is 
another method at the game if one can only 
find the roosts. Not a few years ago I located 
a roost and from fresh signs was satisfied that 
the birds still were using it. At supper that even¬ 
ing I regaled the assembled company with visions 
of a banquet the next day would bring, so about 
9 P. M., after inviting one of the younger gen¬ 
eration to accompany me, forth to the roost we 
went. Somehow or other after it clouded up 
I mixed my bearings and the roost was not found 
that night. We were obliged to camp with no 
shelter but a leaning black gum. Early next 
morning two weary mortals could be seen ap¬ 
proaching our farm, one minus his turkey and 
a weary small boy who was willing to vilify 
anyone .who mentioned turkey roosts. 
Loch Laddie. 
Game Slaughter in Spitzbergen. 
Wherever civilized man sets his foot his hand 
is raised against all things natural, whether they 
be men, beasts, birds, fishes or plants. 
One of the remote and hitherto, and until re¬ 
cently, almost untouched regions of the globe is 
the Spitzenbergen Islands of the Arctic, which 
lie between Franz Joseph Land and Greenland 
These islands have recently become so accessible 
that they are visited each year by ship loads of 
pleasure tourists. Coal is mined there and there 
are flourishing whale fisheries. The islands are 
not claimed by any country, but have been visited 
by fishermen and hunters of many countries of 
northern Europe. 
Formerly game, large and small, including 
polar bear?, reindeer, geese, ducks, ptarmigan 
and many sorts of sea fowd were enormously 
abundant and they are still fairly plentiful 
There is, however, no law or government, and 
each butcher is at liberty to kill all. he wants 
and at any season of the year. It is reported 
that a party of tourists recently killed more than 
ioo reindeer, leaving the carcasses on the ground 
where they fell and bringing away with them 
only a few of the finest heads and antlers as 
trophies. The great mammals of the sea and- of 
the* land, and the birds as well, are being hunted 
to extinction, and before long, unless some check 
is put on the destruction, this must mean exter¬ 
mination. 
New Books. 
Volume 23, of the American Kennel _ Club 
Stud Book (published by the American Kennel 
Club, 55 Liberty street, New York.), numbers 
registrations from 93,240 to 102,969 inclusive. 
This includes data from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. I 9 ° 6 - 
It contains much other valuable matter in the 
way of lists of bench show winners, active mem¬ 
bers, associate members, officers, champions of 
record, foxhound and beagle trials, pointer and 
setter trials (1892 to 1906), kennel names, pre¬ 
fixes and affixes, etc. 
