Oct. i 6, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
cir 
Turkeys and Wildfowl in Nebraska. 
Omaha, Neb., Oct. 1. — Editor Forest mid 
Stream: Writing of wild turkeys has awakened 
a lot of old-time interest in me, for as I have 
told you, turkey hunting was my principal joy 
twenty-five years ago, and many a glorious 
day have I spent along the old Guyandot, in 
West Virginia, and in the woods of the Hock- 
hocking Hills, in Ohio, after these, the most 
royal of all our game birds. 
Since writing Forest and Stream that 
little story of the killing of the big turkey by- 
Alfred Reshaw, my Indian guide on a duck¬ 
ing expedition on the Lake Creek marshes, in 
the scraggy oak woods on White River, South 
Dakota, I have made inquiry among the old 
hunters hereabout, and am delighted to learn 
that there are still a few wild turkeys left in 
this State. 
Bill Falk, an old trapper and market-hunter, 
told me that there were “quite a few”—as they 
say in the Michigan woods—turkeys yet to be 
found in the deep, rocky canons along the 
Missouri River, in Boyd county, fifteen miles 
or so this side of old Fort Randall. Falk was 
hunting there last fall and killed two young 
hens out of a flock of eleven he had stalked 
while they were at their morning repast among 
the low junipers in a deep arroyo. He said 
there were four old birds of good size among 
the birds, but owing to his position, he was 
compelled to take a pot-shot, and did not get 
any of these. This was early in November, 
and while food seemed plentiful in the vicinity, 
the birds were lean and in poor condition, as 
young turkeys always get if they are much 
molested by either two or four-legged 
marauders. Although Falk and his companion 
hunted for the birds assiduously for days after 
this killing, they were never able to get a 
glimpse of one, and all the sign they discovered 
was old. They ate the two birds in camp, and 
the meat was unusually dark, even for wild 
turkeys, and was tainted with the rich, aro¬ 
matic juice that exudes in the late autumn 
from the stems of the juniper. 
Falk was in the same locality last June, and 
his squatter friends, with whom he stops some¬ 
times during the hunting season, told him he 
had seen an old turkey hen and a “passel” of 
chicks in the wild buckwheat fields north of 
his shack several times during May and early 
June. That there are birds there yet, Falk 
says he is certain, and he intends to make a 
trip there some time in the late fall. 
I have learned of still another place where 
wild turkeys are still to be found in consider¬ 
able numbers not sixty miles from Omaha, and 
that is down in the Waubuncey Hills, south¬ 
east of Bartlett, Iowa. H. J. Haverstock, an 
Omaha sportsman and a former resident of 
Bartlett, told me recently that there were a 
good many turkeys left in the Waubuncey Hills, 
and that he makes regular trips there every 
fall. He generally finds the birds in the heavy 
timber—oak and hickory, with tangle of laurel 
undergrowth along the rocky hillsides, on the 
extensive lands owned by John Bino, of Council 
Bluffs. 
Mr. Haverstock has invited me to accompany 
him on a hunt there in November, and the 
chances are largely in favor of my going. To 
hill a wild turkey at this stage of the game, and 
in this part of the country, would certainly be 
an inestimable treat, and an achievement I 
would cherish and feel proud of to the end of 
my days. If we do not get any turkey, Haver¬ 
stock assures me of a good time, anyway, for 
he says black and gray squirrels are more 
plentiful than he ever knew them back in the 
Pennsylvania mountains, and it is a daily oc¬ 
currence to knock over a woodchuck or two. 
However, while I do not believe I have any 
penchant for woodchucking, I know I have a 
weak spot for squirrel shooting, as I knew it 
in the big Still House Hollow Woods, north 
of my old home in Fairfield county, Ohio. 
Some dozen years or more ago I used to go 
down to Bartlett myself, and many a grand 
day’s shoot have I enjoyed on the low, wet 
lands stretching away north and -south of that 
little backwoods hamlet for miles along the Big 
Muddy. But it was not on turkey, and I 
never dreamed there were any of these birds 
this side of the Ozarks, and of course never 
gave them a thought. But the Bartlett jack- 
snipe grounds were, and are now unsurpassed 
anywheres in the United States, not even on 
the famous old Kankakee flats in Indiana. 
Sixteen years ago, Billy Townsend and I, many 
a day bagged our hundred birds each, and 
that, too, meant only a three hours’ tramp in 
the morning and another of similar length in 
the afternoon. 
While I have not shot in that section for 
years, Townsend, Forney, Rixley, Simeral, 
Welch and others who go there twice or more 
times a year, tell me the same conditions still 
prevail, that there are more of these precious 
little gallinagoes to be killed over their 
grounds than anywhere else in this part of the 
country. 
By the way, Frank Forney resides right at 
the head of these big snipe meadows, and any 
Eastern parties desiring a great shoot, specific¬ 
ally on jacksnipe, can learn all particulars by 
writing him. He is an inveterate outer him¬ 
self, a crack shot and a genial field companion. 
He can be addressed at Bartlett. 
Since the open season on wildfowl began, the 
bluewing shooters have been in clover. Scores 
of parties have been out, and I have not heard 
of a single one who has returned without the 
limit. There are lots of birds everywhere, and 
the shooting should be great all this month. 
My boy Gerard and I leave for the teal 
grounds out near Geneva to-night. 
Sandy Griswold. 
An Indian Opinion. 
In reviewing the New York Zoological So¬ 
ciety bulletin the editor of The Asian, of Cal¬ 
cutta, says: 
“There are now just a dozen national parks 
or game preserves -in the States and eight in 
Canada. The year ended June last had been 
prolific of good work in the shape of estab¬ 
lishing new reserves, and it is somewhat humil¬ 
iating to observe that American influence has 
been paramount in securing the sanctity of 
tracts under the British Crown. Let that pass, 
however; the great thing is that such reserves 
have been secured. Some of the tracts thus 
devoted for all time to the game that inhabits 
them are of enormous area. Jasper Park, 
Alberta, is the largest, extending to nearly 
three and a half million acres. The Rocky 
Mountains Park in Alberta, reserved more es¬ 
pecially in the interests of white goat and 
sheep, conies next, covering over two and 
three-quarter million acres; the famous Yel¬ 
lowstone Park in Wyoming comes next with 
over 2,142,000 acres. The smaller ranges of 
from 10,000 to 60,000 acres, are set apart more 
especially for the preservation of the bison, which 
have been enlarged thereon. It must be con¬ 
ceded that America, in creating game reserves, 
has lived up to her reputation for ‘big things.’ 
It remains to see how far the reserve system 
will answer its purpose in the long run. 
“Interest at the moment centers on the prong¬ 
horn antelope, which had been killed out in 
many regions where it was formerly common, 
and is become now so rare that the total num¬ 
ber existing is reckoned at only 5,000 head. 
This, no doubt, is guesswork, but a species 
must have come to low ebb when man can 
even pretend to guess the number existing on 
such a continent. The law-makers have had 
this curious little animal under their care for 
a long time, but not, it would seem with great 
success. The cowboy was a great foe of the 
prong-horn, whose saddle was a joint much 
in request. Most of the States had given it 
protection for a term of years; Montana and 
Wyoming have but recently enacted such laws, 
and their action now completes the total im¬ 
munity conferred on the species throughout 
North America—so far as laws can accom¬ 
plish it. 
“In some thoughtful minds there would ap¬ 
pear to be considerable doubt as to the com¬ 
plete efficacy of the reserve system, however 
bold and well directed. ‘The time is close at 
hand, says Madison Grant, ‘when we must 
abridge or altogether take away the old right 
to bear firearms and use them on all living 
creatures. In place of this we must substitute 
Old World conditions, which appear to be con¬ 
sistent with the preservation of abundant wild¬ 
life living on friendly terms with a dense 
human population, as in India.’ We fear that 
the game laws in operation in this country are 
productive of less satisfactory results than 
Madison Grant supposes, but defects are only 
apparent to those on the spot, and perhaps 
officers of the Forest Department would not 
describe the wild life of reservations as living 
on terms which can be called ‘friendly’ with 
the native population. Nevertheless, the state 
of affairs prevailing in most parts of India is 
such that American game preservers may well 
be moved to envy. Firearms are, compara¬ 
tively speaking, scarce; we have certainly no 
species within measurable distance of exter¬ 
mination; and we live under legislative con¬ 
ditions which are all in favor of protective 
action when such appears required.” 
Valley Quail Abundant. 
Rescue, Cal., Oct. 1 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Valley quail are very plentiful now 
hereabouts. John and Hector Williamson, of 
this place, were out this morning and had a fine 
time killing the limit each, although a light rain 
fell during most of the morning. We have lots 
of does and fawns around this season. 
George Williamson, Jr., 
Deputy Fish Commissioner. 
