Mountains and south to Panama in 
its several forms or subspecies. That 
they have been extirpated from the 
most of this territory is to the ever- 
lasting shame and disgrace of people 
who are considered and hold themselves 
as civilized, enlightened, thrifty and 
far-sighted in their ways, and that is 
the mildest sort of insinuation the case 
will warrant! 
Even now it is not too late to re- 
trieve in part from the thoughtless, 
senseless, improvident waste of our na- 
tive game. A few States can boast of 
a decided increase in game during the 
past few years, due to a short open sea- 
son and rigid enforcement of sensible 
game laws, backed by the support of 
the citizens. 
Such a tri-party combination is bound 
to win and nothing else can ever save 
the coming generations the pleasures 
of good days afield with rod or gun. 
In former days and into the early 
part of the past century wild turkeys 
were abundant throughout the Ohio 
and Mississippi river bottoms and along 
their larger tributaries as well as in 
the southeastern areas and to the gulf. 
Farther to the east and northwest, in 
New England, New Jersey, Delaware 
and Maryland they had become scarce 
or almost nil, a good many years ear- 
lier, although one was shot on Mt. Tom, 
Mass. in 1852, the last record for the 
State. 
PENNSYLVANIA seems to have kept 
her stock of these birds longer 
than have any of her near neighbors, 
owing to the great areas of rough tim- 
bered land yet remaining within her 
boundaries and which are unadapted 
for cultivation. Here 
in the most favored 
places of several scat- 
tered counties, a con- 
siderable native stock 
remained up to about 
1,900, although prob- 
ably some of these birds 
were more or less 
crossed with domestic 
strains. Since the 
above date there has 
been reported marked 
increase in the number 
of wild turkeys in many 
parts of that state, a 
practical result and 
brilliant example of what may be done 
by persistent effort on the part of an 
efficient Game Commission. 
In Florida where most of the writ- 
er’s killings of these birds have been 
made, turkeys are now becoming scarce 
where even ten years ago they were 
numerous. In some sections of that 
state the laws are fairly well enforced, 
elsewhere little attention is paid to 
them and with the rapid development 

now going forward in agriculture it 
cannot be long until here also it will 
make a hard day’s hunt to find a bird. 
N the early days of the pioneers, all 
over our country the usual means 
for securing these birds was by the 
erection of pens made of small poles, 
laid up to lap at the corners, four to 
five feet high, and tightly covered. A 
narrow trench led into this, gradually 
deepening and passing under one side 
and on into the centre of the pen, but 
was covered within the pen close to the 
side thereof, only a comparatively small 
portion remaining entirely open. Bait 
of corn or other seeds was strewn about 
the shallow beginning of this trench 
and throughout its length and when the 
birds fed to the end of the trench they 
jumped up into the pen and rarely es- 
caped, but ran around within trying 
only to find passage between the poles. 
Not infrequently several birds were 
taken together and as ammunition must 
have been a luxury the device was a 
means for securing additions to a scanty 
larder with small outlay except for 
labor. Such method of trapping is for- 
bidden by law in all states now. In the 
the hunting of turkeys in Florida, a 
dog is usually employed to find the 
birds and when the hunters are able 
to keep close up with him a shot may 
frequently be had as the dog rushes in 
and flushes them, for in their alarm 
they are liable to scatter in divers di- 
rections. At such times they may fly 
three hundred to four hundred yards, 
while very rarely they stop in a near-by 
tree, but in any event they are quite 
sure to take refuge in a tree when 
flushed from the ground by a dog. When 
thus flushed they must 
be hunted out and ap- 
proached with the ut- 
most care and this cau- 
tion holds good with 
turkey hunting in ev- 
ery phase. Now they 
will usually be found 
in a thick top of pine 
or magnolia—not often 
elsewhere in our river 
bottoms —and a good 
hunter will probably 
get his bird, although 
sometimes they go off 
Wilds ea Cl tcmy Ons Sana 
stream or continue to 
another cover a half mile or more dis- 
tance, this latter, however, being un- 
usual. When hunted persistently the 
birds become wise and wary. They 
may sit so close in a thick tree-top as 
to defy search and so be passed, or 
more likely go off wild before the 
hunter is within range and in most in- 
stances, when hunted in this way and 
alarmed they go off with limbs or tree- 
trunks interfering with a good shot. 
On such occasions my usual companion, 
Tom or Frank, was much better at 
finding the birds at rest than was I, 
they having so hunted from early boy- 
hood while I sometimes had the keen 
enjoyment of seeing the big birds tum- 
ble after getting steam up on the get- 
away. 
The majority of hunting in our re- 
gion is by “calling” and most of the 
hunters use the smaller (radius) bone 
of the second wing-joint of a hen 
turkey. The similar bone from a gob- 
bler would be too large while a like 
bone from a young bird would be too 
small to produce the desired tone. The 
two ends of the bone are cut off 
smoothly, the marrow removed and the 
bone scraped thin, this latter provi- 
sion frequently being omitted, while a 
hollow reed or even a pipe-stem makes 
a fair substitute. 
ACH hunter is apt to have his fa- 
-vorite bone or other device for the 
purpose. One end of this is held gently 
but securely in the lips, the other end 
by the grasping hands which are 
clasped about it to form a hollow en- 
closure. Now inhale the breath through 
the bone by shorter or longer and 
rather sudden efforts at saying “Turk” 
or Tuurrk,’ or some equivalent most 
resembling, to the operator, the call of 
the wild bird; while so calling, aper- 
tures are to be made by moving one or 
more fingers to vary the quality of the 
notes. Frank was not an adapt with 
the bone or reed and used a piece of 
flat roofing or school slate on which 
is to be struck a pointed, rather slender 
piece of hard wood similar in size to 
a lead pencil, usually having as a han- 
dle, a larger piece of soft wood or a 
spool, pushed about midway of the pen- 
cil. This being grasped with the fin- 
gers, not too firmly, is held perpendicu- 
lar to the surface of the slate and by 
longer or shorter, rapid or slower 
strokes an enticing sound may be made 
which by the hand of an expert may 
call up the bird to his doom. Various 
other devices are used, patented calls 
are apt to be variations of the hollow 
bone or reed, a thin-edged small box, 
across the side of which is drawn an- 
other thin, bevel-edged strip of wood 
or a piece of slate or some other simi- 
lar material, according to the fancy of 
the operator, has been known to do the 
trick in some sections, although we 
never saw it used. Ben, a younger 
brother of Frank and Tom would rarely 
go on a turkey hunt, but by the use 
of a piece of tender green leaf held be- 
tween his lips could send forth more 
persuasive and greater range of turkey 
calls than was possible by any other 
of our hunters. 
When calling, most hunters are prone 
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