American game bird shooting

Front matter

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Contents

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The Pinnated Grouse....---.--.----.------- 2 rE OU a 56 CHAPTER ITI.

The Dusky Grouse-_-_.--..--.--.---------------------------- 125 CHAPTER VI The Ruffed Grouse---.---- bedarale tuts misting tebaerneGtesees 152 CHAPTER VII.

Chapter I. The Wild Turkey

The Turkey—Its early history—Different species—The Mexican turkey— Size, weight, and color, of the American species—Opening of the love season—How the males woo—Severe combats—Characteristics of barren hens—Bachelor parties—Nests—Calling for mates —Vigilant mothers—The young broods—Haunts of the birds—Migratory tours—Jealousy of the males—How flocks cross a river— Franklin’s opinion of the turkey—Its habits—Calling turkeys— Various kinds of callers—Methods of shooting turkeys—Capturing them alive—Pens—Baiting the grounds—Taming wild turkeys—Change produced by domestication—Blinds—How to find a turkey roost—The use of dogs—The best’ months for shooting —tThe brands of shot used—The secret of successful shooting— Wholesale slaughter—Turkey hunters—A colored sportsman. — How to build a blind—An ‘‘ enchanted gobbler,” aud the manner in which he was bagged—Deceiving a human caller—A turkey dog —A bet and its result—A day’s shooting—Turkeys in the Indian Territory—I kill seven in Southern Colorado—A forest feast—How to cook turkeys—June gobblers.

The wild turkey is, undoubtedly, the finest game-bird on the American Continent, and possesses many of those qualities which are so much appreciated by lovers of the gun, for it is difficult to find any feathered creature that can excel it in cautiousness, vigilance, acuteness of vision and hearing, and foresight, and when to these are added fleetness of foot and strength of wing, it is easy to understand why old hunters say that ‘‘it is harder to kill a turkey than a deer.”

The early history of this bird is interesting to those who care to note what great vitality a fallacy has, and how easy it is to err unwittingly. Thus, Belon and Gesner assumed that the tarkey was the Meleagris of the ancients, whereas the bird known by that name was the Guinea fowl (Numide Meleagris), which was quite common in Turkey, Egypt, and other Oriental countries.

Linneus, keen observer and naturalist as he was, adopted the technical nomenclature of a preceding naturalist, and gave the turkey the name by which it is known to science, namely, Meleagris gallopavo, although he knew very well whence it came, and mentions the fact in his work, for he places the habitat of the Gallopavo sylvestris of Ray in New England.

Brisson was the first person to disentangle the history of the turkey and the Guinea fowl, for he gave an elaborate description, many synonyms, and a figure of each, and thus proved that the Meleagris mentioned by Aristotle, Athaneus, Pliny, and other authors could not be the gobbling native of the New World.

The source from which the turkey came to Europe was also a matter of dispute for some years. All the early ornithologists, such as Ray, Willughby, Gésner, Belon, Barrington, and Aldrovandi thought it had been imported from Asia, and their statements were accepted as facts until Buffon gave a lucid history of its migrations.

Its English name is derived from the idea that it originally came from the Turkish dominions, so that it has been one of the most misunderstood members of the feathered creation, so far as its name and origin are concerned. The supposition that it came from Turkey was probably based on the fact that Guinea fowls were im-

_ ported into England from the Levant in the sixteenth century, and the turkey having found its way into the country about the same time, the general public assumed that both came from the same place.

Barnaby Googe, a writer on husbandry, says, in 1614, that ‘those outlandish birds called ginny cocks and turkey cocks,” were not known in England previous to the year 1530, but he, evidently, derived his statement from the German author Heresbach, who was one of the prominent writers on the history and habits of the bird.

The earliest European mention of the turkey was made by Oviedo in his summary of the history of the West Indies, which was written in 1525, for the Emperor Charles V, of Spain. In his time the domestic bird was very common in the West Indies, as well as on the mainland, it having been introduced into the islands by the Spaniards, who found it abundant in Mexico, when that country was discovered by Grijalvo, in 1518. Daines Barrington, in his essay ‘‘ Whether the turkey was known before the discovery of America,”’ assumed that it was not known in Mexico, but acknowledged that it was a resident of Virginia when that region was first explored by the whites. In contradistinction to his statement, however, we learn that Montezuma had one of the finest zodlogical gardens in the world, long before the Spaniards visited his country, and that the wild beasts were fed daily with turkeys—a proof that they must have been very abundant.

Oviedo calls those found in the West Indies, peacocks; but that they were not peacocks is evident from a part of his description of them which is given in Purchas’s “¢ Pilgrims,” for this author says: ‘‘The neck is bare of feathers, but covered with a skin, which they change after their phantasie into divers colors. They have a horn, as it were, in front, and haires on their breast.”

René de Laudonniére, the protege of Admiral Coligny, found them numerous in South Carolina, in 1564, but the domestic species had found their way into Spain several years before that time. They are supposed to have reached England between the years 1524 and 1541, for, according to the old doggerel which is assigned to the period of Henry VIII: “ Turkies, carps, hoppes, piccarel and beere, Came into England in one year.”

The poet who wrote these lines was wrong so far as the carp is concerned, for that is mentioned in the Book of St. Albans, but the turkey is not even referred to in the feast given by Archbishop Nevills to Edward IV, nor in the Earl of Northumberland’s Household Book, which dates as late as 1512. After the bird was introduced into Great Britain, it must have increased rapidly, as Barrington says, that turkey chickens, or powts, formed a portion of a Sergeant’s feast in 1555; and Tusser, in his “Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie,” places them among the Christmas fare of farmers, in 1585; for, in describing a dinner, he says: ,

As then in the countrie is counted good cheare.”

According to Blumenbach, the bird was introduced into Germany six years after it appeared in England, but the first heard of it in France was at the marriage feast of Charles IX, in 1570.

The domestic turkey was, for a long time, supposed to be descended from the wild species found in the eastern portion of the United States; but Gould, in a paper read before the London Zodlogical Society in 1856, proved that its progenitors belonged to the Mexican variety, which differs in some details from its more northern congener. The latter may be readily identified by the tips of the tail feathers and the upper tail-coverts, which are of a chestnut-brown color, whereas these parts are tipped with white in the former. The Mexican variety is also a little more brilliant in coloring, and the gloss is more greenish. When thetail and tail-coverts of a turkey are black, or any shade of white or light fulvous, one may be sure it is the farm-yard species, but if they are chestnut-brown, it is the common wild bird of the United States. A strong reason for asserting that the domestic turkey is descended from the variety found in Mexico and the South-western States is, that the flesh of both is dry and sweet, of a darkish hue on the back and legs, and white on the breast and wings, whereas, it is darkish throughout in the more northern and eastern bird.

The farm-yard species is sometimes very much like its progenitors, the main difference between them being in the greater development of the ‘fatty lobes of the head and neck of the former. The changes in color produced by domestication are, of course, well known, for some of the tame turkeys are totally black, while others have developed a tuft on the head, but these variations in hue do not disprove the theory about the source whence they sprung. The Mexican variety is found in portions of Western Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and the regions adjoining them on the south. According to Prof. Sartorius, it 1s very shy, lives in families like wild geese, and is so vigilant that sentinels are kept on watch when flocks are feeding. It is so fleet of foot that some dogs cannot overtake it; and it rarely flies to trees except when it is very hard pressed, as it depends mainly on running for escaping its foes. He thinks it doesnot trail its wings as much as its congeners do, as some captured by him did not have the ends of these appendages worn away by scraping them against the ground.

During the breeding season, which commences in March or April, each hen lays from three to twelve brownish-red, spotted eggs. The hatching takes thirty days, and during that time the birds rarely leave their nests, except when they go in search of food, and then they cover them with leaves or grass to protect them from predaceous animals.

The wild turkey of the northern and eastern division of the United States was formerly abundant in the region lying between the Atlantic Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, but it is now mainly confined to the Western and Southwestern States and Territories, though it is still rather common in some of the more densely populated States, but its habitat is confined to forests, cane brakes, or the vicinity of swamps where acorns, hazel nuts, and other mast are found. 3

It is a much handsomer bird than its domestic congener, and has all the fire and spirit which distinguish creatures in a state of nature from those of the farm-yard. ‘The gobbler is a perfect specimen of pomposity, and, evidently, considers himself the emblem of stateliness. The female differs from him in several points, so that it is an easy matter to recognize her. She is, primarily, much smaller, less brilliant in plumage, devoid of spurs, and, generally, of bristles on tho breast, and the flesh process above the base of the bill is less developed. An adult male measures from forty-six to fifty inches in length, about twenty-five inches in height, and weighs between sixteen and thirty-five pounds, the average weight being twenty pounds. The female varies in weight from eight to eighteen or more pounds, the average being twelve pounds.

The largest. gobbler I ever heard of was said to turn the scales at forty pounds, but that weight is phenomenal even in Florida or Texas, which are considered the home of the giants of the Maleagris gallopavo. I may add here parenthetically that an old hunter told me that the Mexican variety (MM. Mexicana) attained an unusual size along the banks of the Rio Grande, in Texas.

The head of the turkey is remarkable for its small size, compared with that of the body, but what it lacks in quantity it atones for in quality, for few of the feathered creation can equal the bird in those characteristics necessary to protect it from foes or to enable it to secure food.

It is, in fact, unusually intelligent, and as pugnacious as it is conceited. Its form is acombination of strength and gracefulness; and even the peculiar appendages on its head and breast are pleasant to look at when they are properly displayed.

The bill is short and robust, and about two inches and a half in length; the superior mandible is vauited, overhangs the inferior, and is covered at the base by a naked cere-like membrane, in which the nostrils are situated. The aperture of the ear is defended by a fascicle of small feathers; the irides are dark-brown; the head and half the neck are covered with a naked bluish skin, on which are a number of purplish-red excrescences. A fleshy, extensible caruncle, which is hairy and pencillated at the tip, arises at the conjunction of the bill and forehead. When the bird is quiescent, this is not more than an inch and a half in length; but when excited by love or rage, it becomes so elongated as to fall two or three inches below the bill.

The neck, which is of moderate thickness, has a pendent fascicle of black, rigid hairs, which vary from nine to twelve inches in length, on its inferior portion. The tarsus, which is red, is about six inches long, and the feet are very robust. The general hue of the plumage is glossy coppery-bronze, merging into green and purple in some lights, This gives the bird a most brilliant appearance, especially in the spring, when all the feathers are in their best condition.

The males commence wooing as early as February in some of the extreme Southern States, but March is the opening of the love season throughout the country, and April the month in which it reaches its highest development, The males may then be heard calling to the females from every direction, until the woods ring with their loud and liquid cries, which are commenced long ere the sun appears above the horizon, and continued for hours with the steadiest persistency. As both sexes roost apart at this period, the hens avoid answering the gobblers for some time, but they finally become less obdurate, and coyly return the call. When the males hear this, all within hearing respond to it promptly and vehemently, uttering notes similar to those which the domestic gobblers do when they hear an unusual sound.

If the female answering the call is on the ground, the males fly to her and parade before her with all the pompous strutting that characterizes the family. They spread and erect their tails, depress their wings with a quivering motion and trail them along the ground, and draw the head back on the shoulders, as if to increase their dignity and importance; then wheel, and march, ana swell, and gobble, as if they were trying to outdo each other in airs and graces. The female, however, pays little attention to these ceremonious parades, and demurely looks on while the rivals for her affection try to outdo one another in playing the gallant and dandy.

When the strutting and gobbling fail to win her, the candidates for matrimony challenge each other to mortal combat, and whichever is successful in the contest walks away with her in a most nonchalant manner. The easy indifference of the hen as to which she will follow may not be pleasing to persons imbued with romantic feelings, yet she is only obeying a wise law of nature, which decrees that only the fittest should live, and in the lower animal world these are characterized by their physical qualities.

The battles between the males are often waged with such desperate valor that more than one combatant is sent to join the great majority, as they deliver very hard blows at each other’s heads, and do not give up a contest until they are dead, or so exhausted as to be scarcely able to move. When one has killed another, it is said to caress the dead bird in an apparently affectionate manner, as if it were very sorry to have been compelled to do such a deed, but could not help it, owing to the force of circumstances; yet I have seen the winner of a tournament in such a rage that it not only killed its rival, but pecked out its eyes after it was dead.

When the victors have won their brides, they keep together until the latter commence laying, and then sepatate, for the males are so jealous that they would destroy the eggs if they could, in order to prolong the love period, and the hens, knowing this, carefully shun them. The males are often followed by more than one hen, but they are not so polygamous as their domestic congeners, as I never heard of a gobbler having more than two or three females under his protection.

The adult gobblers drive the young males away during the erotic season, and will not even permit them to gobble if they can, s0 that the latter are obliged to keep by themselves, genérally in parties of from six to ten, unless some of the veterans are killed, and then they occupy the vacated places of the bridegrooms, according to the order of their prowess.

Some aged males may also be found wandering through the woods in parties of two, three, four, or five, but they seldom mingle with the flocks, owing, apparently, to the waning of their salacious disposition. They are exceedingly shy and vigilant, and so wild that they fly immediately from an imaginary danger created by their own suspicious nature. They strut and gobble occasionally, but not near so much as their younger kindred. Barren hens, which also keep by themselves, are almost as demonstrative in displaying their vocal powers, airs, and feathers as the old males, whereas they are exceedingly coy and unpretentious when fertile.

This fact would seem to prove that ordinary animal nature is changed by circumstances. When the love season is over, the males are very much emaciated, so, when the hens leave them, they keep by themselves until they recover their strength, and then reunite in small bachelor parties; but instead of being exceedingly clamorous, as they were in the early part of the mating period, they become almost silent. Yet they sometimes strut and gobble on their roosts, though, as a general rule, they do not, and content themselves with elevating and lowering the tail feathers, and uttering a puffing sound. They keep at this exercise for hours at a time on moonlight nights, without rising from their perch, and sometimes continue it until daylight.

When the hen is ready to lay, she scratches out a slight hollow in a thicket, a cane brake, beside a prostrate tree, in tall grass or weeds, or a grain field, lines it rudely with grass or leaves, and then deposits her eggs in it. These, which vary in number from ten to twenty, are smaller and more elongated than those of the domestic turkey, and are of a dull cream’or a dirty-white color, sprinkled with brownish-red spots.

Audubon says that several hens may lay their eggs in one nest, and hatch and raise the broods together. He found three hens sitting on forty-two eggs in a single nest, and one was always present to protect them.

If the eggs are not destroyed, only one brood is raised in a year; but if they are, the female calls loudly for a male, and when she is rejoined by one, both keep company until she is ready to commence laying again, when she deserts him or drives him away, as he has the very strongest: penchant for destroying the eggs, in order to keep her in his company. This forces her to build her nest in the most secluded spot she can find, and to cover it carefully with leaves or grass whenever she leaves it insearch of food.

She seldom moves far from it, and is so faithful to her trust that she will allow her deadliest foes to approach her to within a few paces before she manifests any sign of being disturbed. When the eggs are about to be hatched she rarely leaves them even for a short time, and will often permit herself to be captured rather than desert them. When the young are ready to appear, at the end of thirty days, she assists them in breaking their fragile prisons, and when they emerge she caresses them, dries them with her bill, and in the course of a couple of days helps them to totter out of the nest.

As soon as they are able to move about she leads them in search of food, and exercises the greatest discretion in finding it for them, while she is equally zealous in protecting them from their numerous foes. ‘The sight of a hawk causes her to give a prompt note of alarm, and on hearing this they scatter and hide in the long grass or under leaves, and remain concealed until the danger is over. Their color, which is a light-brown, with dark-brown markings on the head and back, is a most valuable means of guarding them from enemies, as it harmonizes so well with the hue of their surroundings that they cannot be readily seen. The mother is also very careful to keep them away from swampy places, as a wetting is most fatal to them. When they are about two or three weeks old they are able to fly well enough to seek refuge in trees at night, but they generally roost on the lower limbs. Being diligent seekers after food, they quit their perches with the first gleam of dawn and hie to the woods or fields in search of it. They are very fond of berries and insects, but as they increase in size they become omnivorous, and seem to equally relish grain, grass, grapes, beetles, lizards, tadpoles, pecan nuts, fruit, acorns, hickory nuts, and other mast. They may, as a general rule, be found seeking for pabulum in the newly cut stubble-fields each morning and evening, but during the heat of the day they prefer places where they can dust themselves, in order to destroy the wood-ticks which find a congenial home in their flesh, Sandy hillocks, much-travelled roads, and places where logs have been burned are favorite dusting-grounds, and are such objects of interest that flocks will travel a long distance for the purpose of revelling in dirt baths. Their presence may be readily noted in the forest by the manner in which the leaves are turned over and the earth scratched about, but as they work quite a large tract of country in a short time, a person may have to walk several miles before he meets them, especially if foxes and raccoons are any way abundant.

The powts change their coat of dirty-gray to one of blackish-bronze about the middle of October, and from that time forth they are considered fit to be shot and to furnish legitimate sport. All their faculties seem to be fully developed then, and being fleet of foot and strong of wing, and in the highest possible condition for the table, they are deemed worthy the attention of the most gifted sportsman and the daintiest epicure.

When food becomes scarce in a region, the turkeys form into flocks, numbering from ten to a hundred, and commence a migratory tour in search of it. The adult males keep by themselves, while the mothers lead their broods, either alone or in company with other families, for the gobblers are so jealous of the young that they would kill them if they got the opportunity; hence the necessity of keeping them apart.

As the flocks move onward they are gradually joined by others, until each drove numbers fifty and upwards, and these remain together until they are dispersed by foes or they voluntarily separate. Should they meet a broad river during their migration, all ages and sexes are said to make a stay of .one or two days on its bank, preparatory to crossing. This time is not idly wasted, however, as they devote it to strutting, running round one another, expanding the tail feathers, gobbling vociferously, or making the loud puffing or purring noise for which they are famous,

THE WILD TURKEY. Q1

All this clamor and parading is supposed to be for the purpose of screwing their courage up to the highest sticking-point, and of cheering each other to undertake the passage across the treacherous water.

When their bravery has been raised to the utmost possible pitch, they mount on the trees, and, at a signal from their leader, launch themselves into the air and fly for the opposite shore. If the river is wide, some of them fall into it, but on touching it they spread the tail in the form of a fan, bring the wings close to the body, and, plying their strong legs in the most vigorous manner, swim rapidly for the land.

If the bank is not very steep they may be able to surmount it, but if it is many of them are drowned, as their efforts in the water exhaust them in ashort time. The first to succumb are the weakest of the young broods, and then the decrepit veterans, whose vehement gobbling proves that they are better vocalists than athletes, and that they have more courage than discretion.

When the birds cross a river of any magnitude they become so bewildered that they fall an easy prey to sportsmen and predaceous animals, for they seem to lose all their natural caution and cunning. If they find food abundant in their new quarters they separate into small droves, which are composed of all ages and sexes, and remain together until the following spring, when they disperse, preparatory to mating.

They become so daring as to enter a farm-yard sometimes, and to indulge in contests with their domesticated congeners, if the latter do not acknowledge their physical supremacy. Yet they often get along amicably together, and even ‘take each other for better or worse” in the pairing period, but, as a rule, the wild birds prefer to confine their conjugal relations to themselves.

The combativeness of a domestic gobbler and his hatred of red and crimson colors are well known; yet he is by no means as quarrelsome as his feral congener, the latter being one of the most pugnacious of creatures. It was probably on this account that Benjamin Franklin considered that the turkey, and not the eagle, ought to have been selected as the emblem of the United States, for, besides being a true native of America, he considered that it was also a more useful animal than the monarch of the air, and, though somewhat vain and silly, that it had the courage to face a grenadier of the British Guards if he entered the farm-yard with a red coat on his back. The wild bird would not, however, attack a child who displayed that disagreeable hue, as it is too much afraid of enemies to attack anything having the semblance of mankind. It is so wary that it is very difficult of approach in the daytime, but, by watching its movements, it may be caught on its perch on moonlight nights. It generally roosts high up on the trees, and, if the flocks are together, a dozen or two may be found on one tree. Like all the gallinaceous birds of the American Continent, it fancies itself secure when once it gets amidst the foliage, and may remain on its perch even when its deadliest foe is walking beneath. It is said that a flock can be killed on a roost, if the lower ones are shot first, but I have never seen this done, though I have seen five bagged before the remainder decided to seek safety in flight. Notwithstanding the extreme cautiousness and vigilance of these birds, many are shot annually by men who know their habits. The favorite method with experienced hunters is to lie in ambush and call the males towards them by imitating the notes of the female. This is done with the mouth, or by making a call out of the small bone of a turkey’s wing, or out of brass or wood. The number who can call well with the vocal organs alone is small indeed, as it requires long practice and a close study of the various intonations of the hens to imitate them, yet I have known men who could cluck, drum, yelp, and gobble so accurately that they would deceive the oldest veteran in the forest and bring him within range of their rifle or shot-gun at {he proper season. The caller made out of the fing-bone of a turkey is probably one of the simplest and best that can be obtained, as alla person has to do is to put one end into his mouth and draw the air through it, and if he knows his business he can imitate the notes of the female.

Some men make a caller by sawing off about two inches of the end of a cow’s horn, and cutting a piece of shingle so that it will fit the small end of the piece sawed off. By boring a hole in the middle of the shingle, and inserting in it a piece of wood about the thickness of a large nail and long enough to project a short distance beyond the open end of the horn, and scraping this stick

“on a piece of slate, the familiar “‘keouk ” of the hen can be imitated.

A very good caller 1s made out of a tapering cylinder of hard-wood, about six inches long, an inch in diameter at the bottom, half an inch at the top, and hollowed in such a manner that it will correspond with the outside shape. By inserting in this a small piece of cane, about seven or eight inches long, and having a very fine opening through it, nearly every note of the turkey, except the gobble, may be produced. One made out of the large wing-bone of the turkey, that nearest the body, is very popular with some hunters, as itis portable and easily prepared. This is made by cutting a crescent-like opening in one end of the bone; the small end is then cut off; the bone is cleaned out; anicely fitting plug of wood, with a small hole in it, is inserted into the piece cut off ; and into this wood a piece of cane, having a fine opening running through it, is fitted as in the wooden caller.