The Part that Luck Plays 
(Continued from page 17) 
Let me give you one more-conclusive 
proof. 
Later the same season Ray and I were 
hunting from the same camp at the same 
bend, under instructions from the Missus 
to bring back Thanksgiving meat. We had 
finished up on the morning flight with little 
success and had decided to wait for eve- 
ning shooting which generally starts about 
half an hour before sunset. Rather than 
tote all our decoys back to camp, yet fear- 
ing to leave our live ones out in the bar 
without guard, we carried a pair of cots 
from camp to a high bank overlooking our 
"set." There we dozed with one eye open 
and both ears cocked. 
Near noon I was awakened by honking 
of an approaching flock of geese, coming 
from feeding fields to the bars for water 
and a noon nap. Before they had come 
into sight from behind trees which fringed 
the bank I knew they were low because of 
the clearness of their calls. 
Shouting to Ray, I grabbed my shot- 
gun. Just as I did so, the string came 
into sight. - I didn't take a second look 
to calculate them too high to be bothered 
by 6s, the only thing we had in our guns, 
so I decided to take a gamble with the 
same rifle that had played me false on my 
previous chance for a goose. 
As the V-shaped line passed directly 
overhead, I led the leader what I judged 
the proper distance and pulled the trigger. 
Lazily flapping wings speeded up. So did 
my pumping at the rifle lever. On my 
fourth shot my heart nearly stopped beat- 
ing and I did cease firing. One of the 
majestic birds had   folded  his wings 
and had started a nose-dive for the 
bar below. 
Disregarding Ray's plea to "get me 
one, too," I threw down the gun, tobog- 
ganed down the sandbank into water waist 
deep and waded out to the bar where lay 
Thanksgiving meat for the Missus-my 
first goose. 
As I said before, I led for the leader. 
The one which dropped was No. 3 in the 
left wing of the V. 
Luck? You said it I 
Big Game in Alberta 
(Continued from page 20) 
to get in range. Frank pointed out the 
largest ram and I raised to get a shot at 
him, but after the first shot the entire band 
started to climb the mountain and I could 
not keep track of the right one. I did, 
however, manage to bring down a 152- 
inch ram and we skinned out the head and 
brought the meat into our camp that aft- 
ernoon. Ike and his guide did not come 
into camp until the next day about 11 
o'clock. They had had nothing to eat 
except a small porcupine which they had 
roasted. 
After giving them a hot meal Frank 
said he would like to show Ike how to 
get a sheep. The boys had seen seventy- 
two the day before but had noticed no 
rams in the entire band, so Frank struck 
out with Ike up a small draw from the 
camp. They had not been gone fifteen 
minutes when I heard several rifle shots 
and in a short time the boys returned with 
a nice ram slightly larger than mine, with 
a beautiful curl. Immediately we broke 
camp and headed for our main camp, 
where we arrived that evening. 
We spent the next two days camping, 
resting and rounding up the horses which 
had strayed from.camp some distance in 
our absence. Having all our game except 
 
Outdoor Life [   and p.Iecreation 
the caribou, and being undecided which 
way to go, we headed down the Sulphur 
River to Grand Cache. This is a small en- 
campment of Indians close to the Smoky 
River, and as they were related to our 
guides they told us where they thought we 
could get our caribou. Early in the morn- 
ing we crossed the Smoky River and 
headed for the sheep creek country, cross- 
ing the divides, and finally camped in a 
small valley. 
The snow was now getting quite deep 
in this part of the country and as it con- 
tinued to snow we did not get a chance 
to hunt caribou, altho we saw a good many 
moose in this part of the country. The 
weather continued to look threatening, so 
we broke camp and began hitting for 
the railway, where we arrived six days 
later. 
The Ways of the Wild Turkey 
(Continued from page 30) 
feeding. While some are feeding, others 
are intently listening or searching the 
landscape for signs of enemies. The 
wild turkey has absolutely no sense of 
curiosity. If he: sees or hears anything 
which appears to him to be an enemy, he 
immediately puts into use his long legs or 
broad wings in taking distance from the 
scene of danger. He rarely ever stops to 
look back, and is not satisfied until he has 
placed a couple of ridges, canyons or 
thickets between himself and what he sus- 
pects to be his enemy. The curiosity of 
buck deer has led many of them to their 
doom, but not so with wild turkeys. These 
birds seem to prefer to use their legs as a 
means of locomotion whenever a more 
rapid flight is not demanded. He takes to 
wing only when he has been flushed by a 
hunter or other enemy who has got every 
near him. When he flies at all, he gener- 
ally flies only about 400 or 50Q yards be- 
fore he comes to the ground and makes 
use of his fleet legs. In the latter part 
of the hunting season, however, after tur- 
keys have become unusually wild from 
being hunted, and have grown thin both 
from moving about and the scarcity of 
food, they sometimes fly for nearly a 
mile before stopping. 
A wild turkey is a past master in the 
use of cover. In traveling from place to 
place he rarely crosses a broad open space 
except in case of necessity such as in flee- 
ing from an enemy. Instead, he goes 
around, keeping to the brush. He is sel- 
dom seen traveling or feeding on open 
ridges. He moves via the canyons, and 
while crossing a ridge seldom lingers long 
on such exposed places. After he has been 
flushed or has sighted an enemy, he quick- 
ly moves so as to place between him and 
his enemy some sort of cover. I have 
even seen them follow along the bottom of 
a dry gully in crossing open ground. I 
have often wished that soldiers were born 
with some of the keen instincts of a wild 
turkey. 
The pseudo mountains of southwest 
Texas are ideal, homes for wild turkeys. 
While these mountains are only from 2,000 
to 3,000 feet above sea level, they are as 
rough and rugged as one could well im- 
agine. Except for the narrow valleys of 
the Medina, Guadalupe, Llano and Devil's 
rivers, and those of the many creeks 
which feed them, there is very little flat 
country which is cultivated. The moun- 
tains rise out of these valleys and form a 
series of ridges and narrow canyons or ar- 
royas which run in no fixed direction. By 
walking around on the crests of the ridges 
one may move about and around the laby- 
rinth of canyons and keep pretty much on 
the same level.  These mountains are 
 
wooded by a scattered growth of Spanish 
oak, live oak, shin oak (or chapparal) and 
growths of other bushes too numerous to 
mention. The bottoms of the canyons are, 
as a rule, rather densely wooded by the 
types of growth mentioned above. Nearly 
all of this wooded growth bears acorns 
("mast") or berries which make good food 
f or turkeys.  It also serves excellently 
as cover and hinding places for these 
birds. 
Now for the methods of hunting wild 
turkeys. To begin with, I recommend 
the use of a rifle. No one but a game- 
hog or a sportsman unworthy of the name 
would use a shotgun. The hunter who can 
not hit a bird as large as a wild turkey 
with a rifle should not be at large in the 
hills with a gun. It is not so thickly popu- 
lated where turkeys are found in south- 
west Texas that rifle shooting is danger- 
ous, and, besides, a man may carry a 
shotgun for days and miss a lot of chances 
for a shot which might have been easy 
range with a rifle. Rifles of the calibers 
.22 H. P., .25-20, .25-35, and even .30-cali- 
ber are good for shooting turkeys. I have 
used a .30-caliber service Springfield with 
considerable success. Metal patched bul- 
lets, by all means, should be used. A 
soft nosed bullet is unnecessary and only 
needlessly mutilates the turkey. 
Having selected the general locality in 
which to hunt, the next task is to locate as 
accurately as possible the limits of the 
range used by a flock or flocks of turkeys. 
This can be done comparatively easily by 
studying closely the "sign" found along 
creeks, near springs, seeps, on sand, or if 
in wet weather the tracks may be seen 
plainly most anywhere. Next, try to locate 
as accurately as possible the permanent 
watering places used by the flock. Having 
located these, search the thickets in their vi- 
cinity for roosting sign. 
Having become oriented and having fa- 
miliarized one's self to a reasonable degree 
with the habits of that particular flock, the 
next in order is the bagging of the game. 
Make it a point to be sitting around about 
sunset on some good observation point 
near the places where the turkeys are likely 
to water or roost. If you have picked 
the right place, the turkeys can usually be 
seen when they come to water or heard 
when they fly up to roost. Don't wait 
until the turkey goes to roost to shoot 
him. That is a crime, the penalty for 
which should be at least a year in a chain- 
gang. If you don't get your turkey at 
sundown, make it a point to be near some 
other likely roosting place just before sun- 
rise. Sit still and listen at least half an 
hour after sunrise. If the turkeys are 
within a radius of 500 yards of you, they 
can generally be heard when they fly out 
of the roost. If you are still unlucky, 
start moving about over the range cau- 
tiously and noiselessly. Do more looking 
than walking, and keep to the high ground 
as much as possible. If you are on their 
range you are likely to see the turkeys 
feeding-providing  they  don't see you 
first. 
It takes a wound in a vital spot to cause 
a turkey to drop in his tracks. They have 
a wonderful reserve of stamina, and fre- 
quently run for a considerable distance 
even after being hit in a vital part of the 
body.  Therefore, after you shoot and 
your turkey appears to be hit, don't give 
him up but follow him and keep him in 
sight if possible. He is likely to run for 
300 or 400 yards and then crawl into the 
brush and die in a most difficult place to 
find. 
Before you shoot, be sure it is a gobbler. 
Do not shoot into a bunched flock. Be 
sportsman enough to single out 'your tur- 
key.