LOUISIANA CONSERVATION REVIEW 
 
 
wilds" that thb wild turkey is a native of North 
America only, this Brazilian turkey was probably 
not the same bird at present extant in the United 
States. 
 
 
      r"ROPAGATION 
  Mr. Charles L. Jordan 
knew the wild turkey 
probably better than any 
other man in the United 
States. Shortly before 
his death, Mr. Jordan 
began a book on turkeys 
entitled, "The Wild Tur- 
key and Its Hunting," 
interrupted when he was 
 
 
                         of the Morris game pre- 
 serve near Hammond, Louisiana, which was com- 
 pleted and published by Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny, a 
 well known pioneer in the cause of wild life con- 
 servation in Louisiana. Quoting from this book I 
 give the author's view on the, simplicity with 
 which the wild turkey can be propagated: 
    "Any suitable community can have all the 
 wild turkeys it wants if it will obtain a few speci- 
 mens and turn them into a small woodland about 
 the beginning of spring and spread grain of some 
 sort for them daily. The turkey will stay where 
 the food is abundant and where there is a little 
 brush in which to retire and rest. 
    "It has frequently been stated that the wild 
 turkey will not live and propagate within the 
 haunts of man. This depends upon how the birds 
 are treated. No bird nor animal can survive eter- 
 nal persecution. There is no trouble about the 
 birds thriving in a settled community if the 
 proper territory is set apart for their use and 
 proper protection given. The territory should 
 consist of a few acres of woodland or of some 
 broken ground, thicket, or swamp, to afford a 
 little cover. In such a retreat a trio of wild turkeys 
 may be turned loose; in a few years, if properly 
 protected, the vicinity would be stocked with 
 them." 
    Mr. Jordan tells us further that the South is 
well fitted for the raising of these game birds: 
    "There are thousands of acres in the South 
which were once cultivated, but which are now 
abandoned and growing up with timber, brush, 
and grass. Such country affords splendid oppor- 
tunities for the raising and perpetuating of the 
wild turkey. These lands are vastly more superior 
for this purpose than are the solid primeval 
forest, in as much as they afford a great variety 
of summer food such as green tender herbage, 
berries of many kinds, grasshoppers by the mil- 
 
 
   BREEDING AND HABITS 
   Charles Jordan, in Mr. 
McIlhenny's   book, particu- 
larly stresses the necessity of 
sparing some of the old gob- 
blers of every flock, stating: 
   "I have ample evidence 
that wild turkeys will not 
 
 
shrink from civilization. It is 
the trapping, snaring, bait- 
ing, and killing of all old gobblers that decimates 
their numbers, not the legitimate hunting by 
sportsmen," 
 
 
65 
 
 
July, 1932. 
 
 
lions, and other insects in which turkeys delight. 
Such a country also affords good nesting retreats, 
with briar patches and straw where the nest may 
be safely hidden and where the young birds may 
secure safe hiding from animals and birds of 
prey, but alas! at present not from trappers, 
baiters, and pot hunters. Check this, and the 
abandoned plantation of the South would soon be 
alive with turkeys." 
    The dense swamps found along most of the 
 river bottoms in Louisiana, offer ideal natural 
 sanctuaries such as are rarely found elsewhere in 
 the South. Experiments undertaken by the State 
 of Pennsylvania have clearly proved that the wild 
 turkey, as Mr. Jordan states, increases abun- 
 dantly under the protection of proper conserva- 
 tion laws and properly directed propagation. 
 Therefore, since nature has given to Louisiana 
 these proper propagating places and the legisla- 
 ture has given to us the proper laws, there is no 
 reason why the wild turkey should become extinct 
 in this State, except for the fact that the needed 
 cooperation has not been secured. 
    The Department of Conservation has contem- 
plated closing the hunting season on this game 
bird for several years. Many old hunters have 
decried the present open season, which extends 
from March 5 to April 5, as it is the "gobbling" 
period when the turkey is preparing to mate and 
is very susceptible to the lure of a good caller. 
However, the season is so short, and the country 
where the few remaining turkeys in the State 
range is so difficult of access, that the department 
believes little, if any, harm may result from the 
present open season. 
   Too, if the big lumber companies in Louisi- 
ana would lend their holdings for the propagation 
of the wild turkey, great good would result. With 
the comildned help of the proper legislation, 
needed cducation, and the desired cooperation 
wild turkeys s&iould propagate rapidly in our 
State and their future would 
be indeed assured.