Scouting, Volume 62, Number 3, March-April 1974 Page: 64
82, W1-W24, [16] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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WILD TURKEY FEEDERS
BY H. CLYDE BAKER
Scoutmaster Jack Simmins shrug-
ged his ears deeper into the col-
lar of his wool mackinaw. His eyes
twinkled, as he watched Scouts of Me-
hoopany (Pa.) Troop 13 haul newly-
trimmed saplings through the under-
growth to the site of a wild turkey
feeder being built to prepare for crusty
snows of winters to come.
As he spoke, his breath steamed:
"If this was November, I'd say it was
going to snow!"
My reply was cool as the overcast
sky. "Even though it's the middle of
June, if you said it, I'd believe you."
Sure enough, before the June Satur-
day was done, radios warned people
in the Endless Mountains of north-
eastern Pennsylvania to cover their
fledgling pepper and tomato plants
against that night's predicted frosts.
But Troop 13 didn't seem to worry
about the chill. Their tents were
pitched, a rock-encircled fire popped
and crackled. Food and water for the
weekend project were stored beneath
a tarpaulin, and hearty exercise kept
numbness away from their fingers.
Their turkey-feeder project had be-
gun months before, when Assistant
Scoutmaster Bob Puhl reminded the
12 boys, "Look, we all know that wild
turkeys have a tough time scratching
for seeds and nuts when the snow
gets crusted over. I've heard that the
Pennsylvania Game Commission has
a set of plans for a simple, deer-proof
turkey feeder. Let's build three of
them close to Mehoopany and give
those bronze beauties a chance to
peck away at their own corn on the
cob. Won't they be in better shape
next spring?"
The tree-covered mountains that
crowd protectively about Mehoopany's
slender valley have shown every one
of the town's 350 residents what wild-
life is like. Each boy knew the
"Keeouk, Keeouk, Kyouk, Kyouk" of
proud gobblers from early youth.
White-tailed deer outnumber people
by 10 to 1; the broad and curving
Susquehanna River offers creelfuls of
bullheads, bass, catfish and rock
perch. You can hear a black bear sow
growl on the hillside as she bats her
cubs into obedience.
With such sights and sounds a part
of their lives, no Mehoopany Scout ob-
jected to Bob Puhl's suggestion. In
fact, each boy volunteered ideas of his
own. "Let's ask the feed mill and
hardware store if they'll give us
chicken netting and smooth wire to
make the feeder deer-proof." "The
lumber mill ought to have some rough
scraps we can use for the roof."
With that kind of support, Bob then
planned with Scoutmaster Simmins
and Committeemen Bill Fitzgerald,
Bob Day, Cliff Furman and the Rev.
Richard Schuster of Mehoopany's
United Methodist Church. "These
boys seem to be fired up now," Puhl
said, "and we can work with Wyoming
County's Game Protector Al Kriefski.
He'll get plans for the Erickson Wild-
Turkey Feeder from his headquarters,
and we're on our way."
Everybody said, "Fine!" And that's
why photographer Ed Eckstein and I
journeyed to one broad shoulder of
Blueberry Mountain last summer, to
watch the enthusiasm of woods-wise
Scouts and leaders as they translated
blueprints into the hard goods of nails
and wood and wire — a turkey-serving
structure built mostly from natural ma-
terials taken from the surrounding
woods. For there was sufficient reason
to come to the aid of the gobbler.
The turkey suffered more than many
other native game birds from civiliza-
tion's westward advance. Their forest
habitat was sacrificed to screaming
sawmills; farms and industry cleared
so much woodland that by 1900 the
wild turkey was almost extinct in
Pennsylvania. Of course, pioneer
hunters figured that those meaty gob-
blers were worth the powder and shot
needed to take them to the family
feast.
Knowing this background, we
stopped to see Wyoming County's
resident game protector before
meeting with Bob Puhl and his troop.
Though not yet old enough to en-
roll as a Scout, my son Richard went
with the Scout leaders and me. This
was his chance to learn about using
an ax, pitching a tent, maybe even
spotting a wild turkey. The boy had
questions galore for Game Protector
Al Kriefski — about turkeys and rattle-
snakes and great horned owls and
"How do all these little strawberries
grow wild?"
We got answers to Richard's queries
— and many more — as we drove
through fields and scattered under-
brush to examine a wild-turkey feeder
which had been used by the birds for
four or five winters.
Al explained, "It's good to have
boys interested in projects like this
one. Pennsylvania was the first state to
capture live gobblers and hens from
other states, and 'transplant' them to
our protected gamelands. We've also
hatched and released more than
150,000 game-farm turkeys to the
wilderness since 1915."
Al's story continued as his car
nosed and climbed the hilly curves
over a road called "Turkey Track" to
Mehoopany. We stopped twice on the
way as our guide said to my son Rich-
ard, "See there, those two contoured
farms at the edge of Sugar Hollow's
woods? They're good feeding grounds
for one flock of 18 turkeys I saw there
a month ago.
"This is nesting season, and the
gobblers are probably deep in the
weeds...but there's a chance in a
thousand that we might glimpse a hen
that's left her nest for a snack of ber-
ries and nuts..." The game protector
talked in fragments as we low-geared
up the steep gravel road.
Near the top of Blueberry (where
Troop 13 was to build their first feed-
er), we did spy a hen just off the road's
shoulder. Three excited voices hol-
lered, "There's one!" The sight even
raised Al Kriefski's eyebrows as he
Slowed to a Stop, (continued on page 66)
64
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 62, Number 3, March-April 1974, periodical, March 1974; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353680/m1/88/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.