Colorado Plans To Allow Wild Turkey Hunting

DENVER (AP) - Colorado's efforts in the 1980s to reintroduce the wild turkey have been successful. Colorado wildlife officials are now developing a plan to issue unlimited over-the-counter hunting licenses to help rid areas of so-called "conflict turkeys."

The Denver Post reports that the turkeys now number 35,000 and live in 53 of Colorado's 64 counties. In some cases, residents are reporting flocks of 200 or more descending on farms and ranches in the late winter.

Turkeys strut onto roads and roam into towns such as Wray where turkeys have been reported to peck at children in schoolyards. Most of the conflicts have been reported in northeastern and southeastern Colorado.

State officials the aim for licenses for hunting on private land is to reduce the turkey population by 15 percent.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)