Wisconsin may designate the wild turkey as the official state game bird!

We need your urgent help!
The bill designating the wild turkey as the Wisconsin state game bird has been submitted for legislative members to co-sponsor. Please contact as many legislative members as you can and ask them to co-sponsor bill LRB-2888.
It is important that we act now to get this bill passed.!

FROM:             Rep. Gordon Hintz and Rep. Michael Schraa
 
DATE:              January 14, 2016
 
Co-Sponsorship of LRB-2888– relating to: designating the wild turkey as the official state game bird.
 
SHORT DEADLINE: Noon, January 20, 2016         
 
At the request of the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, we have drafted legislation designating the wild turkey the official State Game Bird in Wisconsin. The tradition of turkey hunting in Wisconsin has a history unmatched by any other game bird, with Wisconsin ranking in the top states in wild turkey harvest and population. 

Historically turkeys occupied much of Southern Wisconsin south of a line from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay.  The Jesuit Claud Jean Allouez wrote of wild turkeys near Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin as early as 1670. By 1860 wild turkeys were very rare, and they were completely gone in the late 1800’s. Unregulated market hunting, widespread clearing of woodlands, and infectious diseases from domestic poultry contributed to this extermination.
 
The successful re-introduction of true wild turkeys from Missouri into Vernon County’s Bad Axe Watershed in 1976 led to a turkey population of 200,000 by the spring of 2000. We now have 130,000 turkey hunters in Wisconsin pursuing huntable populations of wild turkeys throughout the State. This re-introduction has produced unprecedented recreation and revenue in Wisconsin.  
 
Some other interesting wild turkey facts:
·         The wild turkey is native to Wisconsin.
·         Wisconsin’s wild turkeys can be hunted in spring and fall.
·         Wild turkeys can be hunted by calling, patterning or with a dog.
·         A wild turkey is strong, it can run 25 miles per hour and fly 55 miles per hour.
·         The wild turkey has the largest vocabulary of any game bird, 
 
If you are interested in co-sponsoring this legislation please respond to this e-mail or contact Rep. Hintz ’s office by responding to this email or calling 266.2254 by Noon, January, 20th.
 
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Current law lists various symbols as state symbols.  Current state symbols include the state beverage (milk), the state flower (wood violet), the state dog (American water spaniel), and the state mineral (galena).  This bill adds state game bird to the list of state symbols and designates wild turkey as the state game bird.