Turkeys Too

The wild turkey are back tonight, though fewer in number. Wile E. Coyote must have had a meal or two. A few months ago, there was a flock of about 30 roosting in the cottonwoods around the house, then they went away. Tonight I counted only 12. They had either grown or had their feathers fluffed out against the cold--only plus 25 with a slight breeze. They looked huge as they flew up into the trees.
It's against the law to feed wild animals in Wyoming, but everyone in Lance Creek does it, everyone except me. I learned why it's not a good idea to feed wild turkeys. When my children were in school, we had a flock hanging around the place, so I began throwing them out some corn as I would feed the livestock in the mornings before I went to work. I went to work before the school bus came to pick up the neighborhood kids. When my son and daughter came out of the house, the turkeys had usually finished their snack and were looking for more, and soon became aggressive in their search. They would actually chase the kids to the bus door, then attack the bus tires as it was leaving the driveway. Wild turkeys have big talons and sharp claws and spurs.
My son and I drove into the yard one day to find two gobblers locked in bloody battle. Their necks were twisted together and one had hold of the other's wattle (that piece of bluish-red skin above their beaks that swells when they strut for the females) in his beak. My son jumped out and tried to break them up, but they just ran off all locked together and still going at each other.