MITCHELL - More turkeys are roaming South Dakota than anytime in the past four decades, according to the state Game, Fish & Parks Department.

"It's been the highest turkey numbers since the early '60s, I think," said Ron Schauer, a GF&P regional wildlife manager in Sioux Falls. "So we're probably going on close to 45 to 50 years since it's been this good."

The Game, Fish & Parks Commission has proposed 795 additional tags for the spring Prairie Unit turkey hunting season. The panel holds a public hearing on the proposal at its meeting next month in Pierre.

A restocking effort that included turkeys from other states began in 1990 with the help of the National Wild Turkey Federation. Mild winters and good spring nesting also have helped.

"Between the nesting weather and the winter weather, it's just been ideal," Schauer said. "So they've pretty much flourished statewide."

There's no official estimate of the number of wild turkeys in South Dakota. But the Game, Fish & Parks Department keeps track of the number shot by hunters each year.

Fewer than 1,000 turkeys were taken annually during spring Prairie Unit seasons before 1988, but by last year, the number hit 4,583. The state issued 9,605 spring Prairie Unit turkey hunting tags last year.

South Dakota also has a fall season, which started Oct. 1 and ends Jan. 31. But hunters find the spring season more popular because male "tom" turkeys that are looking to breed can be called toward a camouflaged hunter.

"They get all puffed up and gobbling," Schauer said of the toms during the spring. "It's a pretty exciting thing for a hunter to call in a big tom within shotgun range."

According to estimates, the U.S. was home to only 30,000 wild turkeys in the early 1900s. Now, the national population is estimated at 7 million.