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Hunting turkey in Hallowell – As Vice President Dick Cheney and his Texas quail-hunting buddy Harry Whittington discovered — from somewhat differing perspectives — it’s not nice to shoot someone.

That’s why it’s good news that Hallowell city officials are considering setting up a 500-foot safety zone around the new elementary school. The school’s being built on land next to Interstate 95, which had previously been used by bow hunters in pursuit of wild turkey and deer.

Since the range of a bow hunter is probably no more than 25 yards, that proposed zone should be enough to keep children intact.

Not so the turkeys, however, which are appearing in flocks across the Maine landscape, and which have become an increasingly popular prey for Maine hunters.

Drive along an open field one of these early springtime mornings, and you’re likely to pass a group of tom turkeys strutting their stuff, showing off by fanning their gorgeous tail feathers in an attempt to attract females.

Pass a grove of trees at dusk, and you may be treated to the dark, hulking silhouettes of turkeys roosting high up in the branches, safe in their arboreal haven from predators on the ground.

On the other hand, just because this country’s native wild turkeys are abundant now — they’ve come back from the brink of extinction in the early part of the last century — it doesn’t mean those hunters around the Halldale Elementary School are going to nail one anytime soon.

The clumsy-looking bird actually has excellent vision, can run at speeds approaching 25 mph, and can fly up to 55 mph; we should all be so agile.

That’s the reason so many turkey- hunting licenses are issued in this state, and so few produce that coveted roast turkey dinner.

That’s also the reason it’s good to establish a protective zone around a school sited in the middle of turkey- hunting territory — those arrows are more than likely going to miss their target.