COLUMBUS, OH - Hunters checked in 22,173 bearded wild turkeys during Ohios four-week, statewide spring turkey hunting season that opened April 22 and ended May 19. This seasons total represents a 15.2 percent decrease from last years record-breaking 26,156 gobblers, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.
With the addition of a fourth week to the season, our biologists expected another record year. But unseasonably cold and rainy weather restricted turkey movement, said Mike Budzik, chief of ODNRs Division of Wildlife. On a more positive note, we are happy to see that success rates actually increased in more than half the state.
Counties where the highest numbers of wild turkeys were taken during the spring season and their comparative figures from 2001 (in parenthesis) include Ashtabula - 1,037 (1,263); Guernsey - 903 (1,105); Coshocton - 800 (1,003); Jackson - 727 (751); and Harrison - 711 (889). All figures are preliminary.
Coming in to the spring season, state wildlife biologists estimated the wild turkey population in Ohio to be about 260,000, approximately 30 percent higher than last spring.
With the turkey population growing consistently, we felt it was time to give hunters an extra week of opportunity, said Budzik.
This was the third year that turkey hunting was open in every Ohio county during the spring season. Only 57 of the states 88 counties were open to spring turkey hunting in 1999.
Once all but extinct in the state, wild turkeys were reintroduced to Ohio in the mid-1950s by the ODNR Division of Wildlife. The first spring turkey hunting season was opened in 1966. Ohio now has more than 200,000 wild turkeys and they are present in all 88 counties.
Adams - 433 (526); Allen - 7 (1); Ashland - 487 (376); Ashtabula - 1,037 (1,263); Athens - 640 (791); Auglaize - 19 (5); Belmont - 556 (855); Brown 476 - (475); Butler - 37 (30); Carroll - 478 (632); Champaign - 72 (83); Clark - 27 (8); Clermont - 497 (364); Clinton - 51 (25); Columbiana - 363 (400); Coshocton - 800 (1,003); Crawford - 52 (54); Cuyahoga - 8 (0); Darke -16 (0); Defiance - 97 (101); Delaware - 68 (24); Erie - 8 (11); Fairfield - 199 (180); Fayette - 22 (1); Franklin - 7 (3); Fulton - 19 (18); Gallia - 493 (681); Geauga - 458 (352); Greene - 14 (17); Guernsey - 903 (1,105); Hamilton - 53 (52); Hancock - 10 (10); Hardin - 37 (39); Harrison - 711 (889); Henry - 12 (20); Highland - 259 (215); Hocking - 528 (902); Holmes - 442 (557); Huron - 127 (143); Jackson - 727 (751); Jefferson - 505 (690); Knox - 402 (634); Lake - 214 (87); Lawrence - 314 (269); Licking - 554 (489); Logan - 111 (100); Lorain - 74 (65); Lucas - 10 (6); Madison - 1 (4); Mahoning - 179 (82); Marion - 30 (13); Medina - 101 (57); Meigs - 612 (762); Mercer - 0 (0); Miami - 11 (3); Monroe - 625 (941); Montgomery - 4 (3); Morgan - 521 (725); Morrow - 168 (169); Muskingum - 691 (1,200); Noble - 371 (802); Ottawa - 4 (0); Paulding - 60 (1); Perry - 493 (715); Pickaway - 55 (7); Pike - 260 (358); Portage - 138 (112); Preble - 41 (58); Putnam - 16 (5); Richland - 487 (490); Ross - 481 (556); Sandusky - 12 (2); Scioto - 388 (279); Seneca - 111 (54); Shelby - 19 (34); Stark - 258 (129); Summit - 27 (13); Trumbull - 579 (520); Tuscarawas - 580 (872); Union - 13 (4); Van Wert - 2 (0); Vinton - 379 (775); Warren - 70 (55); Washington - 626 (723); Wayne - 142 (126); Williams - 130 (154); Wood - 6 (9); Wyandot - 48 (42) Totals: 22,173 (26,156).