Preliminary Turkey Season Results Final Totals COUNTY 2005 2004 Adams 391 348 Allen 5 3 Ashland 344 339 Ashtabula 559 648 Athens 545 404 Auglaize 24 19 Belmont 486 439 Brown 424 322 Butler 63 41 Carroll 311 330 Champaign 83 50 Clark 31 23 Clermont 493 377 Clinton 38 44 Columbiana 340 427 Coshocton 599 540 Crawford 30 40 Cuyahoga 7 2 Darke 24 18 Defiance 123 90 Delaware 51 62 Erie 15 30 Fairfield 160 146 Fayette 28 34 Franklin 13 11 Fulton 34 35 Gallia 361 344 Geauga 273 290 Greene 19 15 Guernsey 533 497 Hamilton 111 67 Hancock 10 18 Hardin 34 27 Harrison 606 529 Henry 15 13 Highland 342 246 Hocking 315 274 Holmes 302 291 Huron 134 161 Jackson 493 404 Jefferson 456 441 Knox 409 445 Lake 131 213 Lawrence 245 204 Licking 357 359 Logan 167 97 Lorain 89 102 Lucas 19 26 Madison 5 2 Mahoning 200 176 Marion 15 33 Medina 96 113 Meigs 534 401 Mercer 8 18 Miami 14 13 Monroe 458 407 Montgomery 10 6 Morgan 286 260 Morrow 196 213 Muskingum 354 283 Noble 408 378 Ottawa 12 9 Paulding 65 70 Perry 346 315 Pickaway 71 58 Pike 211 206 Portage 108 92 Preble 85 43 Putnam 40 19 Richland 257 341 Ross 374 317 Sandusky 20 13 Scioto 334 271 Seneca 106 93 Shelby 22 25 Stark 235 234 Summit 57 45 Trumbull 356 411 Tuscarawas 478 346 Union 16 19 Van Wert 9 6 Vinton 219 214 Warren 65 55 Washington 501 377 Wayne 89 119 Williams 176 167 Wood 5 8 Wyandot 59 56 Totals 17,542 16,118

May 16, 2005

2005 OHIO SPRING TURKEY HUNTING SEASON
ENDS WITH FLOURISH

Season kill up nearly 9 percent from 2004

COLUMBUS, OH - Hunters checked in 17,542 wild turkeys during Ohio’s four-week, statewide spring turkey hunting season that opened April 18 and ended May 15, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.

The preliminary total represents nearly a 9 percent increase over last year’s preliminary number of 16,118.

Harrison County led the state with the most turkeys killed with 606. Harrison was followed by the following counties: Coshocton (599), Ashtabula (559), Athens (545), Meigs (534), Guernsey (533), Jackson and Clermont (493), Belmont (486), and Tuscarawas (478).

“This was the first season in four years that saw an increase in the number of turkeys taken over the previous year,” said Steven A. Gray, chief of the Division of Wildlife. “We had a variety of weather conditions for hunting, ranging from snow on the ground to 80-degree temperatures. However, we did have a good number of hunting days.”

In addition to the turkeys taken during the regular turkey season, young hunters harvested another 1,612 birds during a special youth-only turkey hunt April 16 and 17. The statewide hunt was open to hunters age 17 and younger. Prior to the start of the spring hunting season, state wildlife biologists estimated the wild turkey population in Ohio to be more than 170,000 birds.

This was the sixth spring that turkey hunting was open in every Ohio county. Only 57 of the state’s 88 counties were open to spring turkey hunting in 1999.

Wild turkeys were nearly extinct in Ohio before being reintroduced in the mid-1950s by the Division of Wildlife. The first spring turkey-hunting season opened in 1966. Wild turkeys are now present in all 88 counties.