In spite of near perfect weather for this year’s four-week-long spring turkey-hunting season and some of the worst weather for last year’s season, the kill still was down some three percent this time around.
Which doesn’t come as a huge surprise. Last year’s unseasonably cool temperatures and super abundant rain showers put a world of hurt on turkey pullet survival.
In the end that meant fewer turkeys were available for hunters during the just-concluded season.
Hunters checked 17,647 wild turkeys during the season that ended May 15. The preliminary total represents a three-percent decrease over last year’s harvest number of 18,162, says the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Once again Ashtabula County again led will a kill of 762 birds. That figure is up from the 700 turkeys killed during the 2011 spring season.
Other top counties were: Ashtabula-762, Tuscarawas-531, Guernsey-495, Coshocton-492, Muskingum-486, Belmont-456, Knox-451, Harrison-450, Trumbull-428 and Adams-420.
Noteworthy perhaps is that Geauga County and Lorain County both reported declines in the kill. Nearly every other Northeast Ohio county saw gains.
Count me as one of the unsuccessful hunters. I watched eight sunrises and one sunset during the four-week season. Birds were heard just three times and seen but once. A pair of jakes which were attracted by my calling wanted to come in but were coaxed into pulling back by a mean, old boss hen. Maybe during the up-coming fall season I can get my revenge and make her our Thanksgiving Day dinner. That's because hunters are allowed to shoot a turkey of either sex during the fall season.
The Division of Wildlife estimates that more than 70,000 people hunted turkeys during the season. Prior to the start of the spring hunting season, state wildlife biologists estimated the wild turkey population in Ohio to be more than 180,000 birds.
Preliminary spring turkey season results for 2012 are listed. The 2011 final totals are shown in parentheses:
Adams: 420 (502); Allen: 45 (45); Ashland: 237 (224); Ashtabula: 762 (700); Athens: 335 (367); Auglaize: 34 (36); Belmont: 456 (435); Brown: 350 (428); Butler: 184 (200); Carroll: 385 (349); Champaign: 87 (87); Clark: 18 (17); Clermont: 338 (420); Clinton: 60 (75); Columbiana: 410 (394); Coshocton: 492 (443); Crawford: 77 (85); Cuyahoga: 2 (4); Darke: 52 (43); Defiance: 218 (227); Delaware: 126 (131); Erie: 60 (52); Fairfield: 111 (90); Fayette: 6 (5); Franklin: 21 (23); Fulton: 92 (90); Gallia: 289 (370); Geauga: 276 (300); Greene: 20 (23); Guernsey: 495 (498); Hamilton: 119 (139); Hancock: 23 (31); Hardin: 88 (74); Harrison: 450 (474); Henry: 32 (35); Highland: 402 (438); Hocking: 296 (283); Holmes: 259 (215); Huron: 152 (158); Jackson: 292 (296); Jefferson: 365 (374); Knox: 451 (498); Lake: 84 (58); Lawrence: 179 (262); Licking: 380 (425); Logan: 166 (159); Lorain: 177 (182); Lucas: 46 (43); Madison: 1 (4); Mahoning: 238 (226); Marion: 49 (53); Medina: 120 (116); Meigs: 366 (396); Mercer: 20 (17); Miami: 12 (26); Monroe: 417 (440); Montgomery: 20 (15); Morgan: 292 (338); Morrow: 212 (205); Muskingum: 486 (455); Noble: 333 (305); Ottawa: 9 (2); Paulding: 99 (82); Perry: 247 (257); Pickaway: 26 (28); Pike: 280 (270); Portage: 234 (224); Preble: 91 (71); Putnam: 50 (58); Richland: 393 (408); Ross: 333 (344); Sandusky: 13 (17); Scioto: 210 (260); Seneca: 165 (162); Shelby: 42 (39); Stark: 213 (219); Summit: 42 (28); Trumbull: 428 (405); Tuscarawas: 531 (571); Union: 38 (37); Van Wert: 11 (21); Vinton: 263 (256); Warren: 90 (123); Washington: 390 (402); Wayne: 96 (107); Williams: 261 (242); Wood: 19 (21); Wyandot: 88 (105).
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com
Twiter: @Fieldkorn
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