The
numbers shows
what good weather can do to get a tom turkey talking and
shot instead
of clamming up
due to
cold temperatures, bitter winds and persistent
rains.
Both
the just-concluded two-day/youth-only and the first day of Ohio’s
general spring wild turkey
hunting seasons were unqualified successes.
However,
for 2018’s general spring season opening day figures, not every one
of Ohio’s 88 counties saw gains when their respective 2018 numbers
are stacked alongside their respective 2017 figures.
It
is important to note, though, that the general
season’s opening
day numbers
do not include figures for Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and
Trumbull counties. Beginning in 2017 these five counties were carved
out as being a special Northeast Ohio spring wild turkey hunting
season.
Thus
, the
state
has been divided into two zones for spring turkey hunting: a South
Zone,
which opened
April 23rd
and runs through May
20th.
The Northeast
Zone
opens
April 30th
and continues through May
27th
It
is interesting to
note as
well that during the 2015 youth-only spring wild turkey season the
total kill for the two-day/weekend format stood at 1,589 birds.
Meanwhile,
that figure for its comparable 2017 season was 1,564 birds, a
statistically insignificant number.
Last
year during its
two-day season, youthful hunters age 17
and under killed 1,895 birds while for the just-concluded hunt,
youths killed 1,860
birds: or again, a statistically insignificant figure. Also,
the
turkey
kill numbers
for both 2017 and 2018 youth-only
spring seasons do
show more turkeys being killed by kids than for either 2015
or 2016.
A
few other interesting spring turkey-hunting snippets as gleaned from
the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s 2017 spring turkey hunting report
shows that since 2014, the number of turkey-hunting permits have
fluctuated only slightly; up, down and then back up. The
exact figures went
from 68,960 licenses
issued
in 2014 to 65,883 licenses
in
2015, 66,436 license
in
2016, and 65,486 licenses
last
year. The year in which the most-ever permits issued was in 2003
when the state granted 94,889 documents.
Regarding
the total
birds being killed for all
of the spring seasons, the highest number ever was the 26,156 birds
shot during 2001. Also, last year’s total all-spring seasons kill
of 21,097 turkeys ranks third, trailing
behind the
2001
all-seasons’
kill,
and 2010’s 23,421 birds.
As
for the
method
of kill, not surprisingly shotguns lead the way and hovered very
close to 97 percent for
each
of the years between 2014 and 2017. Vertical bows typical account for
around 1.7 percent of
birds killed annually
with
crossbows accounting
for less
than one percent for each of the years 2014 through 2017, the
Wildlife Division report shows.
Here
is the
list of all wild turkeys checked by hunters during the 2018 opening
day of
the state’s spring
hunting season, excluding
the five Northeast Ohio hunting zone.
The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest
numbers for 2018, and the 2017 numbers are in parentheses.
Adams:
53 (92); Allen: 6 (8); Ashland: 53 (41); Ashtabula: 0 (0); Athens: 90
(61); Auglaize: 3 (8); Belmont: 128 (81); Brown: 54 (66); Butler: 31
(36); Carroll: 90 (91); Champaign: 18 (19); Clark: 1 (4); Clermont:
45 (75); Clinton: 4 (9); Columbiana: 57 (54); Coshocton: 149 (125);
Crawford: 4 (8); Cuyahoga: 0 (0); Darke: 4 (5); Defiance: 33 (47);
Delaware: 19 (17); Erie: 7 (4); Fairfield: 28 (16); Fayette: 2 (4);
Franklin: 3 (4); Fulton: 14 (19); Gallia: 61 (69); Geauga: 0 (0);
Greene: 4 (2); Guernsey: 136 (109); Hamilton: 12 (18); Hancock: 4
(6); Hardin: 11 (14); Harrison: 132 (92); Henry: 8 (8); Highland: 59
(86); Hocking: 63 (66); Holmes: 56 (58); Huron: 30 (31); Jackson: 70
(57); Jefferson: 78 (54); Knox: 85 (85); Lake: 0 (0); Lawrence: 28
(45); Licking: 77 (82); Logan: 25 (27); Lorain: 18 (22); Lucas: 16
(8); Madison: 2 (1); Mahoning: 27 (32); Marion: 3 (4); Medina: 30
(19); Meigs: 110 (84); Mercer: 5 (7); Miami: 3 (4); Monroe: 126 (83);
Montgomery: 5 (5); Morgan: 95 (66);
Morrow: 20 (37); Muskingum: 117 (89); Noble: 69 (72); Ottawa: 0 (0);
Paulding: 9 (19); Perry: 67 (47); Pickaway: 3 (4); Pike: 43 (37);
Portage: 47 (38); Preble: 25 (14); Putnam: 5 (9); Richland: 51 (39);
Ross: 58 (70); Sandusky: 3 (4); Scioto: 36 (53); Seneca: 26 (27);
Shelby: 5 (5); Stark: 38 (43); Summit: 10 (7); Trumbull: 0 (0);
Tuscarawas: 147 (115); Union: 8 (6); Van Wert: 4 (7); Vinton: 84
(71); Warren: 6 (16); Washington: 107 (78); Wayne: 18 (21); Williams:
25 (41); Wood: 3 (2); Wyandot: 6 (18); TOTAL: 3,315 (3,127).
Here
is the
list of all wild turkeys checked by eligible
youth hunters
during the 2018 two-day youth spring hunting season is shown below.
The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest
numbers for 2018, and the 2017 numbers are in parentheses.
Adams:
28 (35); Allen: 8 (10); Ashland: 34 (25); Ashtabula: 35 (50); Athens:
29 (28); Auglaize: 6 (5); Belmont: 54 (40); Brown: 25 (36); Butler:
18 (14); Carroll: 36 (40); Champaign: 5 (5); Clark: 3 (2); Clermont:
24 (38); Clinton: 2 (4); Columbiana: 27 (26); Coshocton: 68 (63);
Crawford: 9 (5); Cuyahoga: 0 (0); Darke: 9 (10); Defiance: 22 (36);
Delaware: 10 (13); Erie: 1 (7); Fairfield: 4 (6); Fayette: 1 (0);
Franklin: 1 (4); Fulton: 11 (13); Gallia: 31 (46); Geauga: 13 (19);
Greene: 0 (4); Guernsey: 63 (46); Hamilton: 5 (2); Hancock: 0 (2);
Hardin: 7 (8); Harrison: 66 (58); Henry: 9 (6); Highland: 28 (34);
Hocking: 35 (15); Holmes: 36 (39); Huron: 13 (16); Jackson: 41 (44);
Jefferson: 35 (34); Knox: 38 (32); Lake: 1 (4); Lawrence: 35 (44);
Licking: 43 (35); Logan: 8 (10); Lorain: 9 (12); Lucas: 9 (8);
Madison: 0 (0); Mahoning: 10 (15); Marion: 2 (5); Medina: 11 (10);
Meigs: 60 (46); Mercer: 3 (3); Miami: 2 (5); Monroe: 81 (71);
Montgomery: 1 (1); Morgan: 44 (47); Morrow: 19 (19); Muskingum: 90
(82); Noble: 74 (55); Ottawa: 0 (0); Paulding: 6 (8); Perry: 50 (30);
Pickaway: 2 (0); Pike: 12 (26); Portage: 20 (26); Preble: 9 (8);
Putnam: 9 (8); Richland: 31 (36); Ross: 36 (40); Sandusky: 0 (1);
Scioto: 15 (20); Seneca: 12 (11); Shelby: 6 (2); Stark: 21 (21);
Summit: 2 (1); Trumbull: 26 (42); Tuscarawas: 59 (56); Union: 4 (10);
Van Wert: 2 (5); Vinton: 42 (32); Warren: 8 (11); Washington: 60
(58); Wayne: 13 (11); Williams: 19 (30); Wood: 0 (2); Wyandot: 4 (8).
Total:
1,860 (1,895).
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
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