In
spite of an up-and-down weather pattern that has played havoc on
various outdoors pursuits, that condition has not stopped Ohio’s
turkey hunting community from taking one-thousand-plus more birds
when laid next to the comparable 2017 to-date figure.
However,
the plus-positive turkey kill numbers are largely being attributed to
the heavy emergence of cicadas in southeast Ohio two years ago. These
protein-rich invertebrates led to highly successful turkey poult
production and survival rates, conditions which Ohio Division of
Wildlife scientists say is lingering into 2018 as these once-juvenile
birds are now two-year old mature toms.
As
of May 10th, Ohio has seen the taking of 16,060 bearded
wild turkeys. That figure is 1,046 more birds than were harvested for
the same time frame in 2017, or 15,014 birds. Both sets of numbers do
include the to-date numbers for the five-county Northeast Ohio Turkey
Hunting Zone.
“The
pattern that seems to be emerging this spring is turkey harvest
totals in most counties across much of the state are below totals at
the same point in 2017,” said
Mark
Wiley, the Wildlife Division’s biologist in charge of the state’s
wild turkey management project
In
biologist-speak, the
reproductive index (poults-to-hen
ratio)
in these areas was only
average
or even
below
average in both 2016 and 2017, Wiley
said.
“However,
counties
in east-central and southeast Ohio are an exception, as harvest in
this region is up 20 to
30
percent,”
Wiley
said.
“The reproductive index in this area was high in 2016 during the
periodical cicada emergence, and hunters are likely encountering many
of those two-year-old
birds this spring.”
In
short, a ‘bump’ in related turkey production and survival,
occurred, resulting in southeast Ohio being this spring
turkey-hunting season’s “hot spot,” Wiley said.
To
help illustrate this anomaly, here are the 2018 to-date figures for
several selected southeast Ohio counties with their corresponding and
respective 2017 to-date figures in parentheses: Athens County – 445
(317); Coschocton County – 585 (492); Guernsey County – 617
(423); Harrison County – 499 (409); Muskingum County – 545 (444);
and Tuscarawas County – 582 (503).
Conversely,
much of the rest of the state is in a turkey harvest slump, with the
Wildlife Division’s figures to-date figures pointing to the skid
marks. To illustrate, here are the 2018 to-date figures for several
selected Ohio counties – excluding those in southeast Ohio – with
their corresponding and respective 2017 to-date figures in
parentheses: Adams County – 265 (380); Ashtabula County – 280
(323); Brown County – 272 (304); Defiance County – 145 (189);
Highland County – 262 (322); and Williams County – 141 (195).
In
all, about one-half of Ohio’s 88 counties are showing respective
to-date turkey kill declines with four counties noting identical
to-date 2018 and 2017 numbers. The rest of the counties have recorded
to-date increases.
Yet
Wiley acknowledged that in essence all good things must come to an
end. In that regard beginning with the spring 2019 spring season the
turkey kill in the gold-standard southeast Ohio counties will likely
mean that “we’ll see more normal harvests” there, Wiley said.
That
being said, Wiley noted that another hatch of cyclic 17-year cicada
hatches – called “broods” - is expect in 2019 for a sliver of
extreme eastern Ashtabula County, much of Trumbull County, and a
portion of Columbiana County.
And
a similar heavy brood emergence is expected in 2021 for a large chunk
of central Ohio, though this appearance may be mitigated by the
region’s heavy agricultural practices that likely will limit the
turkey kill. Turkey populations there are not as high as they are
elsewhere in the state Wiley explained.
The
next significant cicada brood emergence over a wide area of prime
turkey habitat is projected to appear in 2025 in southwest Ohio,
Wiley said.
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
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