Ohio's wild turkey hunters are piling up impressive to-date bird kill numbers

Ohio’s fall wild turkey hunters have not exhausted the state’s population of birds but they have put a dent in the species’ numbers.

Indeed, Ohio’s fall turkey hunters have all ready killed more birds to-date than they did during the entire 2015 fall wild turkey-hunting season. And there’s nearly two weeks left in the current season, too.

The to-date tally of wild turkeys killed by Ohio’s fall season hunters stands at 1,715 birds. That figure is a whopping 428 more birds taken than for the same general 2015 to-date figure of 1,228 birds.

In fact, the 1,715 wild turkeys thus far killed by Ohio’s fall season hunters is all ready 180 more than were killed during the entire 2015 fall season; 476 more birds that were killed during the entire 2014 fall season; and 678 more birds than were shot during the entire 2013 fall season.

The 2016 to-date kill likewise is – and so far - the most number of birds taken since the 2009 total fall season wild turkey harvest of 2,255 birds.

Some of the to-date fall season highlights – and lowlights  – include the following (with their 2015 comparable to-date kill numbers in parentheses) – are: Adams County – 25 (35); Ashtabula County – 47 (57); Athens County – 46 (25); Belmont County – 40 (28); Brown County – 18 (24); Carroll County – 22 (15); Clermont County – 18 (34); Columbiana County – 27 (37); Coshocton County – 78 (37); Cuyahoga County – 7 (one); Defiance County – 22 (13); Delaware County – 8 (also 8); Franklin County – 2 (zero); Geauga County – 23 (31); Guernsey County – 69 (29); Hamilton County – 6 (also 6); Harrison County – 52 (28); Holmes County – 65 (21); Huron County – 10 (3); Lake County – 7 (8); Licking County – 43 (25); Lorain County - 18 (24); Meigs County – 69 (26); Monroe County – 64 (14); Morgan County – 44 (9); Muskingum County – 54 (23); Noble County – 59 (32); Perry County – 50 (26); Portage County – 27 (32); Richland County – 25 (18); Ross County – 22 (also 22); Stark County – 32 (23); Trumbull County – 29 (42); Tuscarawas County – 80 (19); Vinton County – 42 (24); Washington County – 43 (16); Wayne County – 5 (10); Williams County – 18 (17).

Previously the Ohio Division of Wildlife attributed this year’s fall season turkey kill success to a good hatch and survival of poults along with the emergence of the 17-year Brood V cicadas. Cicada’s are a much sought-after source of food by wild turkeys and are rich in protein.

However, that emergence was not universal across Ohio, and the Brood V appearance largely mirrors where the fall season turkey harvest numbers are the highest – and lowest.

Ohio’s fall wild turkey-hunting season was first held in 1996 and was opened in 22 of Ohio’s 88 counties. That year hunters shot 1,250 birds and the Ohio Division of Wildlife issued 10,050 fall wild turkey-hunting season permits.

Only twice has Ohio seen the fall season turkey kill exceed 3,000 birds each: 1999 (3,071 birds), and 2001 (3,331 birds).

The largest number of permits issued was in 2002 (15,469 permits) while the smallest number issued was in 1998 (4,804 permits). Final fall turkey season permit issuance figures for 2016 are not yet available since the season runs through November 27^th. Fifty-six of Ohio’s 88 counties are open to the fall season.

Hunting hours during the fall season are 30 minutes before sunrise until sunset, daily. Only one bird of either sex is allowed to be legally killed. Hunters also must buy a separate fall wild turkey-hunting season license as spring season tags are not legal.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net