Not unexpectedly, Ohio’s turkey hunters hit another rough patch during the just concluded 2020 spring hunting season.
Final – though still unofficial – numbers provided by the Ohio Division of Wildlife show that 17,891 birds were killed this spring season. That figure compares to the 2019 spring season take of 19,168 birds.
Retreating further back into the spring turkey kill numbers, in 2018 the Wildlife Division recorded 22,635 birds as having been taken while the 2017 figure was 21,042 birds.
Put another way, this year’s spring turkey kill number is close to the 2016 figure of 17,793 birds.
Also says the Wildlife Division, young hunters killed 1,843 wild turkeys during their special two-day season. And the youth season results are included in the final harvest tally.
The state has two zones for spring wild turkey hunting: the south zone and the northeast zone. The northeast zone includes Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake and Trumbull counties, while the south zone covers the rest of the state. South zone hunting ended May 17th. Northeast zone hunting ended May 31st.
Trying to make hide and hair of the data, Wildlife Division wildlife biologist Mark Wiley says this year’s numbers “are right about where we expected them to be.”
“Although there has been a noticeable decline over the past three years so we’ve been moving toward the lower end of typical average.”
Wiley says while he has not had the opportunity to dive into the data to any great depth his interest was still pricked a little. On the surface it appears that any number of western Ohio counties did encounter improvement in the number of turkeys killed in them, Wiley says.
Which might have an explanation in the fact these counties were among the last to see adult bird transplants coming from other locations around the state. That transplantation process was completed in 2008 and 2009, Wiley says.
“The numbers are not like anything we see in southeast Ohio, of course, but those (western Ohio) counties may still be experiencing an expansion of the flock, and have not yet reached their carrying capacity as flocks have elsewhere around Ohio,” Wiley says.
“But I expect that if they are experiencing any expansion they are close to be nearing (their carrying capacity).”
It all boils down to how many birds are out there and that is determined by how many birds reach maturity.
Given that a hen may lay up to one dozen eggs but see only two or three offspring develop into adulthood, means that life is tough for young birds, says Wiley.
The reason, bluntly, says, Wiley, is poor poult “recruitment,” largely due to an equally dismal recent series of wet and cool springs and early summers.
Such meteorological conditions do not bode well for young turkeys to survive, especially during a bird’s first three weeks when it is confined to staying on the ground before having the ability to fly into trees.
“Persistent, heavy rains are detrimental to all ground-nesting bird species, turkey being no exception,” Wiley says.
Wiley says what happens this spring in terms of poult production and survival will come into play beginning in late July through August. That is when the young birds become large enough that they can be seen and thus counted by people. These individuals then can field their sightings to the agency for tabulation, says Wiley.
Asked if the Wildlife Division will end the fall season in order to bolster sagging flocks in counties that are experiencing a steady decline in spring turkey kill numbers, Wiley says that is not very likely.
The Wildlife Division must think strategically and on a “landscape scale,” rather than on a smaller level, Wiley says.
Even so, says Wiley, that does not mean that a landowner or group of local landowners would not benefit by self-imposing a fall turkey-hunting season closure, says Wiley.
Such a personal restriction could - over time - help throttle up a localized segment of a county’s flock, says Wiley.
“Then you could have an influence,” Wiley says. “It is something that biologists think of, but on a larger scale.”
Here is a county-by-county list of turkeys checked by hunters during the 2020 spring and youth hunting seasons. The first number following the county’s name shows the 2020 turkey kill numbers while the 2019 numbers are in parentheses - Adams: 421 (424); Allen: 79 (74); Ashland: 170 (217); Ashtabula: 449 (558); Athens: 379 (464); Auglaize: 54 (42); Belmont: 533 (567); Brown: 433 (413); Butler: 237 (190); Carroll: 368 (386); Champaign: 106 (97); Clark: 17 (17); Clermont: 367 (337); Clinton: 92 (74); Columbiana: 395 (327); Coshocton: 450 (554); Crawford: 59 (67); Cuyahoga: 7 (8); Darke: 68 (61); Defiance: 244 (197); Delaware: 127 (115); Erie: 41 (51); Fairfield: 115 (118); Fayette: 17 (13); Franklin: 21 (21); Fulton: 118 (117); Gallia: 398 (402); Geauga: 213 (259); Greene: 22 (26); Guernsey: 508 (530); Hamilton: 147 (108); Hancock: 48 (34); Hardin: 103 (95); Harrison: 458 (477); Henry: 56 (63); Highland: 412 (390); Hocking: 271 (280); Holmes: 241 (283); Huron: 112 (118); Jackson: 351 (395); Jefferson: 412 (417); Knox: 317 (349); Lake: 70 (73); Lawrence: 228 (237); Licking: 319 (365); Logan: 116 (113); Lorain: 141 (141); Lucas: 54 (69); Madison: 11 (10); Mahoning: 198 (186); Marion: 46 (30); Medina: 118 (148); Meigs: 503 (555); Mercer: 30 (17); Miami: 29 (24); Monroe: 532 (654); Montgomery: 28 (27); Morgan: 322 (400); Morrow: 146 (142); Muskingum: 499 (589); Noble: 399 (488); Ottawa: 1 (5); Paulding: 75 (70); Perry: 283 (309); Pickaway: 33 (23); Pike: 197 (241); Portage: 248 (259); Preble: 125 (136); Putnam: 61 (65); Richland: 221 (318); Ross: 334 (295); Sandusky: 23 (19); Scioto: 272 (288); Seneca: 108 (154); Shelby: 39 (38); Stark: 270 (299); Summit: 79 (80); Trumbull: 378 (431); Tuscarawas: 528 (570); Union: 48 (58); Van Wert: 22 (20); Vinton: 294 (331); Warren: 110 (102); Washington: 484 (595); Wayne: 123 (126); Williams: 192 (228); Wood: 31 (21); Wyandot: 87 (84). 2020 total: 17,891; 2019 total: (19,168).
- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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