Ohio's 2021 fall turkey season kill plummets by 35 percent over its three-year average

 

A precipitous tumble of about 35 percent in the kill for Ohio’s just-concluded fall wild turkey-hunting season from its three-year average will likely be additional ammunition for those seeking more restrictions to the annual autumn hunt.

Hunters in Ohio checked 694 wild turkeys during the 2021 fall wild turkey-hunting season. By comparison, the three-year average total is 1,079 birds of either sex. The 2021 fall season ran from October 9th to November 28th.

Also, The Division of Wildlife issued 7,470 fall turkey hunting permits in 2021, itself representing a 21-percent decline from the three-year average of 9,428 permits.

Of the 70 Ohio counties opened to the 2021 fall wild turkey hunting season, 11 showed gains over their respective three-year kills while five counties experienced identical kills with their respective three-year averages. The rest of the counties recorded declines from their respective three-year averages.

However, in the case of the counties with gains, seven of them noted respective jumps of just one or two birds each.

“One of the interesting points js the deviation in the pattern we usually see in years with good poult production – like we saw this year – where the fall harvest reflects an increase,” said Mark Wiley, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s lead wild turkey biologist.

Yet Wiley says the decline in the fall turkey kill may be a simple reflection of the decline in the number of permits issued, even though the former’s percentage decline is considerably larger than is the drop in latter’s percentage.

“We will need to see if the decline is due to hunters seeing fewer bird, if the hunters are being less successful or if more hunters believe the birds need a break,” Wiley says.

In effect, the drop in the fall turkey kill may simply be a matter of hunters self-regulating themselves against shooting birds in the fall, Wiley says.

These sorts of questions will find at least some resolution when the Wildlife Division conducts its turkey hunter survey which is to begin soon, Wiley says.

Asked if this year’s steep drop in the number of birds taken will possibly translate into more conservative fall season regulations in 2022, Wiley says more than just one year’s slippage will likely be required before the agency goes down that road.

And that point doesn’t sit well with some hunters who consider themselves hard-core turkey pursuers.

“I think the Wildlife Division develops tunnel vision when it comes to managing game. I don’t think it takes into account the variables enough, things like poaching, disease and being sought by predators. All we see and hear about are harvest numbers,” says Troy Conley of Brown County.

Agreeing with Conley is Adams County turkey hunter and outdoors writer Tom Cross.

Cross believes this reticence - at least partially - comes down to a Wildlife Division which seemingly digs in its heels against reevaluating “long-held regulations that may have been set during years of abundance.”

“They are reluctant to change and are based on what they consider to be a temporary down cycle,” Cross says.

Wiley did say the Wildlife Division will present its set of preliminary fall 2022 hunting regulations before the eight-member Ohio Wildlife Council in January. The public can express its views in March with the Wildlife Council giving final approval to the rules in April.

Here is a county-by-county list of all wild turkeys checked by hunters during the 2021 fall hunting season. The first number following the county’s name shows the numbers for 2021, and the three-year average of turkeys taken in 2018, 2019, and 2020 is in parentheses.

A three-year average provides a better overall comparison to this year’s numbers, eliminating year-to-year variation because of weather, misaligned season dates, and other unavoidable factors. Numbers are raw data and subject to change.

Adams: 7 (13); Allen: 6 (8); Ashland: 13 (13); Ashtabula: 25 (39); Athens: 9 (18); Belmont: 4 (23); Brown: 12 (12); Butler: 15 (13); Carroll: 10 (24); Champaign: 5 (4); Clermont: 19 (25); Columbiana: 27 (26); Coshocton: 22 (44); Crawford: 5 (3); Cuyahoga: 2 (3); Defiance: 7 (12); Delaware: 9 (9); Erie: 3 (7); Fairfield: 6 (9); Franklin: 2 (3); Fulton: 6 (10); Gallia: 7 (25); Geauga: 11 (28); Guernsey: 20 (33); Hamilton: 14 (9); Hancock: 1 (5); Hardin: 4 (4); Harrison: 12 (25); Henry: 2 (3); Highland: 29 (24); Hocking: 5 (18); Holmes: 5 (27); Huron: 3 (10); Jackson: 14 (18); Jefferson: 13 (18); Knox: 18 (21); Lake: 5 (9); Lawrence: 7 (14); Licking: 10 (25); Logan: 7 (8); Lorain: 8 (9); Lucas: 3 (12); Mahoning: 10 (13); Medina: 9 (13); Meigs: 14 (20); Monroe: 14 (22); Morgan: 3 (19); Morrow: 4 (8); Muskingum: 10 (20); Noble: 10 (23); Paulding: 2 (4); Perry: 13 (16); Pike: 11 (12); Portage: 7 (15); Preble: 12 (7); Putnam: 2 (3); Richland: 16 (21); Ross: 8 (18); Scioto: 11 (19); Seneca: 2 (6); Stark: 25 (17); Summit: 7 (10); Trumbull: 29 (28); Tuscarawas: 21 (35); Vinton: 6 (15); Warren: 7 (6); Washington: 8 (19); Wayne: 10 (10); Williams: 8 (14); Wyandot: 3 (2). 2021 total: 694. Three-year average total: 1,079.

By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Youth deer hunters take nearly 19 percent more animals during their recent special two-day season

Youthful hunters in Ohio went afield November 20th and 21st and returned with bragging rights to a deer kill 18.6 percent above the three-year average.

During this year’s presentation, youths shot 7,634 deer, compared to the three-year average for the season of 6,210 animals. The youth-only season was for those age 17 and younger and who were also accompanied by a non-hunting adult.

And of the deer taken during the 2021 youth weekend, 4,053 were bucks, 2,625 were does, and 956 were button bucks. The most deer taken during a two-day youth season was in 2007, when 10,059 deer were checked by young hunters.

All of the rules and regulations for the hunt were in place, too, including legal shooting hours, the wearing of blaze orange clothing as an outer garment, and the type of hunting implement allowed along with tagging and licensing requirements. To date, 38,356 youth deer permits have been issued, and which cost $16 for an either-sex tag compared to $31.20 for a resident adult tag.

Clint McCoy – the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s lead deer biologist – said the take of more than one thousand animals over the three-year average - and when spread out of the state’s 88 counties - translates into an average increase of 10 to 20 deer per county.

“It does appear that we had a stellar youth season despite a very rainy Sunday across much of the state,” said McCoy.

“The season’s harvest got off to a slow start most likely due to the warm-weather throughout much of October. It is likely that youth hunters and this past weekend’s archery hunters were the benefactors of the delayed harvest; the archery harvest over the youth weekend (2,658) was up 53 percent compared to youth weekend in 2020 (1,737).”

Among the fortunate youth hunters was 13-year old Avah Oehlenschlager of Ashtabula County’s Roaming Shores. Avah was mentored by her father, Tommy, and took a fawn doe on the late afternoon of the first day. This was Avah’s forth consecutive successful youth-only deer hunt and she’s managed to bag six deer in all over her short time as a huntress

In looking at the county-by-county raw numbers, of Ohio’s 88 counties, only 11 failed to exceed their respective three-year average with one matching that statistical benchmark.

The Top 10 counties for deer taken during Ohio’s 2021 youth season were: Tuscarawas (322); Coshocton (307); Holmes (250); Knox (228); Guernsey (220); Muskingum (209); Ashland (179); Washington (179); Meigs (169); and Ashtabula (167).

Ohio’s general firearms deer-hunting season runs November 29th through December 5th with a two-day, so-called “bonus” firearms deer-hunting season set for December 18th and 19th.

Youths who did not utilize their tags during the statewide two-day youth-only season may employ them during the regular firearms deer-hunting season.

“While certainly notable that we saw a sizeable youth harvest this season - and it’s always great to know we had a lot of successful kids out there - I don’t expect it to impact the statewide gun season any differently than it has in the past,” McCoy said also.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Ohio's to-date deer kill finally leaps over three-year average, thanks to an impressive three-day weekend

 

Eight weekends into Ohio’s lengthy archery deer-hunting season and participants have finally exceeded the three-year average for to-date deer being killed.

Since September 25^th when Ohio’s archery deer-hunting season began and by November 14th, bow hunters killed 66,626 deer. The three-year average for deer taken over the same eight-week period in 2018, 2019, and 2020 is 65,271 animals.

Interesting as well is that the best three days so far this season all dovetail. In descending order the figures as of November 14th are: Saturday, November 6th (4,795 deer checked); Sunday, November 7th (3,380); and Friday, November 5th (3,056).

And while the to-date deer take leaping ahead of the three-year average was not inevitable, neither was it surprising “given the trajectory of the harvest,” said Clint McCoy, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s lead deer biologist.

“Mostly, I’d say, the reason was because of the rut, but also because of the behavior of educated hunters. They understand that their chances are best at this time so likely more of them were out hunting,” McCoy said.

Less of a factor – though still one, said McCoy - was largely pleasant and favorable weather during the explosively successful November 6^th throuugh 8^th weekend.

“During the rut the deer are going to move no matter what, and educated hunters know this,” McCoy said.

Rounding out the remaining Top Ten positions are Saturday, November 13th (2,938 deer checked); Thursday, November 4th (2,722); Saturday, September 25th (2,552); Wednesday, November 3rd (2,469); Tuesday, November 2nd (2,306); Monday, November 1st (2,163); and Monday, November 8th (2,142).

Ohio’s top 10 counties for deer taken during the first eight weekends of the 2021-2022 deer-hunting season include: Coshocton (2,534), Tuscarawas (1,953), Licking (1,884), Muskingum (1,788), Knox (1,763), Holmes (1,707), Ashtabula (1,689), Guernsey (1,608), Trumbull (1,607), and Richland (1,341).

McCoy says the Wildlife Division expects the total all-seasons’ deer kill to likely run between 180,000 and 200,000 animals. If so, a figure in that range would fall within the 197,721 animals taken last season and the 180,921 deer taken for the three-year average.

Ohio’s archery deer-hunting season continues through February 6th. Other seasons are the youth-only firearms deer-hunting season, November 20^th and 21st; the general firearms deer-hunting season, November 29th through December 5th; the so-called “bonus” firearms deer-hunting season, December 18th and 19th; and the muzzle-loading deer-hunting season January 8th through 11th.

By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Man found guilty of all four charges in the shooting of Ohio Division of Wildlife officer Kevin Behr

 

It took a Clinton County, Ohio jury just three hours at the conclusions of a three-day trial to convict Brian Liming on all four counts of shooting and seriously injuring Ohio Division of Wildlife office Kevin Behr.

Behr was conducting a deer-poaching project that featured the use of a deer decoy. He’s been with the agency for 25 years.

Liming, 44, of Jamestown, Ohio, was found guilty Wednesday, November 10^th on charges of assault (felony 4), tampering with evidence (felony 3), and two misdemeanors: Hunting without a deer permit and hunting without a license.

“Hunting with a 20-gauge and thermal-optic scope, (Liming) discharged his firearm and struck Ohio Wildlife Investigator Kevin Behr, who was present on the property and in the process of setting up an investigation upon complaints of poaching from the road,” the Hillsboro, Ohio, Times-Gazette reported Clinton County Prosecutor Andrew McCoy as saying.

Following the December 20, 2020 incident, Behr was aided by fellow Wildlife Division officers and was life-flighted to a Columbus hospital. There he went through multiple surgeries and experienced intensive physical therapy and which continues.

“It has been a struggle every day,” said Behr in his court appearance remarks and as posted by the Times-Gazette.

Also, Liming earlier this year pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio for the charge of unlawful transport of firearms. Convicted once before for misdemeanor domestic violence, Leming is prohibited by law of being in possession of any firearm.

Liming is scheduled to appear for sentencing November 16th in Clinton County Common Please Court on the state charges.

One of the two associates who was with Liming at the time of the incident - Bryan Achtermann, 36, of Midland – pleaded no-contest in August of hunting without a license and hunting deer without a permit. Among his penalties was the lose of hunting privileges for six years.

Another person involved - Thomas Davis, 35, of Jefferson - was charged with a prohibited action misdemeanor, which would be dismissed in Clinton County Municipal Court, news accounts report.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources was deeply involved in the incident's investigation and the affair was keenly watched by the agency’s entire law enforcement community.

Officers with the Department, and especially the Wildlife Division, “lent considerable support and comfort to Behr and his family,” said Ohio Natural Resources Department director Mary Mertz, in prepared remarks to this reporter

“Wildlife officers put themselves at great risk to serve and protect,” Mertz said. “We appreciate all that they do, and thank everyone who helped achieve justice in this case.”

 

Likewise, Ohio Division of Wildlife chief Kendra Wecker said she and her agency "are thankful that justice was served for the felonious assault on our officer."

"We are all inspired by the Behr family for its strength and resilience these past 11 months," Wecker said in her prepared remarks to this reporter. "We also appreciate the members of the local community for its ongoing support."

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Ohio's to-date fall turkey kill plummets and fall tag sales follow

 

Ohio’s to-date 2021 fall season turkey kill has tanked, but considering the number of fall-season turkey license sales are in a free, too, the precipitous drop is a given.

Ohio’s hunters reported 477 wild turkeys of both sexes as being taken through November 9th of the 2021 fall wild turkey-hunting season. This figure represents a 38-percent decline from the previous same to-date three-season average, says Mark Wiley, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s lead wild turkey biologist.

However, through November 9^th, the Wildlife Division had issued only 6,919 fall turkey permits. The total at the end of the 2020 season was 9,018 fall turkey permits; representing a roughly 23-percent drop in comparable to-date fall turkey tag sales.

Wiley did say also the counties with the highest 2021 to-date fall turkey kills were Coshocton (20), Highland (18), Ashtabula (17), Trumbull (17), Columbiana (16), and Stark (16).

“There appears definitely to be an acceleration of the decline” in both the turkey kill as well fall turkey season permit sales, Wiley says.

However, says Wiley, he is uncertain whether the drop in sales is because prospective hunters are shying away from buying tags because of a perception of a declining turkey flock in Ohio.

Or perhaps because Ohio hunters increasingly believe the fall season is damaging long-term wild turkey recruitment. That contention is based on the fact that hen turkeys are legal during this period. Thus, these prospective hunters are passing on the autumn season, Wiley says.

“We hear both concerns,” Wiley says.

That being said, Wiley notes that poult number were above average across the state; both inside as well as outside the 17-year cicada emergence range seen across large swaths of Ohio.

“Poult production was pretty uniform across the state,” Wiley says, also indicating that poult survival was likewise good owing to generally favorable weather conditions.

How all of this will shake out for the 2022 fall wild turkey-hunting season - as well as the spring 2023 spring wild turkey-hunting season - is open to conjecture as the Wildlife Division begins focusing on developing regulations for those seasons, Wiley says.

“It’s hard to believe that we’re looking that far ahead,” Wiley says who added that hunter attitude toward the entire fall season concept will come into play as the agency maps its future regulatory blueprint.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com

Ohio's hunters chipping away at deer kill numbers but figures still lag behind the three-year averages

 

Some six weekends into Ohio’s 2021-2022 deer-hunting season and the to-date count of animals taken continues at a snail’s pace.

However, that snail has begun shifting into the next gear.

Yet for a number of Ohio’s deer hunters now is more of doing some window shopping rather than any actual buying. These participants are being selective – at least for the moment – of what they want in the way of a white-tail.

Data shows that as of November 2nd, 36,206 deer had been taken That figure represented an 11.2-percent drop over the three-year average.

Broken down further, the to-date antlered deer kill as of November 2nd was 17,241 animals. This figure represents a 7-percent drop from the same to-date three-year average of 18,548 animals.

Regarding antlerless deer, the November 2nd to-date deer kill was 18,965 animals, representing a 14.6-percent drop from the same to-date three-year average of 22,215 animals.

By way of comparison to show the narrowing of the deer-kill gap, for the period through October 17th, the statewide total archery-associated deer kill was down 16.8-percent verses the three-year average.

“Looks like hunters have started to chip away at the deficit a bit,” said Clint McCoy, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s chief deer biologist.

The Wildlife Division prefers – and rightfully so – comparing one set of numbers against its three-year average. This makes for a better apples-to-apples look at numbers, McCoy has said.

Data supplied by McCoy also shows that only three of Ohio’s 88 counties were ahead of their respective three-year average as of the November 2nd report: Butler – up 3.3-percent; Crawford – up 1.2-percent; and Summit – up 1-percent.

Among the counties demonstrating steep declines were: Pickaway – down-38.4 percent; Ottawa – down – 30.2 percent; Lucas – down 29.2-percent; Clinton – down 25.9 percent; and Defiance – down 25.7 percent.

Even so, at least for a couple of hunters helping to erase any deficit will come, just not at the moment.

“I’ve been out perhaps six times and I’ve seen deer – including a nice buck the other evening – but so far they’ve all been out of range,” said outdoors writer Tom Cross of Adams County.

Cross also says he will pass on any doe for now in part because this is the rut and the females are being chased by the bucks. Consequently, Cross says he doesn’t want to “mess up the woods” by shooting a doe at the moment.

“That’ll change during the gun season and especially the muzzle-loader season,” Cross said.

Similarly, John Grantham of Geauga County has avoided shooting not only antlerless deer but even a 10-point buck during more than 20 sits thus far in his tree stand.

“I’ve probably seen deer two-thirds of those evening hunts. I’ll keep passing on the does until after the rut,” Grantham said.

Much of Ohio’s deer hunting lies ahead, of course. The state’s archery season extends through February 6th. The statewide firearms- season is set for November 29th through December 5th, with the two-day “bonus” firearms season being December 18th and 19th. Ohio’s statewide muzzle-loading season is January 8th through 11th.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

JFrischk4@gmail.com