Ohio 2022 wild turkey-hunting season continues its slip and slide.
The season’s to-date total through May 8th stood at 9,353 birds. Last year that figure was 11,779 turkeys, while the three-year average is 13,664 birds.
Included in the to-date 2022 statistics are birds killed during the first 15 days of the South Zone season, the first nine days of Northeast Zone season, and both days of the Youth-Only season.
Ohio’s 2022 spring harvest totals are below the 3-year average in all but a few counties, also says Mark Wiley, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s lead wild turkey biologist.
Wiley accounts for the drop for a couple of reasons. Among them is that much of this apparent turkey kill deficit is explained by the recent reduction in the bag limit from two birds to one bird, as well as long-term declines in hunter participation.
“In addition, Ohio’s wild turkey abundance has been depressed in recent years following several summers with poor poult numbers,” Wiley says.
Currently, Wiley says also, the proportion of jakes in the spring harvest total “appears to be slightly elevated in 2022.”
“This is expected following a year with above-average poult numbers, which occurred in 2021,” Wiley says.
Of particular note, Wiley also says that “at this point in the spring season I see no clear pattern tied to the range of 2021 periodical cicada emergence.”
That factor is possibly led by the way the 2021 emergence of the 17-year cyclic cicada occurred, Wiley says, too.
While the general range of the emergence covered a large swath of central to southern Ohio, it appears that the event was not uniform, producing a patchwork of abundance here and a dearth of cicadas there, speculates Wiley.
Wiley did say too that post-season hunter surveys will reveal more details about what Ohio turkey hunters encountered and that input “will help us understand how the 2022 season stacks up against recent years.”
Here the county-by-county list of all wild turkeys checked by hunters through Sunday, May 8, 2022, is shown below. The first number following the county’s name shows the to-date statistic for 2022, and the three-year average through the corresponding dates are in parentheses. The numbers are raw data and subject to change.
Adams: 214 (331); Allen: 49 (58); Ashland: 108 (141); Ashtabula 215 (266); Athens: 187 (327); Auglaize: 18 (30); Belmont: 243 (422); Brown: 219 (323); Butler: 117 (159); Carroll: 216 (285); Champaign: 58 (68); Clark: 15 (13); Clermont: 166 (254); Clinton: 43 (56); Columbiana: 250 (325); Coshocton: 220 (360); Crawford: 37 (38); Cuyahoga 2 (3); Darke: 50 (48); Defiance: 118 (160); Delaware: 60 (89); Erie: 20 (35); Fairfield: 64 (86); Fayette: 3 (11); Franklin: 5 (15); Fulton: 65 (86); Gallia: 234 (318); Geauga 83 (125); Greene: 19 (16); Guernsey: 261 (400); Hamilton: 62 (86); Hancock: 23 (28); Hardin: 61 (71); Harrison: 244 (344); Henry: 29 (47); Highland: 193 (297); Hocking: 144 (217); Holmes: 138 (184); Huron: 52 (87); Jackson: 154 (285); Jefferson: 239 (338); Knox: 163 (247); Lake 28 (42); Lawrence: 129 (186); Licking: 172 (255); Logan: 95 (86); Lorain: 67 (101); Lucas: 40 (45); Madison: 4 (6); Mahoning: 111 (144); Marion: 22 (30); Medina: 73 (94); Meigs: 223 (418); Mercer: 16 (17); Miami: 24 (19); Monroe: 229 (436); Montgomery: 14 (22); Morgan: 165 (271); Morrow: 100 (105); Muskingum: 253 (392); Noble: 201 (335); Ottawa: 0 (2); Paulding: 47 (58); Perry: 158 (228); Pickaway: 4 (19); Pike: 118 (164); Portage: 138 (184); Preble: 90 (90); Putnam: 20 (44); Richland: 129 (190); Ross: 182 (240); Sandusky: 15 (20); Scioto: 111 (226); Seneca: 77 (101); Shelby: 27 (33); Stark: 176 (215); Summit: 43 (55); Trumbull 170 (223); Tuscarawas: 264 (401); Union: 46 (36); Van Wert: 18 (14); Vinton: 143 (231); Warren: 53 (78); Washington: 205 (390); Wayne: 79 (92); Williams: 141 (160); Wood: 16 (19); and Wyandot: 56 (67). 2022 to-date total is 9,353. The corresponding three-year average is 13,664.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
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