Ohio's deer hunters playing catch-up but wicked weather could dampen weekend's youth-only gun hunt

On the cusp of Ohio’s two-day youth-only firearms deer-hunting season a lot of animals should be present for the youngsters: Whitetails that hunters have yet to collect.

Ohio’s to-date deer kill – as of November 15^th – stands at 59,908 animals. That figure is 3,118 fewer deer than what was killed for the comparable to-date period last year, as of November 18^th, 2015, or 63,026.

Actually the 3,118 is a narrowing of the gap between the weekly to-date reporting periods. Last week’s gap stood at 7,550 animals.

On the reverse side, this weekend’s youth-only firearms deer-hunting season is projected to bring the nastiest weather thus far this autumn.

In Northeast Ohio Saturday’s temperatures are expected to be mild but a 70-percent of rain showers also is in the forecast along with high winds. By Sunday the temperatures will plummet with highs only in the mid-30s along with snow showers: The first of the season.

Deeper south into central Ohio the weather forecast is even less accommodating. Saturday’s high is expected to range around 40 degrees and a few degrees less on Sunday. Rain will mix with snow on Saturday, changing to all snow on Sunday.

Very high winds are forecast for both days, too.

Only along the Ohio will the weather ease its fury; but not until Sunday and then with highs only near 40 degrees. Rain and snow should prevail on Saturday, as well.

The net likelihood should be enough to discourage more than a few youngsters – as well as their more mature mentors. And this could impact the deer kill, which will appear on the November 22^nd to-date deer kill ledger, available the following day.

In any event, here is a partial county run-down of the to-date deer kill as of the November 15^th reporting date (with their respective 2015 to-date figure in parentheses): Adams – 1,188 (1,477); Ashland – 954 (1,010); Ashtabula – 1,527 (1,625); Athens – 1,084 (1,113); Belmont – 745 (716); Brown – 822 (903); Carroll – 953 (998); Clermont – 950 (1,123); Coshocton – 1,932 (1,708); Crawford – 311 (351); Cuyahoga – 565 (441); Delaware – 698 (770); Erie – 311 (347); Fayette – 111 (104); Franklin – 411 (403); Gallia – 650 (683); Geauga – 727 (807); Guernsey – 1,184 (1,182); Hamilton – 850 (1,103); Harrison – 1,025 (1,095); Henry – 197 (194); Highland – 915 (953); Hocking – 951 (1,065); Holmes – 1,310 (1,350); Huron – 626 (718); Jackson – 922 (935); Jefferson – 739 (705); Knox – 1,463 (1,539); Lake – 432 (463); Licking – 1,841 (1,962); Lorain – 998 (1,064); Lucas – 365 (412); Mahoning – 744 (706); Medina – 766 (776); Meigs – 934 (961); Monroe – 554 (538); Morgan – 822 (840); Morrow – 496 (505); Muskingum – 1,434 (1,346); Noble – 704 (774); Ottawa – 159 (169); Perry – 749 (772); Pickaway – 235 (233); Pike – 726 (768); Portage – 924 (969); Richland – 1,089 (1,152); Ross – 966 (1,101); Scioto – 809 (1,014); Stark – 1,048 (1,101); Summit – 764 (749); Trumbull – 1,440 (1,403); Union – 341 (373); Van Wert – 145 (147); Vinton – 786 (788); Warren – 501 (554); Washington – 790 (770); Wayne – 765 (776); Williams – 625 (665); Wood – 338 (also 338); and Wyandot – 399 (406).

Thus, 12 of Ohio’s 88 counties are experiencing increases in their respective to-date deer kills when compared to their comparable 2015 to-date deer kill numbers.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

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

Cuyahoga County pace-setting Ohio's deer harvest numbers - and why

Urban Cuyahoga County continues to buck the trend and up until the last weekly harvest report had become the one of Ohio’s 88 counties to consistently record steady gains in the number of deer reportedly killed by hunters each week.

Though Cuyahoga County’s deer hunters have seen increases in the numbers of animals taken over the past several years, the to-date tally for the 2016-2017 season has proven itself an eye-opener.

Through the first six reporting periods Cuyahoga County was the only one to record harvest gains when stacked up against their respective near-mirror to-date kill figures. That changed with the November 8th report when Cuyahoga County was joined by Fayette County which showed a to-date kill of 81 deer; up from its equivalent November 10, 2015 kill of 77 deer.

And the wake-up call in no small measure is being attributed to no fewer than six additional Cuyahoga County communities now allowing the taking of deer by state licensed and respective municipally permitted archery hunters. Even more remarkable is that last November voters in each of these communities overwhelming approved allowing carefully controlled archery deer hunting.

Cuyahoga County’s newbies at allowing controlled archery deer hunting include Broadview Heights, Strongsville, Seven Hills, Parma, Parma Heights, and North Royalton.

Just how good can Cuyahoga County’s efforts become? Pretty impressive it would seem as both the weekly to-date deer kill figures highlight and state wildlife biologists testify.

“I do believe that as a whole and when the deer hunting season is over, we’ll see that Cuyahoga County will have a harvest in excess of one thousand animals,” says Jeff Westerfield, the Ohio Division of Wildlife District Three (Northeast Ohio) wildlife management supervisor.

“In North Royalton alone there were 24 deer taken during just the opening weekend. That’s impressive,” Westerfield said.

Indeed, for the archery season’s first four days Cuyahoga County registered a then-to-date kill of 79 animals. That’s more than for such traditionally thought-of deer-hunting focal points as Adams County (72); Athens County (71); Hocking County (62); Morgan County (55); and Tuscarawas County (77).

Presently, says Westerfield also, 54.2 percent of Cuyahoga County has some form of lethal control of deer and which includes culling by sharpshooters. Even so, 39 percent of the county is open to some form of regulated sport hunting, almost exclusively with archery tackle.

What the statistics allude to as well, says Westerfield, is that archery deer hunting has come of age as a deer management tool and strategy; something that wildlife biologists can point to as a workable concept for other communities – and their impacted property owners - weighing it as an option.

Westerfield says too he would not be startled at all if the pace of Cuyahoga County’s deer harvest/kill quickens the deeper into the season the hunting goes. The possible reason for this acceleration is that early on some (or many) hunters may have their long-standing haunts they wish to visit before exploiting the possibilities out their back doors, Westerfield says.

Regardless, for every plus a downside is possible. Where once it was thrilling just see a deer in a park the idea of a buck rubbing its antlers against an expensive ornament tree trunk or seeing a doe chow down on equally treasured landscaping is helping to despoil the white-tail’s “awe, isn’t it cute” former reputation.

“Just like it was for geese which are now being called ‘rats with wings,’ the attitude toward lethal management of deer has changed dramatically,” Westerfield says. “The sad part is that resources like geese and deer may be viewed as being of lesser value than they were before.”

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Seventh to-date deer kill tally not lucky number for Ohio's hunters

Taking advantage of the rut, Ohio’s white-tail hunters are working at playing catch-up with the weekly to-date deer kill.

However, the state’s deer hunters remain some 7,550 animals when compared to the close proximity in time last year. The current to-date (as of November 8^th) total deer kill stands at 42,268 animals, of which 19,732 were recorded as being antlered.

Last year for the not-so-rough equivalent-to-date recording period (as of November 11^th) the count was 49,818 animals, of which 23,027 animals were logged as being antlered.

Also, the state now has six counties where at least one-thousand animals each were recorded as being killed. They include in alphabetical order (with their respective 2015 comparable to-date figures in parentheses) are: Ashtabula County – 1,192 (1,409); Coshocton County – 1,371 (1,389); Knox County – 1,067 (1,251); Licking County – 1,324 (1,611); Trumbull County – 1,146 (1,248); Tuscarawas County – 1,000 (1,124).

However, not appearing on the current to-date list with a kill of at least one thousand animals but appearing on the time-comparable 2015 to-date list (with their respective 2015 figures in parentheses) are: Adams County – 811 (1,147); Holmes County – 991 (1,108); and Muskingum County – 926 (1,055).

At least the current ledger is down to just one county with a to-date kill of fewer than one hundred animals. That is Fayette County with a recorded current to-date kill of 81 deer. Last year’s comparable figure for Fayette County was actually less: 77 deer. So Fayette County is enjoying something of a deer-hunting success surge.

Some other random county current to-date deer kill numbers (with their respective 2015 to-date numbers in parentheses) are: Ashland – 721 (816); Athens – 702 (808); Auglaize – 198 (248); Belmont – 430 (518); Brown – 543 (688); Carroll – 680 (794); Champaign – 316 (400); Clermont – 656 (866); Columbiana – 729 (816); Cuyahoga – 461 (373); Delaware – 531 (625); Erie – 235 (236); Fairfield – 396 (516); Franklin – 304 (316); Gallia – 386 (498); Geauga – 559 (683); Guernsey – 773 (921); Hamilton – 916 (675); Harrison – 678 (861); Highland – 618 (703); Hocking – 605 (795); Huron – 465 (572); Jackson – 631 (701); Jefferson – 489 (557); Lake – 340 (386); Lorain – 755 (891); Lucas – 284 (344); Mahoning – 571 (607); Medina – 578 (647); Meigs – 565 (694); Mercer – 181 (202); Morgan – 486 (614); Montgomery – 215 (266); Morrow – 348 (395); Noble – 427 (562); Ottawa – 112 (139); Perry – 500 (574); Pickaway – 159 (174); Pike – 473 (570); Portage – 652 (749); Preble – 232 (304); Richland – 818 (972); Ross – 645 (808); Scioto – 502 (734); Seneca – 434 (501); Stark – 758 (893); Summit – 594 (627); Van Wert – 115 (114); Vinton – 514 (570); Warren – 343 (429); Washington – 494 (560); Williams – 485 (555); and Wyandot – 302 (326).

As noted, the only two counties to post increases for this year’s seventh to-date tally when stacked against its 2015 counterpart are Cuyahoga and Fayette.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

A strange and facinating place to catch Ohio's new state record northern pike

When Troy E. Klingler tossed his Texas-rigged Berkley Power Bait “Crazy Legs” crawdad into 15 feet of water at McKarns Lake September 24th he knew there was remote chance he’d hook a northern pike instead of a largemouth bass.

After all the 35-year old from Stryker, Ohio fishes the old quarry lake pretty regularly and has caught a couple of small pike there before. But usually Klingler is sufficiently happy with reeling in some of McKarns Lake’s respectable largemouth bass.

Yet when his 15-minute duel with a big fish of some sort was over and his best fishing buddy – dad Burl – had helped flip the critter unto the bank, Troy’s fishing life took a decided turn toward trophy class success.

“I really didn’t know what I had until I got it in the shallows and said ‘oh, boy,’” Troy Klingler said. “If it wasn’t for my father being there to help me I probably wouldn’t have been able to land the fish, but it was hooked pretty good.”

That “oh, boy” led to a catch that has become Ohio’s newest state record northern pike; a fish verified by the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s District Two (northwest Ohio) fish management section and certified by the Outdoor Writers of Ohio, which maintains Ohio’s state record fish list.

That new state record is certified at 22.73 pounds and measuring 45 inches, besting the previous state record northern pike weighing 22.38 pounds and measuring 43 inches that was taken from Lyre Lake on October 3, 1988 by Chris Campbell. Lyre Lake is a private club lake in southwest Ohio.

(The Outdoor Writers of Ohio employs weight only in determining state record fish but lists lengths as additional comparative information).

McKarns Lake is not private, however, and is a frequent fishing haunt for Klingler and others, though largemouth bass are much more of a target than are northern pike, which are not even stocked there, or least not by the Wildlife Division.

Nor are pike stocked by any human for that matter with the pike planting coming about through the generosity of the St. Joseph River, a river system that wraps around McKarns Lake in an oxbow fashion.

McKarns Lake is tucked away in the extreme northwest Ohio county of Williams and is about 12 miles from Indiana as well as Michigan. It is named after the late Ohio outdoors writer Hob McKarns who championed all things Williams County.

On oddity in many respects, this former limestone quarry has a maximum depth of 75 to 80 feet even though it’s only 40 acres in size with 1.2 miles of shoreline. Boats with unlimited horsepower are permitted here but the speed is regulated to a no-wake crawl with bank fishing every bit as popular as casting from a vessel.

And while bass are the lake’s chief target by anglers pike offer an uncommon and unexpected bonus.

“Pike occur naturally in the St. Joe River and it floods into McKarns Lake once or twice a year so that’s where it gets its pike,” said Michael Wilkerson, Wildlife District Two fish management supervisor.

Close by to McKarns Lake is 19-acre Barton Lake which shares the same natural pike implanting by the St. Joseph River, Wilkerson says as well. Both lakes make up the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s approximately 100-acre St. Joseph River Wildlife Area.

Wilkerson says to that once a pike does make its way into McKarns Lake it finds some very attractive dining possibilities that include an annual stocking of catchable rainbow trout; and such fish species as muskies and northern pike have long had a reputation of relishing such soft-rayed prey as suckers and trout.

“McKarns Lake certainly has the forage to sustain a couple of pike that large,” Wilkerson says.

 Thus the potential exists for someone else – or Klingler – to catch another record northern pike from McKarns Lake, Wilkerson says.

“The lake gets a fair amount of fishing pressure for such a small body of water but it does have some pretty decent bass fishing,” Wilkerson also says.”We have sampled pike in the lake before but none as large as what Mr. Klingler caught, which is a real trophy. I’d like to have known what it would have weighed in the spring just before it spawned; maybe another one or two pounds.”

Yes, indeed on that bass part, agrees Klingler, who says a rough guess suggests he’s made a couple hundred bass fishing trips to McKarns Lake – all done from the bank, too.

“I don’t have access to a boat,” Klingler said, which hardly seems to have bothered him in catching fish.

Among his arrows in his fishing quiver is that Berkley Crazy Legs, which Klingler says he “swears by,” especially since McKarns Lake has regularly yielded bass up to three pounds on the lure.

Klingler also uses 12 pound test Berkley monofilament in part because McKarns Lake has its share of weed beds plus a shoreline that could etch the life out of fishing line.

As for his new state record Klingler said that title hadn’t crossed his mind too much until someone suggested that he did a little research. It was then he determined that the pike – now stored in the freezer for likely a trip to a taxidermist – was the real new Ohio north pike state record deal.

Once Klingler set the certification wheels in motion by having the fish examined by the Wildlife Division and completed the requisite Outdoor Writers of Ohio’s State Record Fish application, the group’s record fish committee was able to complete its task and certify the catch. That allowed Klingler’s pike to supersede the previous 28-year-old record.

And yet Klingler’s still not done. He continues to visit McKarns Lake, casting a Berkley Crazy Legs (though that other one has been retired) and as he does, mulls the possibility that he might eventually break his own record.

“I might even go ice fishing at McKarns Lake,” Klingler said. “I’ve never ice fished before.”

Imagine that for a minute, please;  hauling a new state record pike through the ice, caught by the same angler who simply was spending a couple hours of restful bass fishing on a lake few other Ohio fishers have even heard of.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

After six weekly reporting sessions Ohio's deer kill continues to limp along

Ohio’s deer hunters have bagged and tagged an additional 7,066 animals during the latest to-date reporting week kill results.

However, the November 1^st to-date reporting tally is still 7,231 fewer deer than was recorded for approximately the same reporting period in 2015.

Last year the-then reporting period ending November 3^rd,  2015 noted a deer kill of 35,633 animals. For comparison the current to-date reporting period shows a deer kill consisting of 28,402 animals.

And for a further step in making comparisons, the previous weekly reporting period ending October 25^th 2016 (this year) noted a kill of 21,336 animals.

Of some statistical significance so far each of the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s 2016 to-date six reporting period tallies have demonstrated marked deer kill declines when stacked up to their roughly parallel 2015 to-date doppelgangers.

Also, last year at this time two counties had reported to-date deer kills exceeding one-thousand animals each: Ashtabula – 1,046; and Licking – 1,166 along with five counties with kills exceeding 800 animals each: Coshocton – 943; Holmes – 818; Knox – 885; Trumbull – 998; and Tuscarawas – 801.

Yet so far in 2016 none of Ohio’s 88 counties have to-date kills in four figures. The closest in alphabetical order are Ashtabula – 853; Coshocton – 912; Licking -881; and Trumbull – 852.

Ohio likewise still has five counties that have yet to inscribe their tallies in triple digits. In alphabetical order these counties are: Fayette – 41; Henry – 97; Madison – 72; Ottawa – 83; Van Wert – also 83. For comparison, for the like-dated tally in 2015 the Wildlife Division reported only the following two counties with deer kills of less than 100 animals each: Fayette – 56; and Van Wert – 78.

Noteworthy counties with their 2016 to-date deer kills (and with their respective 2015 to-date numbers in parentheses) are: Adams – 501 (766); Ashland – 480 (583); Ashtabula – 853 (1,046); Athens – 415 (523); Brown – 339 (449); Carroll – 408 (559); Clermont – 448 (630); Columbiana – 509 (622); Coshocton – 912 (942); Cuyahoga – 362 (287) (Cuyahoga County continues as the only one of Ohio’s 88 counties to record a larger to-date deer kill when compared to its 2015 to-date figure); Darke – 98 (152); Franklin – 226 (242); Geauga – 415 (544); Guernsey – 489 (627); Hamilton – 516 (721); Harrison – 422 (584); Highland – 396 (477); Hocking – 377 (535); Holmes – 677 (818); Jackson – 400 (450); Jefferson – 308 (363); Knox – 688 (885); Lake – 258 (299); Licking – 881 (1,166); Lorain – 562 (713); Lucas – 200 (272); Medina – 421 (493); Meigs – 340 (453); Muskingum – 566 (683); Noble – 279 (375); Perry – 315 (397); Portage – 487 (595); Richland – 583 (727); Ross – 384 (533); Stark – 542 (677); Summit – 326 (433); Trumbull – 852 (998); Tuscarawas – 648 (801); Vinton – 290 (395); Washington – 299 (359); and Williams – 354 (413).

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Ohio's fall turkey hunters continue to post huge gains over 2015 to-date numbers

If ever a doubt existed regarding how a cicada brood emergence can shake up a wild turkey kill in Ohio that suspicion is being blown out of the water this fall season.

Ohio’s to-date fall season wild turkey kill all ready stands at 968 birds, or 63 percent of 2015’s fall season total of 1,535 birds.

For another comparison, the 2015 to-date fall season wild turkey kill was 697 birds, and for a front-end-season-shortened 2014 fall season the number was 563 birds.

At the heart of the marked improvement was this summer’s emergence of the 17-year so-called “Brood V” cicadas, a batch of high-protein bug-eyed insects that swarmed out of the ground and were plucked up by hungry turkey poults and their mature counterparts.

In the counties where the Brood V emergence proved especially strong, so too has the fall season turkey kill. Examples abound, as well, with the following serving as exceptional illustrations (the various counties’ 2015 to-date fall season turkey kills are included in parentheses): Coshocton – 38 (19); Defiance – 13 (8); Gallia – 22 (18); Guernsey – 33 (9); Harrison – 25 (17); Holmes – 49 (7) (that’s not a typo, either); Monroe – 37 (10); Meigs – 35 (17); Morgan – 30 (5); Muskingum – 30 (11); Noble – 37 (19); Perry – 33 (19); Tuscarawas – 50 (12); Vinton – 24 (14); and Washington – 27 (10).

However, the emergence of Brood V was not uniform across the state nor encountered in every county. Left out were any number of counties, clustered in pockets that included extreme Northeast Ohio. Here, fall turkey kill numbers are off in such locations as traditionally strong fall turkey harvest counties of Ashtabula and Trumbull. The 2016 to-date fall season turkey kill for Ashtabula County is 23 birds. Last year that number was 26 birds.

Not much of a difference until a look at Trumbull County is viewed. Here, the current 2016 to-date fall season turkey kill there is 14 birds whereas the comparable 2015 to-date fall season turkey kill for Trumbull County was 26 birds.

A number of other noteworthy and traditionally strong turkey harvest counties are experiencing downward numbers also. Among them (again, with their respective to-date 2015 county numbers in parentheses) are: Adams – 13 (22); Brown – 13 (15); Clermont – 11 (16); Columbiana – 15 (22); Geauga – 12 (18); and Hocking – 24 (28).

Even some of the most urban of Ohio’s 55 counties open to fall turkey hunting are getting into the act. Among them (once more with their respective to-date 2015 figures in parentheses) are: Cuyahoga – 2 (zero); Franklin – also 2 (also zero);  Huron – 6 (1); Lake – 5 (3); Lorain – 11 (16); Stark – 19 (13); and Summit – 5 (3).

Ohio’s fall wild turkey-hunting season runs through November 27th. Hunting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise until sunset. Birds of either sex are legal game.

 As far as other rules and regulations go in chasing fall wild turkeys, some of the highlights include that hunters must buy a separate fall tag as any unused spring tag is not valid.

While some fall turkey hunters are dedicated their numbers have consistently remained small since the first such season began in 1996 in 22 counties. In fact, fall turkey tag sales are off five percent from what they were in 2015.

Last year the Ohio Division of Wildlife sold 8,027 fall wild turkey hunting permits. The largest number of Ohio fall wild turkey hunting permits ever sold was the 15,469 in 2002.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech,net