Ohio hunters harvest more than 8600 wild turkeys first week of season

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Ohio hunters checked 8,629 wild turkeys the first week of the wild turkey hunting season, April 18-24.

• In 2015 hunters checked 8,158 wild turkeys the first week of the season.

• Ohio’s spring wild turkey season is open April 18 through Sunday, May 15.

• Hunters are required to have a hunting license and a spring turkey hunting permit. The spring season bag limit is two bearded turkeys. Hunters can harvest one bearded turkey per day, and a second spring turkey permit can be purchased at any time throughout the spring turkey season. Turkeys must be checked by 11:30 p.m. the day of harvest.

• Hunting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise until noon from April 18-May 1. Hunting hours from May 2-15 are 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset.

• Hunters may use shotguns or archery equipment to hunt wild turkeys. It is unlawful to hunt turkeys using bait, live decoys or electronic calling devices or to shoot a wild turkey while it is in a tree.

• The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife advises turkey hunters to wear hunter orange clothing when entering, leaving or moving through hunting areas in order to remain visible to others.

• Wild turkeys were extirpated in Ohio by 1904 and were reintroduced in the 1950s by the ODNR Division of Wildlife. Ohio’s first modern day wild turkey season opened in 1966 in nine counties, and hunters checked 12 birds. The wild turkey harvest topped 1,000 for the first time in 1984. Spring turkey hunting opened statewide, except for Lake La Su An Wildlife Area, in 2000, and Ohio hunters checked more than 20,000 wild turkeys for the first time that year.

Editor’s Note: A list of all wild turkeys checked by hunters during the first week of the 2016 spring turkey season is shown below. The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for 2016, and the 2015 numbers are in parentheses.

Adams: 220 (184); Allen: 37 (37); Ashland: 88 (92); Ashtabula: 261 (195); Athens: 168 (160); Auglaize: 22 (21); Belmont: 255 (246); Brown: 167 (162); Butler: 93 (76); Carroll: 169 (161); Champaign: 46 (56); Clark: 8 (13); Clermont: 207 (160); Clinton: 19 (23); Columbiana: 179 (179); Coshocton: 209 (229); Crawford: 45 (33); Cuyahoga: 4 (3); Darke: 17 (15); Defiance: 143 (123); Delaware: 47 (50); Erie: 28 (23); Fairfield: 50 (53); Fayette: 9 (7); Franklin: 10 (4); Fulton: 54 (63); Gallia: 212 (196); Geauga: 125 (98); Greene: 11 (12); Guernsey: 216 (242); Hamilton: 60 (43); Hancock: 25 (29); Hardin: 49 (46); Harrison: 212 (194); Henry: 31 (27); Highland: 163 (156); Hocking: 161 (116); Holmes: 111 (109); Huron: 54 (68); Jackson: 188 (172); Jefferson: 202 (182); Knox: 144 (166); Lake: 21 (24); Lawrence: 146 (111); Licking: 140 (189); Logan: 57 (52); Lorain: 58 (51); Lucas: 30 (20); Madison: 5 (2); Mahoning: 104 (85); Marion: 19 (18); Medina: 70 (58); Meigs: 229 (224); Mercer: 9 (7); Miami 9 (7); Monroe: 220 (234); Montgomery: 11 (10); Morgan: 172 (170); Morrow: 97 (81); Muskingum: 242 (217); Noble: 153 (163); Ottawa: 1 (0); Paulding: 58 (41); Perry: 121 (115); Pickaway: 13 (12); Pike: 132 (123); Portage: 95 (98); Preble: 55 (45); Putnam: 40 (39); Richland: 130 (133); Ross: 183 (153); Sandusky: 14 (7); Scioto: 129 (115); Seneca: 69 (78); Shelby: 22 (23); Stark: 120 (88); Summit: 26 (20); Trumbull: 204 (194); Tuscarawas: 208 (197); Union: 29 (19); Van Wert: 11 (10); Vinton: 141 (182); Warren: 55 (39); Washington: 222 (252); Wayne: 49 (45); Williams: 133 (128); Wood: 16 (6); Wyandot: 42 (49); Total: 8,629 (8,158)

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