Hunting: Falling turkey numbers a big concern among advocacy groups, wildlife agencies
Spring turkey season results suggest these aren’t exactly flush times for Ohio’s gobbler hunters.
Not that the spring take of bearded birds is inexorably moving toward some sort of abyss, but any quick or steady rebound to the golden days of a fairly recent yesteryear has yet to be discerned.
The season ended last Sunday in 83 South Zone counties, including central Ohio counties, and the take bested the more recent and arguably alarming results of 2021 and 2022. Despite the improvement, 2024's numbers did fall slightly from a year ago.
Season totals released Monday by the Ohio Division of Wildlife stood at 15,426. That number included the turkeys taken during the statewide weekend youth season in April, the birds checked in 30 days of hunting in the south zone, and those harvested in the first 23 days of hunting in the northeast zone. Hunting in those five counties (Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, and Trumbull) ends at sunset Sunday.
Taken together, that's 129 fewer birds than the 15,550 checked a year ago at the same point of the spring season. The take both this year and last was well over the 2022 total of 11,872 birds and the 2021 count of 14,546.
Still, that falls short of what hunters had come to expect.
The 2018 spring take, for example, totaled 22,612, the 2017 take 21,096 and the 2019 take 19,088. Beginning with the first statewide hunt in 2000 and through 2010, the spring take numbered more than 20,000 birds eight times in 11 years, peaking at 26,156 in 2001.
The wildlife division in 1993 instituted a two-bird season in the 42 open counties, although a second permit cost double the price of a first permit. By 2003 the premium was dropped on a second permit.
The two-bird limit remained in effect until the shrinking wild turkey population in 2022 led to a cut in the spring limit to a single bird for the first time in almost 30 years.
A few voices have called for the elimination of the fall turkey season or at least the lack of restrictions on targeting hens. The wildlife division has kept a fall season, though short, and continues to allow the taking of a single turkey of either sex.
A research project is ongoing in the state to track changes in wild turkey habits or possible effects of environmental conditions that might lead to measures that help enhance survival. Falling turkey numbers are a widespread concern among advocacy groups and wildlife agencies.
Of those 83 counties where the turkey hunting season is over, Belmont led with 451 birds checked, followed by Monroe and Tuscarawas, both with 447.
Licking finished tops among central Ohio counties with 255, followed by Fairfield with 91, Delaware with 78, Union 44, Franklin 17, Pickaway 14 and Madison four.
Parting shots
A pair of Wisconsin anglers won the Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s National Team Championship, based in Lorain, with a limit of 10 Lake Erie walleyes weighing 80 pounds, 14 ounces. Some 287 anglers from 19 states contested rough waters during the two-day event. … Lake Erie's harmful algae bloom this summer is forecasted to be similar to a year ago, which was characterized as moderate. Rain during the last weeks of May could cause a larger bloom by increasing nutrient runoff. … The Cuyahoga River was added this year to the Lake Erie streams in which steelhead are stocked. … The purchase for $15 of a 2024 Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp, featuring a pair of cedar waxwings, comes with perks and helps fund programs that benefit species of most need.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Division of Wildlife: Dwindling turkey numbers a concern in Ohio
