Hunting News

694 turkeys harvested, a 21% drop for fall turkey season

694 turkeys harvested, a 21% drop for fall turkey season

By Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Ohio hunters checked 694 wild turkeys during the 2021 fall hunting season The 2021 fall season was open in 70 counties from Saturday, Oct. 9 to Sunday, Nov. 28.

The top 10 counties for wild turkeys taken during the fall 2021 hunting season include: Highland (29), Trumbull (29), Columbiana (27), Ashtabula (25), Stark (25), Coshocton (22), Tuscarawas (21), Guernsey (20), Clermont (19), and Knox (18).

The average harvest for the previous three fall seasons (2018, 2019, and 2020) is 1,079. In 2020, hunters took 1,063 birds. The Division of Wildlife issued 7,470 fall turkey hunting permits in 2021. This is 21% below the 3-year average (9,428 permits).

Wild turkeys were extirpated from Ohio by 1904 and were reintroduced in the 1950s by the Division of Wildlife. Ohio’s first modern day wild turkey hunting season opened in the spring of 1966 in nine counties, and hunters checked 12 birds. The spring wild turkey harvest topped 1,000 for the first time in 1984. Spring turkey hunting opened statewide in 2000. Fall turkey season first opened in 19 counties in 1996.

For more information about wild turkey hunting at wildohio.gov, including information about previous seasons click here.

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