Ohio's wild turkey harvest up from 2012

5/26/2013

COLUMBUS — State officials say Ohio hunters bagged more wild turkeys this season compared with last year.

Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources says hunters harvested 18,391 wild turkeys this spring. That’s a 4 percent increase from last year, when hunters bagged 17,646 wild turkeys.

This year’s harvest is a combination of the youth turkey season and the spring turkey season.

State officials said Ashtabula County was the top harvester of birds. During the four-week season, hunters there killed 766 wild turkeys.

The department says the spring season drew more than 70,000 hunters.

Prior to the spring hunting season, Ohio’s wild turkey population was estimated to be 180,000.

Wild turkeys were nearly eliminated in Ohio before being reintroduced in the mid-1950s by the department’s Division of Wildlife.