Wildlife officials keeping close eye on spring turkey hunt due to bird's declining numbers
Ohio’s spring turkey season has become an occasion for head scratching of late.
Even though hunters a year ago boosted their take of birds from the previous two seasons, results haven’t reached hoped for levels since 2019 due to a dearth of turkeys to hunt.
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Of course, norms vary over time. The state, made bereft of habitat by the turn of the 20th century, was without wild turkeys for decades. Restoration efforts by the Ohio Division of Wildlife didn’t begin until the 1950s.
Once limited hunting was restored during the 1960s, it took years for the spring hunt to yield more than a handful of birds. Nine open counties surrendered 12 wild turkeys in 1966, the inaugural spring season.
Only 14 counties could be hunted in 1976 when the take for the first time hit triple digits at 139 bearded birds. With 31 open counties, the 1984 take first surpassed 1,000 when 1,233 turkeys were checked.
Hunters tallied 14,419 turkeys in spring 1999 with hunting legal in only 57 counties. The hunt 2000 was expanded to all 88 counties, and hunters checked 20,276 birds.
The take peaked a year later when 26,156 turkeys were checked. After that the annual numbers fluctuated between about 17,000 and 23,000.
A population bump occurred after a periodical cicada hatch in 2016 provided turkeys and their young plenty of nutritious eats. That was followed in 2017 and 2018 by a couple of strong hunting seasons when the take climbed above 20,000.
The 2019 count, although still strong, slipped to about 19,000. As the turkey population fell after the cicada-charged boom the spring take slid to 17,894 in 2020, to 14,546 in 2021 and to 11,872 in 2022.
The 2021 take totaled the fewest birds since a statewide hunt was established in 2000 and subsequently the two-bird spring limit ended. With hunters in 2022 limited to a single bearded bird, the spring count fell to the lowest total since the 1995 season when only 44 counties were open.
The numbers bounced encouragingly a year ago to 15,643, an increase of about 32% from 2022. Even so, last year’s take stands as the third-lowest in the era of the statewide spring hunt.
That decrease in wild turkey numbers has spurred questions.
The wildlife division, for example, is partnering with researchers at Ohio State University in an attempt to identify current and ongoing impacts on Ohio’s turkeys. The last extensive study took place 17 years ago, and some influences on the turkey population have changed.
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Questions about what’s going on with turkeys has triggered plenty of speculation but no definite answers. Some popular notions about causes include weather, climate, predators, habitat shrinkage, overhunting and bird flu.
Perhaps research being conducted in a number of eastern and Midwest states where turkeys are in decline will uncover a cause or combination of causes outside the current radar.
The decline has been accompanied by a plunge in the number of hunters. Permit purchases peaked at 94,989 in 2003, held fairly steady for a number of years and then took a deep dive.
Permits sold in 2022 stood at 48,815 before making a modest jump to 50,174 a year ago.
The season opens in central Ohio this coming Saturday and continues through May 19. Hours April 20-28 are from one-half hour before sunrise to noon. Starting April 29, hours run from one-half before sunrise to sunset.
The youth hunt, a weekend warmup, ends Sunday. Next comes the main event.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio's spring turkey hunting season starts April 20
