OHIO SPRING TURKEY HUNTING SEASON SLOWED BY INCLEMENT WEATHER: OH

COLUMBUS, OH - Hunters checked in 20,031 wild turkeys during Ohio's
four-week, statewide spring turkey hunting season that opened April 28 and
ended May 25. This season's total represents a nearly 10 percent decrease
from last year's preliminary number of 22,173 gobblers, according to the
Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.
"This year's hunter success, although down, was not unexpected,"
said Steven A. Gray, chief of ODNR's Division of Wildlife. "Wet springs over
the past two seasons have reduced turkey reproduction and this year's rainy
weather made hunting conditions less than ideal."
Counties where the highest preliminary numbers of wild turkeys were
taken during the spring season and their comparative figures from 2002 (in
parenthesis) include Ashtabula -1,016 (1,037); Guernsey - 632 (903); Jackson
- 618 (727); Athens 603 (640) and Harrison - 595 (711).
In addition to the 2003 total, young hunters killed 421 birds
statewide in the special youth-only turkey hunt that was open April 26 and
27 on public hunting areas only for hunters age 17 and younger.
Coming in to the spring season, state wildlife biologists estimated
the wild turkey population in Ohio to be about 220,000, approximately 16
percent less than last spring.
This was the fourth year that turkey hunting was open in every Ohio
county during the spring season. Only 57 of the state's 88 counties were
open to spring turkey hunting in 1999.
"We are very optimistic about next year's spring turkey season,"
said Gray. "Hopefully the 2003 hatch of young turkeys will be good and
springtime hunting in 2004 will be better."
Once all but extinct in the state, wild turkeys were reintroduced to
Ohio in the mid-1950s by the ODNR Division of Wildlife. The first spring
turkey hunting season was opened in 1966. Ohio now has more than 200,000
wild turkeys and they are present in all 88 counties.

Preliminary Turkey Season Results For 2003 Followed by (2002) Final
Totals
Adams - 415 (433); Allen - 16 (7); Ashland - 474 (487); Ashtabula -
1,016 (1,037); Athens - 603 (640); Auglaize - 20 (19); Belmont - 504 (556);
Brown - 385 (476); Butler - 27 (37); Carroll - 413 (478); Champaign - 79
(72); Clark - 28 (27); Clermont - 483 (497); Clinton - 27 (51); Columbiana -
576 (363); Coshocton - 580 (800); Crawford - 44 (52); Cuyahoga - 7 (8);
Darke - 13 (16); Defiance - 85 (97); Delaware - 76 (68); Erie - 19 (8);
Fairfield - 182 (199); Fayette - 39 (22); Franklin - 12 (7); Fulton - 31 (19
); Gallia - 417 (493); Geauga - 343 (458); Greene - 14 (14); Guernsey - 632
(903); Hamilton - 54 (53); Hancock - 17 (10); Hardin - 33 (37); Harrison -
595 (711); Henry - 14 (12); Highland - 291 (259); Hocking - 419 (528);
Holmes - 383 (442); Huron - 157 (127); Jackson - 618 (727); Jefferson - 509
(505); Knox - 388 (402); Lake - 241 (214); Lawrence - 226 (314 ); Licking -
541 (554); Logan - 110 (111); Lorain - 98 (74); Lucas - 14 (10); Madison - 2
(1); Mahoning - 217 (179); Marion - 24 (30); Medina - 110 (101); Meigs -
563 (612); Mercer - 4 (0); Miami - 5 (11); Monroe - 441 (625); Montgomery -
4 (4); Morgan - 369 (521); Morrow - 222 (168); Muskingum - 376 (691); Noble
- 377 (371); Ottawa - 10 (4 ); Paulding - 65 (60); Perry - 471 (493);
Pickaway - 52 (55); Pike - 244 (260); Portage - 91 (138); Preble - 53 (41);
Putnam - 23 (16); Richland - 493 (487); Ross - 437 (481); Sandusky - 8 (12);
Scioto - 322 (388); Seneca - 91 (111); Shelby - 24 (19); Stark - 297 (258);
Summit - 54 (27); Trumbull - 544 (579); Tuscarawas - 482 (580); Union - 10
(13); Van Wert - 4 (2); Vinton - 328 (379); Warren - 45 (70); Washington -
560 (626); Wayne - 154 (142); Williams - 133 (130); Wood - 2 (6); Wyandot -
52 (48) Totals: 20,031 (22,173 ).

Source: ODNR