Ohio's 2011 Spring Turkey Season Concludes

These young men stopped by to show me a couple of fine Paulding County long beards

 Hunters checked 18,485 wild turkeys during Ohio's four-week, statewide spring turkey hunting season that ended May 15, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Wildlife.
The preliminary total represents a 21 percent decrease over last year's harvest number of 23,421 -- the second-highest all-time.

“I expected to see at least a 10% decline in this year’s spring turkey harvest as a result of the poor hatch in 2009” said Mike Reynolds. “However, the wettest April on record in Ohio hampered turkey hunting and resulted in a lower than expected harvest this season.”

Ashtabula County again led the state in the number of turkeys killed with 712. Counties with additional high harvest numbers were: Tuscarawas-583, Knox-513, Adams and Guernsey-507, Harrison-483, Muskingum-462, Coshocton and Highland-447, and Belmont and Monroe-444.

Preliminary Spring Turkey Season Results for 2011 Followed by (2010) Final Totals
Adams-507 (745); Allen-47 (36); Ashland-230 (276); Ashtabula-712 (1,030 ); Athens-369 (435); Auglaize-36 (43); Belmont-444 (563); Brown-435 (615); Butler-203 (216); Carroll-352 (377); Champaign-90 (128); Clark-18 (23); Clermont-425 (590); Clinton-75 (79); Columbiana-399 (458); Coshocton-447 (522); Crawford-86 (102); Cuyahoga-4 (6); Darke-43 (46); Defiance-228 (325); Delaware-132 (160); Erie-52 (57); Fairfield-92 (123); Fayette-5 (4); Franklin-23 (16); Fulton-93 (112); Gallia-376 (640); Geauga-301 (423); Greene-31 (21); Guernsey-507 (635); Hamilton-142 (139); Hancock-31 (34); Hardin-74 (87); Harrison-483 (581); Henry-36 (55); Highland-447 (540); Hocking-289 (375); Holmes-218 (283); Huron-164 (219); Jackson-300 (391); Jefferson-392 (447); Knox-513 (528); Lake-59 (96); Lawrence-265 (446); Licking-434 (429); Logan-161(240); Lorain-186 (221); Lucas-44 (55); Madison-5 (8); Mahoning-230 (268); Marion-53 (57); Medina-118 (157); Meigs- 401 (501); Mercer-17 (24); Miami-26 (16); Monroe-444 (558); Montgomery-17 (18); Morgan- 343 (364); Morrow-212 (271); Muskingum-462 (623); Noble-310 (424); Ottawa-2 (12); Paulding-82 (120); Perry-260 (324); Pickaway-28 (52); Pike-274 (403); Portage-227 (285); Preble-71 (92); Putnam-58 (66); Richland-415 (426); Ross- 362 (554); Sandusky-17 (21); Scioto- 261 (422); Seneca-164 (184); Shelby-41 (54); Stark-223 (246); Summit-28 (44); Trumbull-416 (584); Tuscarawas-583 (664); Union-37 (33); Van Wert-21 (20); Vinton- 258 (356); Warren-125 (111); Washington-407 (472); Wayne-108 (110); Williams-250 (353); Wood-21 (29); Wyandot-108 (123) Totals: 18,485 (23,421)