The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife recently proposed reducing the limit for the 2022 spring wild turkey season from two to one.
While no changes were made for Ohio’s fall 2021 turkey hunting season, limiting the number to one bearded turkey in 2022 is necessary because of declining wild turkey populations during the past few years, according to a release from the Division of Wildlife. The proposal includes the state’s wild turkey hunting season and the youth spring hunting season.
“Wild turkey populations have declined in much of Ohio following several years of below average reproductive success,” the statement read, adding the limit would remain in place until “trends in reproductive success improve.”
The Division of Wildlife first began monitoring the growth of wild turkeys in Ohio in the 1950s. The first wild turkey hunting season began in nine counties in 1966 and hunters to bagged 12. A bearded turkey limit of two began in 1993, seven years before spring turkey hunting started in 2000. According to the release, the record Ohio wild turkey harvest came in 2001, when hunters checked 26,156 birds. In 2001, the spring harvest was 14,541.
The Ohio Wildlife Council is an eight-member board that approves the Division of Wildlife’s proposed rules and regulations. It’s mission is to conserve and improve fish and wildlife resources and their habitats for sustainable use.
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