Hunters will have more days to hunt with a gun

COLUMBUS, OH – Hunters are preparing for Ohio’s upcoming fall wild turkey season, which runs Saturday, October 11 through Sunday, November 30, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.

New this year, wild turkeys may be hunted throughout the entire season with shotguns using shot, crossbows and longbows. Previously, the season had been split with an archery-only segment during the last portion of the season. Nine counties in northeast Ohio, including Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, and Wayne, have been added to the fall turkey season. This brings the number of open counties statewide to 46.

“Brood production was enhanced in parts of southern Ohio by this summer’s emergence of 17-year cicadas,” said Mike Reynolds, the division’s wild turkey biologist.  “Hunters should be able to locate flocks of turkeys feeding on abundant white oak acorns and beech nuts in mature forests.” Reynolds estimates Ohio’s statewide wild turkey flock now numbers more than 200,000 birds.

Fall wild turkey hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. The bag limit is one turkey of either sex per hunter per season.  A fall turkey permit is required in addition to a current Ohio hunting license.  All harvested turkeys must be taken to an official turkey check station by 8 p.m. the day of harvest.

Dogs may be used to assist in taking wild turkeys during the fall hunting season, but not during the spring season.

Hunters should be aware that the fall turkey season will partially overlap with the Early Muzzleloader Season deer hunt (October 20-25) on three state-owned areas: Wildcat Hollow and Salt Fork state wildlife areas, and Shawnee State Forest. Turkey hunting will not be allowed on these areas during those dates.

More than 17,000 hunters pursued wild turkeys in the state last fall, harvesting 1,216 birds.  The first fall wild turkey hunting season in Ohio was in 1996.