Ohio's 2023 spring wild turkey hunting season begins April 22
Hunters in Ohio will have three separate wild turkey hunting seasons this spring.
The first turkey hunt of 2023 is the youth spring wild turkey season, which runs statewide April 15 and 16.
The biggest will be the turkey hunt for adults in what state regulations call the "south zone," which encompasses 83 of Ohio's counties.
That season runs April 22 to May 21.
A separate season is held for wild turkeys in Ohio's five northeastern counties: Cuyahoga, Geauga, Trumbull, Lake and Ashtabula.
The northeastern season is April 29 to May 28.
Spring gobbler hunters in Ohio are allowed to harvest one bearded turkey in 2023.
Hunters should refer to the Ohio Hunting and Trapping Regulations for turkey hunting requirements.
Seasons established to manage size of state's flock
The seasons are in place to help regulate the turkey population of the Buckeye State, according to Nathan Cass, an Ohio Department of Natural Resources wildlife officer in Crawford County.
"In the early 1900s, they were pretty much gone from Ohio," Cass explained.
Management practices allowed the birds to rebuild their flocks. A century later, they were just as plentiful as ever.
"Probably the 1990s and early 2000s was when the population was at its highest," Cass said.
Predators and loss of habitat have reduced the state's turkey numbers slightly over the last two decades, but there are still plenty of gobblers for hunters to harvest this spring.
Hunters who scout their local flocks ahead of the season will notice the bird strutting to entice a mate.
"We try to time our season right after the peak breeding time," Cass said. "It gives the birds an opportunity to breed and then some of the hens will start incubating their eggs and sitting on their nest."
New harvest limits implemented in 2022
Hunters last year harvested 11,872 birds statewide during the 2022 spring wild turkey hunting season, according to an ODNR news release.
Of those, 1,103 were taken during last year's youth spring turkey hunting season.
The harvest average over the last three spring turkey seasons is 17,173 birds, but that number is not expected to be reached this year because of new rules.
"New in the spring 2022 season, hunters could only harvest one bearded turkey," the news release reads. "In previous seasons, dating back to 1992, the season limit was two bearded turkeys."
During the last season when two birds could be harvested, 2021, there were 1,824 hunters statewide who took a second bird.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ohio's 2023 spring wild turkey hunting season begins April 22
