Ohio’s wild turkey hunters on a roll so far
Ohio’s wild turkey hunters have bagged 10,078 birds so far during the 2025 spring season.
Ohio’s wild turkey hunters have bagged 10,078 birds so far during the 2025 spring season, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.
Wild turkey hunting opened April 19 in the 83 counties that comprise the south zone. This year’s results include all birds taken through Sunday, April 27, as well as the 1,740 turkeys checked during the youth-only season April 12-13.
In 2024 hunters checked 10,082 wild turkeys during the same time period, with a three-year average from 2022-24 of 9,094 turkeys.
The spring season opens in the northeast zone, which includes Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake and Trumbull counties, on Saturday, May 3.
The 10 counties with the highest wild turkey harvests so far in 2025 are Belmont (324), Monroe (316), Guernsey (309), Muskingum (286), Meigs (274), Tuscarawas (274), Harrison (273), Coshocton (269), Carroll (264) and Columbiana (264).
The Division of Wildlife has issued 46,845 spring wild turkey permits valid throughout the 2025 season. Hunting is open in the south zone until Sunday, May 18. South zone hunting hours are from 30 minutes before sunrise until sunset. When the northeast zone opens May 3, hunting hours will be from 30 minutes before sunrise until noon for the first nine days. From May 12 to June 1, hunting hours in the northeast zone will be from 30 minutes before sunrise until sunset.
The season bag limit is one bearded turkey. Complete details are available in the 2024-25 hunting and trapping regulations.
Hunters are required to have a valid hunting license in addition to a spring turkey permit, unless exempted. Successful hunters must game-check their turkey no later than 11:30 p.m. on the day of harvest. Game check, licenses and permits are available on the HuntFish OH app, via the Ohio Wildlife Licensing System or at participating license agents. Game check also can be completed at 1-877-824-4864.
Each summer the Division of Wildlife collects data on young wild turkeys, called poults. Brood surveys in 2022, 2023 and 2024 showed positive results that will benefit Ohio’s wild turkey population this spring. The average poults per hen observed was 3.0 in 2022, 2.8 in 2023 and 2.9 in 2024, with a long-term average of 2.8. Biologists have found spring turkey hunting success is closely tied to the hatch productivity two years earlier.
Wild turkeys were extirpated from Ohio by 1904 and reintroduced in the 1950s by the Division of Wildlife. Ohio’s first modern turkey season opened in 1966 in nine counties, with hunters taking 12 birds. The turkey harvest topped 1,000 for the first time in 1984, and spring turkey hunting opened statewide in 2000. More information about previous turkey seasons can be found in the Spring Turkey Harvest Summary.