ODNR to Reduce Turkey Bag Limit

[bowhunter1023]

Division of Wildlife Proposes Reduced Limit for 2022 Spring Wild Turkey Hunting Season COLUMBUS, Ohio – In response to declining wild turkey populations during the past few years, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife proposed reducing the 2022 spring wild turkey season limit from two to one bearded turkey. The proposal was made by Division of Wildlife staff to the Ohio Wildlife Council at its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 4.

Read full article here:

Ohio: Division of Wildlife Proposes Reduced Limit for 2022 Spring Wild Turkey Season | Outdoor Wire

 

[JARHEAD]

 

[tracker 6]

The original proposal was ,I heard , 1 on public , 1 on private .I like the 1 bird for all hunters better .

 

[Gern186]

Toms aren't the ones laying the eggs. 1 tom breeds several hens. The hens are protected from hunting.. Not sure i understand this logic. How about reducing the natural predators of the young turkeys and nest raiders. That would help more.

 

[tracker 6]

Toms aren't the ones laying the eggs. 1 tom breeds several hens. The hens are protected from hunting.. Not sure i understand this logic. How about reducing the natural predators of the young turkeys and nest raiders. That would help more.

Agreed !! but this is the easiest for DNR . How about closing fall season on hens and the shooting of bearded hens ?

 

[brock ratcliff]

I’m good with one bird. Vinton county was loaded with turkeys when I was a kid. I swear there was a gobbler on every high spot back then. Once we went to a two bird season, and back then you had to wait until the third week to hunt your second bird, it wasn’t long before the number of gobbling birds seemed to drastically decline. I’m basing my thoughts entirely on childhood memories and it could be more so because the entire population declined. Regardless, I’m not saddened by a one bird limit. Then again I’d rather hear them than kill them any day.

 

[bowhunter1023]

The DNR could do more to incentivize predator killing, IMO. I'd pay a premium for a turkey tag to fund a coyote lottery. It's time to open up bobcats on a limited scale as well, again, in my armchair opinion. It would be nice to see habitat-minded solutions that would slow down the destruction of habitat for more monocropping, which is a holistic fix, not just for turkeys. Turkeys are known to be a great indicator of habitat quality, so obviously, we have some issues on that front that are contributing to their demise in addition to predation.

 

[switchhitter]

I have no problem with one bird
If you want to keep hunting take a kid or a newbie
Back when it was one bird I headed to West Virginia after killing a bird
Or Kentucky
I do wish they would cut the fall season and open the season on raccoons
No one shoots coons out anymore because they are not worth the trouble
Turkeys don’t fill your freezer they are just exciting to hunt

 

[giles]

I challenge yall that want more turkeys to do something about it this trapping season. Even if you only set one trap in your yard, you will be helping.

 

[Big_Holla]

Agreed !! but this is the easiest for DNR . How about closing fall season on hens and the shooting of bearded hens ?

That was my line of thinking, eliminate killing of hens as much as possible to make things better but hey, we aren't biologists LOL.

 

[Bowhunter57]

I do wish they would cut the fall season and open the season on raccoons
No one shoots coons out anymore because they are not worth the trouble

I'm mentioned this to every GW I've ran into and posted it on every hunting forum possible.
Open a No Closed Season on coons, for 3 years. If at the end of those 3 years, the turkey population has increased, run it for another 3 years. Coons are destroying the nests, attacking the nesting hens and eating the eggs.

Bowhunter57

 

[Dustinb80]

I'm mentioned this to every GW I've ran into and posted it on every hunting forum possible.
Open a No Closed Season on coons, for 3 years. If at the end of those 3 years, the turkey population has increased, run it for another 3 years. Coons are destroying the nests, attacking the nesting hens and eating the eggs.

Bowhunter57

They could be selling the eggs.

 

[Spencie]

I received this message yesterday. I’m not sure of its validity but the way I read it you are only allowed one on public. Two for private.

 

[Gern186]

Pretty easy for anyone to check in a bird off public and say it was a private land bird, thus still killing 2 bearded birds. Why not just make it 1 bearded bird everywhere if they say there has been several years of below average reproduction.

 

[Jackalope]

Pretty easy for anyone to check in a bird off public and say it was a private land bird, thus still killing 2 bearded birds. Why not just make it 1 bearded bird everywhere if they say there has been several years of below average reproduction.

Yep. I wonder if "several years of below average reproduction" is code word for "unchecked nest predation, bobcat and coyote population increases"

 

[cspot]

I received this message yesterday. I’m not sure of its validity but the way I read it you are only allowed one on public. Two for private.
View attachment 142187

That was proposed at one time, but I don't think that is the latest proposal. I believe this is but not sure if it is final. I think they are limiting everyone public and private to 1 gobbler.

Discover & Learn

ohiodnr.gov

Pretty dumb in my opinion to limit male harvest when it has been proven that male harvest has virtually no effect on the population. Killing of hens does, so why not limit or eliminate the fall season. I would guess that most fall birds are killed simply as a secondary opportunity and not actually targeted by most hunters.

 

[tracker 6]

Seems to be final .

 

[Spencie]

I wasn’t sure of the messages validity. If Ohio can screw it up they will.

 

[tracker 6]

Some research from down south seems to indicate that removing the dominate gobbler may affect hens getting bred . Don't think many jakes will be killed the first 3 weeks of season .

 

[brock ratcliff]

That was proposed at one time, but I don't think that is the latest proposal. I believe this is but not sure if it is final. I think they are limiting everyone public and private to 1 gobbler.

Discover & Learn

ohiodnr.gov

Pretty dumb in my opinion to limit male harvest when it has been proven that male harvest has virtually no effect on the population. Killing of hens does, so why not limit or eliminate the fall season. I would guess that most fall birds are killed simply as a secondary opportunity and not actually targeted by most hunters.

Hunters aren’t all that bright, per the DOW. We tend to base the quality of a turkey hunt as well as the apparent population of birds on the number of gobblers heard. Therefore, if we limit the number of gobblers harvested, more remain to gobble and therefore hunters will think all is well, at least improved. That is my guess as to why we would want to leave more male birds on the landscape.
If we really wanted to help ground nesting birds, we wouldn’t have to purchase a fur bearer permit to shoot a stinking coon.