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Hunting News

Ohio turkey outlooks: likely to hinge on older gobblers, toms

Athens, Ohio — The majority of Ohio turkeys killed during the spring season will most likely be older birds, says a Buckeye State biologist in charge of the turkey population.

Mike Reynolds, the DNR Division of Wildlife’s turkey guru, said 4-year-old birds will make up the most of he spring turkey kills.

“The turkey seasons are based on hatches,” Reynolds said. “To give you the short history, 2008 was a great hatch. We will probably have some 4-year-old birds out there from that hatch. Especially since last year was so wet and rainy, it probably impacted both harvest and hunting pressure. Some of those birds that would have been shot last year probably made it.”

Subsequent hatches, particularly in 2009, showed record poor production, Reynolds said. Those birds would be 3-year-olds this year, but there probably won’t be a lot of them. A better hatch occurred in 2010, but it was still below average.

“So, there’s probably going to be some 2-year-old’s out there – not as many as we would like – and obviously they do the majority of the gobbling. They make your season. If you have a lot of 2-year-old’s, you can have a really high quality turkey hunt,” Reynolds said.

In 2011, the hatch was again poor, meaning there won’t be a lot of jakes on the landscape.

“The only thing I can say for sure is that later in the summer, in July and August, we were getting a number of reports of small size broods,” Reynolds said. “What we’re taking from that is the record flooding and rainfall (in 2011) probably did cause a fairly substantial renesting event with some successful hatches off renests. So, the availability of jakes is probably going to be localized.”

Reynolds expects an overall kill of about 20,000 gobblers in the best of circumstances.

“But, being conservative, I would expect us to be right around that 18,000 mark,” he said. “And, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s even a little bit lower.”

In 2010, Ohio experienced its second highest harvest on record, 23,421.

“Those primarily were the 2-year-olds from the 2008 hatch,” Reynolds said. “That’s why we expected a little higher kill last year. We typically see several years of carryover after a hatch like that. But, (last spring’s) weather really put a damper on that.”

Reynolds expects this year’s killed birds to have long beards and long spurs, both products of gobbler age.

“But, whether we get the numbers up around 20,000 I just don’t know.”

On a regional basis, Reynolds said he expects the western Ohio turkey population is still growing.

“Most of the counties (in western Ohio) still show steadily increasing numbers of harvest,” he said.

In eastern Ohio, the population is best broken down by region. East central Ohio is still very strong in its population numbers. Somewhat surprisingly, southeastern Ohio over the past decade has shown declines, Reynolds said.

“I think habitat is really stagnant in southeastern Ohio,” he said. “We have a lot of mature woodlands and not a lot of good brood habitat. We’re trying to address that. We have a partnership with the National Wild Turkey Federation. We have a contract with them to help private land biologists in helping to provide habitat recommendations to private land owners for wild turkeys.”

Reynolds said he is particularly looking forward to 2016 when the turkey hatch will coincide with a cicada hatch, which should provide excellent numbers of turkeys. The last time that happened, in 1999, the turkey hatch was exceptional, Reynolds said.

“The brood survival is incredible in those cicada years,” the biologist said.

How does predation affect a turkey hatch?

“Coyotes certainly have an impact,” Reynolds said. “Without having hard evidence, I suspect that coyotes have an effect on on-the-ground gobbling activity. Gobbling on the roost is probably unimpeded. But, when those birds hit the ground… maybe we’re hearing less gobbling on the ground than in past decades.”

Coyotes almost certainly play a role in on-the-ground gobbling, Reynolds said.

“I get dozens of reports each year about turkey hunters calling up coyotes, so obviously coyotes are responding to the calling,” he said. “If you’re a mature tom and every time you gobble a coyote is stalking you, over time you might see a reduction in gobbling activity… Predation is much more of an issue for hens. Nesting season is a dangerous time to be a hen turkey.”

The key, however, to good turkey populations, still lies in the annual hatch.

“A couple of good hatches make all problems go away in the wild turkey world,” Reynolds said.

Ohio’s turkey season opens April 23 and runs through May 20.

 

 

 

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