Ohio’s 2021 Fall Wild Turkey Hunting Season Concluded Nov. 28

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio hunters checked 694 wild turkeys during the 2021 fall hunting season, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. The 2021 fall season was open in 70 counties from Saturday, Oct. 9 to Sunday, Nov. 28.

The top 10 counties for wild turkeys taken during the fall 2021 hunting season include: Highland (29), Trumbull (29), Columbiana (27), Ashtabula (25), Stark (25), Coshocton (22), Tuscarawas (21), Guernsey (20), Clermont (19), and Knox (18).

The average harvest for the previous three fall seasons (2018, 2019, and 2020) is 1,079. In 2020, hunters took 1,063 birds. The Division of Wildlife issued 7,470 fall turkey hunting permits in 2021. This is 21% below the 3-year average (9,428 permits).

Wild turkeys were extirpated from Ohio by 1904 and were reintroduced in the 1950s by the Division of Wildlife. Ohio’s first modern day wild turkey hunting season opened in the spring of 1966 in nine counties, and hunters checked 12 birds. The spring wild turkey harvest topped 1,000 for the first time in 1984. Spring turkey hunting opened statewide in 2000. Fall turkey season first opened in 19 counties in 1996.

Learn more about wild turkey hunting at wildohio.gov, including information about previous seasons.

The Division of Wildlife can help you take advantage of all Ohio has to offer. Download the HuntFish OH app and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for instant news stories, outdoor recreation ideas, and local wildlife information. The Your Wild Ohio Hunter Facebook page provides hunting tips and useful information as you get outside this season.

County Totals
A county list of all wild turkeys checked by hunters during the 2021 fall hunting season is shown below. The first number following the county’s name shows the harvest numbers for 2021, and the three-year average of turkeys taken in 2018, 2019, and 2020 is in parentheses. A three-year average provides a better overall comparison to this year’s numbers, eliminating year-to-year variation because of weather, misaligned season dates, and other unavoidable factors. Numbers below are raw data and subject to change.

Adams: 7 (13); Allen: 6 (8); Ashland: 13 (13); Ashtabula: 25 (39); Athens: 9 (18); Belmont: 4 (23); Brown: 12 (12); Butler: 15 (13); Carroll: 10 (24); Champaign: 5 (4); Clermont: 19 (25); Columbiana: 27 (26); Coshocton: 22 (44); Crawford: 5 (3); Cuyahoga: 2 (3); Defiance: 7 (12); Delaware: 9 (9); Erie: 3 (7); Fairfield: 6 (9); Franklin: 2 (3); Fulton: 6 (10); Gallia: 7 (25); Geauga: 11 (28); Guernsey: 20 (33); Hamilton: 14 (9); Hancock: 1 (5); Hardin: 4 (4); Harrison: 12 (25); Henry: 2 (3); Highland: 29 (24); Hocking: 5 (18); Holmes: 5 (27); Huron: 3 (10); Jackson: 14 (18); Jefferson: 13 (18); Knox: 18 (21); Lake: 5 (9); Lawrence: 7 (14); Licking: 10 (25); Logan: 7 (8); Lorain: 8 (9); Lucas: 3 (12); Mahoning: 10 (13); Medina: 9 (13); Meigs: 14 (20); Monroe: 14 (22); Morgan: 3 (19); Morrow: 4 (8); Muskingum: 10 (20); Noble: 10 (23); Paulding: 2 (4); Perry: 13 (16); Pike: 11 (12); Portage: 7 (15); Preble: 12 (7); Putnam: 2 (3); Richland: 16 (21); Ross: 8 (18); Scioto: 11 (19); Seneca: 2 (6); Stark: 25 (17); Summit: 7 (10); Trumbull: 29 (28); Tuscarawas: 21 (35); Vinton: 6 (15); Warren: 7 (6); Washington: 8 (19); Wayne: 10 (10); Williams: 8 (14); Wyandot: 3 (2).

2021 total: 694
Three-year average total: 1,079

For more information, contact:
Brian Plasters, Division of Wildlife
(614) 601-3836