2009 Fall turkey season ends with harvest increase

COLUMBUS — Ohio’s fall wild turkey season ended Nov. 29 with 2,180 birds killed during the seven-week season.
Tuscarawas County led the state with 135 birds taken, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. Last year, 2,012 birds were taken.
The fall turkey season which ran Oct. 10 through Nov. 29, allowed hunters the choice of pursuing a bird with a shotgun, muzzleloading shotgun, bow or crossbow.
Hunters had 48 counties in which to pursue a wild turkey of either sex, which for the first time included Defiance and Williams counties.
Before the start of this fall’s hunting season, Ohio’s estimated wild turkey population was around 200,000. As many as 20,000 people, not counting private landowners hunting on their own property, enjoyed Ohio’s fall wild turkey season.
The top 10 counties for fall turkey harvest were: Tuscarawas-135; Ashtabula-127; Jackson-91; Trumbull-73; Guernsey-72; Coshocton-70; Hocking-68; Medina-67; Ross-65; and Knox-63.