Ohio's 2025 spring turkey season draws near

6:00am Friday, April 04, 2025

Ohio's 2025 spring wild turkey season will begin soon, starting with a weekend opener for youth.

The youth turkey hunting season is Saturday and Sunday, April 12 and 13, according to an April 2 news release from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. Ohio’s regular seasons are divided into two zones: the south zone, which begins Saturday, April 19, and the northeast zone (Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, and Trumbull counties), which opens Saturday, May 3. The season limit is one bearded turkey.

Each summer, the Division of Wildlife (DOW) collects information on young wild turkeys, called poults. Brood surveys in 2022, 2023, and 2024 showed good results that will benefit Ohio’s wild turkey population numbers this spring, according to the release. The statewide average poults per hen was 2.9 in 2024, 2.8 in 2023, and 3.0 in 2022, with a long-term average of 2.8.

During the 2024 spring wild turkey season, hunters checked 15,535 birds. Among those were 1,785 turkeys taken by hunters ages 17 and younger during the youth weekend, according to the release. Eastern and southern counties, where forested habitat is most abundant, typically record the highest number of harvests. The top five counties for turkey harvest in 2024 were Ashtabula (470), Belmont (454), Tuscarawas (449), Monroe (447), and Washington (410).

Turkey hunting regulations

During the two-day youth hunting season, hunters ages 17 and younger may participate with a youth hunting license ($10 for a one-year license) and youth turkey permit ($16), according to the release. Licenses and permits can be purchased on the Ohio Wildlife Licensing System, via the HuntFish OH mobile app, or at participating license sales agents. Youth hunters are required to be accompanied by a nonhunting adult, 18 years of age or older. Hunting hours during the youth season are 30 minutes before sunrise until sunset.

In both regular season hunting zones, turkey hunting hours for the first nine days of the season are from 30 minutes before sunrise until noon. For the remainder of the season, hours are extended until sunset. The season ends in the south zone Sunday, May 18, and in the northeast zone Sunday, June 1. Turkey hunters are required to have a valid hunting license and spring turkey permit, unless exempted, according to the release. Find more information in the current hunting and trapping regulations.

Hunters are required to game check their harvested bird no later than 11:30 p.m. on the day it was taken, according to the release. The DOW’s automated game check system is available at wildohio.gov, on the HuntFish OH mobile app, by phone at 877-TAG-IT-OH (877-824-4864), or at a participating license agent. Reporting your harvest allows the DOW to monitor wild turkey populations from year to year and impacts management decisions on wild turkeys.

Wild turkey research

The DOW is studying the nesting and survival of hen turkeys in eastern and southwestern Ohio in collaboration with researchers in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, according to the release. Over the past two years, Ohio’s biologists affixed GPS transmitters to 151 hens and gathered information on their movement, survival, and nest activity timing. This year, staff are gathering data from an additional 97 hens via GPS transmitters.

DOW staff are also conducting research on the gobbling frequency and timing of male wild turkeys. Biologists placed 32 recorders in eastern Ohio in 2024 to record wild turkey gobbles and learn more about factors that influence gobbling. Preliminary results show that daily gobbling activity varies considerably throughout the spring. When compared with hen GPS data, periods of peak gobbling align closely with periods of peak nest initiation and egg-laying.

Information gathered from the brood surveys, multiyear nest study, and gobbling research will influence wild turkey management decisions in the coming years. This helps the Division of Wildlife structure science-based turkey hunting regulations, ensuring wild turkey success across Ohio for many more years.