Early results from this year's wild turkey count in Ohio indicate the population is increasing.
"We collect observations not only from Division of Wildlife staff [and] Division of Forestry staff, but members of the public during the months of July and August," explains Mark Wiley, a forest game bird biologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). "With that, we generate an index of reproduction for that year, generally reported as the number of poults per hen."
The statewide average for 2024 is 2.9 poults per hen, which Wiley says is slightly above the state's 10-year average.
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"It was generally a good year for wild turkeys, both nesting and presumably for poult survival."
Wild turkeys are the most popular game bird in Ohio with a population of somewhere between 150,000 to 200,000 birds. Wild turkeys were extirpated from Ohio by the early 1900s because of unregulated harvesting and forest loss.
The Division of Wildlife began reintroducing wild turkeys in the 1950s, and by 1999, they could be found in all 88 Ohio counties.
Beyond the annual wild turkey poult index report, ODNR is also working with researchers from Ohio State University on a wide-scale hen survival study. The multi-state study began in January 2023. The results will help the state set hunting season dates, which haven't been adjusted in nearly 20 years.
Wiley says researchers in Ohio are currently following about 150 hens in the eastern part of the state.
"It's, in general, a measure of the health of the wild turkey population, using hens, hen survival and reproductive output as their primary measures."
"They're monitoring things like hen survival and reproductive output — the number of nest attempts and nest success — as well as following the successful hens to see how many poults are produced at the end of four weeks post-hatch," says Wiley.
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Wiley reports in the first year of monitoring in 2023, researchers recorded fairly high hen survival, but low nest success. This year, hen survival was also high, he says, and nest success rates were much higher.
"On the average across the two years, just about a third of our nests have been successful, and our hen survival rate is right around 70%," he concludes.
The study was slated to wrap up in 2024, with results in 2025, but Wiley says the field work is now expected to continue through 2026.
He's also expecting to see a spike in turkey abundance in the next few years thanks to some cicadas. The insects are tasty treats for wild turkeys and Brood XIV will emerge next summer in southwest and southern Ohio.
