Ohio announces 2026 spring turkey hunting seasons

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife has announced 2026 hunting season dates for wild turkey.

Spring turkey hunting remains a popular tradition in Ohio. During the 2025 spring season, hunters checked 16,014 birds, including 1,740 taken by hunters age 17 and younger during the youth season.

This year’s schedule includes separate youth hunting dates for the south and northeast zones.

Youth turkey season in the south zone will be April 18-19, followed by the northeast zone April 25-26. Regular spring turkey season will run April 25-May 24 in the south zone and May 2-31 in the northeast zone.

Ohio divides the state into two zones to align with turkey nesting activity. The south zone includes 83 counties, while the northeast zone includes Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake and Trumbull counties. The season limit is one bearded turkey.

Eastern and southern counties typically report the highest harvest totals. In 2025, the top counties were Ashtabula with 516 turkeys, followed by Monroe with 462, Belmont with 459, Guernsey with 419 and Muskingum with 406.

The Division of Wildlife is continuing research on turkey populations, including studies on nesting, survival and movement of hens in eastern and southwestern Ohio in partnership with The Ohio State University. Since 2023, biologists have equipped 319 hens with GPS transmitters.

Researchers also are studying gobbling activity of male turkeys using audio recorders placed in eastern Ohio. Early findings show gobbling varies throughout the spring and closely aligns with nesting and egg-laying periods.

During youth season, hunters age 17 and younger must have a youth hunting license and turkey permit and be accompanied by a nonhunting adult age 18 or older. Hunting hours during youth season are 30 minutes before sunrise until sunset.

During the regular season, hunting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise until noon for the first nine days, then extend until sunset for the remainder of the season.

Hunters must game check harvested turkeys by 11:30 p.m. the day the bird is taken. Game check is available at wildohio.gov, through the HuntFish OH app, by phone at 877-824-4864 or at license agents.

Wild turkey restoration is considered one of Ohio’s most successful wildlife efforts. The species disappeared from the state around 1904 before reintroduction efforts began in the 1950s. By 1999, wild turkeys had returned to all 88 counties.