News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 4, 2000   FALL TURKEY SEASON ATTRACTING MORE HUNTER PARTICIPATION COLUMBUS, OH -- It did not take long for hunters to discover the challenge and excitement in hunting wild turkeys during a fall season. If last year's record fall harvest of 3,071 birds is any indication, then the record may again be rewritten when this year's fall turkey season is held October 14-22, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. Unlike the three-week statewide spring turkey hunting season, the fall turkey season is open for nine days only in Adams, Athens, Belmont, Brown, Carroll, Clermont, Columbiana, Coshocton, Gallia, Guernsey, Harrison, Hocking, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pike, Ross, Tuscarawas, Vinton and Washington counties. The fall season is open for the first time this year in Adams, Brown and Clermont counties. Hunters are required to have a fall turkey hunting permit in addition to a valid hunting license. Legal hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset daily. A wild turkey of either sex may be taken. Wild turkeys must be tagged and taken to an official turkey check-in station by 8 p.m. of the day they are killed. Additional rules are contained in the 2000-2001 Ohio Hunting & Trapping Regulations Digest. This free publication is available where hunting licenses are sold, from wildlife division district offices in Akron, Athens, Columbus, Findlay and Xenia, and by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE. Hunters killed 1,250 birds during Ohio's first fall turkey hunting season in 1996. There were 1,210 wild turkeys taken in the 1997 fall season and 1,234 taken in the 1998 season. Counties where hunters took the most wild turkeys during the 1999 fall season included Guernsey, Coshocton, Harrison, Muskingum and Vinton. Approximately one in three turkeys taken during last year's fall turkey hunting season came from these five counties. -30- For Further Information Contact: John Wisse, ODNR Division of Wildlife (614) 265-6539 -or- Dave Swanson, ODNR Division of Wildlife (740) 664-274