State asking for reports of wild turkey sightings

SANDUSKY — See a turkey, report a turkey. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is asking people to report sightings of wild turkeys and ruffled grouse throughout the summer so that scientists can calculate the population for the birds. Sightings can be reported at the wildlife reporting system website at wildohio.gov or on the HuntFish OH mobile app. Wild turkeys can be found in all of Ohio's 88 counties, the Ohio Division of Wildlife states, and there's a statewide estimated population of 160,000 to 180,000 turkeys. But the turkey population, generally, is particularly high in eastern Ohio. Erie County is rated as having only a "low" population of turkeys. Wild turkeys are doing well in Ohio. The birds had been wiped out in Ohio by 1904. But, in the 1950s, the Ohio Division of Wildlife began releasing birds in Ohio that were imported from other states. Turkeys like a mix of woods and open areas and can often be seen in the morning in fields near forests. The ruffled grouse isn't doing as well. They like heavily forested areas, and loss of habitat has caused their numbers to decline since the 1980s. Since the early 2000s, the West Nile virus has caused further population declines.