Reports are in from wildlife biologists across the Buckeye State, and barring any unforeseen weather disasters, Ohio's wild turkey hunters are in for another excellent season in 2009.

The battle for great wild turkey hunting opportunities has been hard won here. As the Ohio of old became home to increasing numbers of settlers, unrestricted hunting and the conversion of forestland to cropland resulted in native wild turkeys becoming nonexistent in the state by 1904.

Farming eventually became less prevalent and croplands began to revert to forested areas. It was then that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife began a turkey restoration effort that has spanned four decades. Early efforts using farm-reared birds failed, but in the early 1960s, biologists turned to the wild turkey populations in other states for their Ohio restoration project.

Wild turkeys, hardier and more wary of predators than their farm-bred cousins, began to successfully establish naturally reproducing populations throughout southern Ohio. These birds were in turn trapped and transplanted to other regions of the state.

The restoration project and transplanting of birds came to an end last year, a resounding success. Wild turkeys now inhabit all 88 counties of the Buckeye State. Spring hunting can be enjoyed statewide, and 46 counties are open for a more limited fall hunting season.

Oversight for Ohio's wild turkey population comes from the Waterloo Wildlife Research Station.

"Our function is two-fold," said Mike Reynolds, an ODNR wildlife biologist. "We conduct monitoring of the wild turkey population on an annual basis as well as answering specific questions about their abundance and reproduction. We do this through a variety of annual surveys and research projects."

Reynolds said the two most important annual surveys are the spring gobbler survey and the summer brood survey. Each April, biologists throughout the state follow set routes, listening for gobbler activity. The number of gobblers heard is compared to that of previous years as a predictor of wild turkey numbers.

"This provides an index to the wild turkey population," Reynolds said. "The more gobblers you hear, the bigger the population is."

From June through August, observations of hens with poults are recorded and those sightings help biologists track the reproductive success of the species. Biologists also do radio telemetry research on hens to determine peak incubation periods. Reynolds said that in Appalachian states like Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio, there has been a realization that illegal hen mortality is high each spring and fall.

"A number of research projects have indicated that illegal hen mortality in spring can be significant," Reynolds explained, "so the later you time the spring season the better off you are because more hens are nesting and it's more difficult for them to be taken by mistake or illegal harvesting."

Another aspect of research conducted by biologists is to band and track gobblers.