Ohio
Top-tier Boone & Crockett whitetail destination, public Wayne National Forest access, and over-the-counter tags.
Native Species in Ohio
Official Regulatory Authority
Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife (ODNR)
Trophy White-Tailed Deer
Ohio is consistently celebrated as one of the top Boone and Crockett trophy whitetail states in America. The eastern hill country combines steep hardwood timber, reclaimed strip-mine brushlands, and rich agricultural valleys that produce massive typical and non-typical antler structures.
Eastern Wild Turkey
Once extirpated from the state, wild turkeys now flourish across all 88 Ohio counties. The extensive oak-hickory forests of southern and eastern Ohio support dense populations of mature gobblers weighing 20 to 25+ lbs.
Bobcat
A remarkable wildlife conservation recovery. Bobcats have reclaimed their historic range across the forested hills of southeastern Ohio, utilizing rocky ledges, hollows, and young timber cuts to hunt small mammals.
Coyote
Widespread across agricultural farmland, urban fringes, and deep forest tracts statewide. Highly opportunistic hunters that feed on rodents, cottontails, and fawns.
Eastern Gray & Fox Squirrel
Gray squirrels dominate the extensive mature hardwood forests of the Allegheny Plateau, while larger fox squirrels thrive in the fragmented woodlots and agricultural shelterbelts of the western plains.
Ring-Necked Pheasant
Popular game bird found primarily in the open agricultural grasslands, conservation cover fields, and ditch banks of central, western, and northwestern Ohio.
Eastern Cottontail Rabbit
Ubiquitous small game mammal found in overgrown pastures, brambles, and field edges throughout Ohio.
Ruffed Grouse
Native woodland grouse of the eastern hill country, inhabiting young brushy regenerating forests, greenbrier thickets, and grape tangles.