Hunting Merriams

I mention in my welcome that there are some key differences in how to hunt the Merriams sub-species compared to the Eastern sub-species. I have never actually hunted Easterns, but most turkey publications are about Easterns. To make it even harder on us Merriams folks, the people who write these articles often use the generic term "Wild Turkey", as if Easterns are the only kind of turkey in the world. When I started the sport, I would read these articles and try to apply the techniques that I had learned. It took me years to realize when I read an article or publication about turkeys to be very careful about which sub-species the author was talking about. Here are a couple of really good information resources on the Merriam's subspecies: Mark A. Rumble has several publications on line that helped me understand the habits of Merriams like http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/sd/microhabitats.pdf and http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/rapidcity/PDF/macrohabs.pdf I studied http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/rapidcity/PDF/roostinghab.pdf long and hard to understand roosting habits. This one is great http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/rapidcity/PDF/feeding.pdf, but kinnikinnik is scarce (if there at all) where I hunt, so I had to kind of extrapolate. A good book about Merriams is Stalking the Big Bird by Harley Shaw. In my opinion the biggest difference in hunting Merriams vs. Eastern turkeys is the forests that they live in. Eastern turkey woods are a lot tighter, with a lot more cover. The Ponderosa Pine forests of the west are pretty open with a lot less understory. I think with a more open forest the turkeys don't talk as much. The turkeys can rely on their vision more for cues within the flock. Only when they get in more dense cover do they need to use their calls to communicate. Less cover also means less cover for a hunter to hide. I can probably count on one hand the times that I have surprised a turkey while walking around. Probably half the turkeys I've seen during hunting season are while rolling along at a pretty good clip in a truck. I think the turkeys just don't have a chance to leave the area when your bumping along at 30MPH down a dirt road. When your walking around in open woods though, they see you coming long before you see them. Walking around in Ponderosa woods looking for turkeys in pretty futile. My plan in the future when trying to locate birds during the day is to walk and call a lot, not looking for birds, but listening for them. I've heard of this tactic being used extensively on Eastern turkeys, but I think that with Merriams it is highly over-rated. I spend months and months planning for my turkey hunts though, so I don't want to just sit around at camp all day waiting for the morning hunt. Another big difference is the barred owl shock call. I went to a turkey hunting seminar before I ever went hunting. The expert demonstrated the deadly barred owl shock call. I must have cooked for you all (the call of the barred owl sounds like "Who cooks for you, We cook for you all") for two years before I figured out that barred owls don't live in the U.S. rockies or southwestern states. Don't expect the barred owl call to elicite any response from a Merriams. I've had better luck with slamming the car door than the barred owl call. If you want to do an owl try the Western Screech Owl (pretty hard to master though). Other shock calls I've had luck with are mooing and morning dove. I think I may learn to elk bugle, as last spring it elisited a good response as I mentioned in my Lonely Bachelor post. I have to say that at least with Merriams "shock" call is not the right word. A better name would be "possibly somewhat disturbing, but no real need for me to call back" call. Lastly, there is an idea out there that is widely written about called "roosting the bird". It is painfully clear to me why roosting the bird would greatly increase you chances of killing a big gobbler. I have busted my rear trying to roost a bird and during the whole 6 years of hunting I don't think I have been successful once. I have on several occasions made a good guess where the birds are roosted, but never have I "used my shock call to put the bird to bed". I'm not saying that its not possible to roost a Merriams, but I'm resonably sure it isn't the way they do it in the Eastern turkey woods. Perhaps I got discouraged from roosting gobblers because I used my barred owl shock call. Anyway, I hope that I don't come off as bitter about the press that Easterns get, but if your hunting Merriams or probably any of the other sub species besides Easterns, be careful what you read.