It looks as though I might get to make a trip around Albuquerque to hunt Merriams. I'm pretty fired up about this opportunity !! I have lots of experience w/Rios, but none w/Merriams. I'm looking for tips on any of the differences I might experience w/the Merriams. My Rio hunting typically consists of getting him to gobble - then allowing him to hunt me, instead of calling a bunch to him. Would I treat a gobbling Merriams the same way, or stay on him and keep him gobbling?? Thanks for any input. It will be greatly appreciated. Good Huntin'
I'll be watching this one too as I'm heading out to SD next month to try my luck at a Merriams for the first time. I've only hunted easterns so far myself, and they can be rather finicky depending on the day.
Where I hunt merriams in Colo there is gobs of country with few turkeys. It's a matter of covering lots of country to find the few that exist. Where I live on the Front Range in Colo the mountain merriams are often in the ponderosa zone...and that's generally where they roost.
From my understanding...rios are considered river bottom birds. The rios I've hunted in Nebraska can often be found in the same roost trees night after night. I'm not sure the same is true with merriams? Obviously behavior and location often change from one end of the season to the other with both species.
Gobblenut can probably give you some good advice since he's in NM, but they should act similar to the Merriam's I've hunted in CO, NE, and MT. As a generalization l call to these birds a lot, but I'll call to an Eastern a lot if I think it's necessary. However, do not assume that all Merriam's are easy and just come running. You can and will find stubborn Merriam's. I've found a number of them that I could not kill and a number of them that took some finess similar to an eastern.
Merriam's, especially those in the mountains, like to cover ground. I would consider them nomadic. You may find one that roosts in the same location nightly or they may be roosted in the next zip code. This is where covering ground to locate helps. Sitting and being patient and hoping a bird shows up could be effective, boring as heck, if you were hunting transplanted riverbottom/farm country Merriam's. But......under most circumstances with mountain birds, you're going to need the legs that God gave you to find these birds.
I've had good luck roosting them but to be honest out of a good number of Merriam's I don't think I've killed one right after flydown like I have Easterns. I flat out missed one a couple years ago that came in after flydown and startled me when he gobbled at 10 yards behind a cedar. It has really just been the nature of how I've hunted them. I seldom get set up on one before flydown because I'm always hunting new locations and traveling to hunt in big country. The first time I hear one may well be a mile away and the first time I've set foot on the spot or the first chance I've had to visit the spot since the previous year. I'm usually playing catch-up to a bird that is already on the move or I'm prospecting from trails and ridge tops with a call.
Good luck!
Good stuff, Hobbes - thanks so much. Any more info from you Merriams guys??
I believe Hobbes hit it about right. NM seems to be getting hammered pretty hard now so be prepared to work hard to find a bird you can call in on public land. When they have been called to and busted a lot they pretty much go silent on the ground (I also think this has to do with predation as I usually call in at least one coyote a day). Get up high and move slow, its easy to bust birds. If you hear a hot bird gobbling during the day go to him no matter how far away as that maybe your only chance! Birds move a bunch but in my experience if they aren't getting bumped they will use the same area to roost.
Hobbes' and codym's characterizations ring true for NM. Bring an extra pair of lungs too. Expect to hunt at around 9000 feet elevation. The state does get hit pretty hard. Be prepared to cover a lot of miles on foot. The scenery is spectacular. You will have to travel a couple or few hours from Albuquerque to get into birds. I like to hunt uphill when I can. Carrying 20 lb bird 1000 feet out of a canyon at this altitude is no mean feet. It is also easy to get turned around. Bring a GPS. I haven't found the Merriam's to be any harder or easier than Easterns or Rios, but locating them is harder.
Heading to NM next week. Will be first Merriams hunt and first hunt for anything in the mountains. I have been hunting Rio's in midwest for last 4 years but expect this trip to be a little different and can't wait for the scenery.
Someone did mention calling in coyotes. I noticed when I bought my tags that you had to pay for a license to hunt coyotes? Where I come from we shoot them on sight. Would that not be a good deal while hunting National Forest in NM?
My hiking boots aren't completely broke in but have been training for over 6 months but I guess there is no way to train for those kinds of elevation when you live about 35' above sea level..
Quote from: Crawl79 on April 14, 2016, 04:10:05 PM
Someone did mention calling in coyotes. I noticed when I bought my tags that you had to pay for a license to hunt coyotes?
In order to get a turkey tag you have to buy a general hunting license so your good to hunt coyotes. I honestly don't think you need a license to hunt coyotes, but when I went back and looked in the rule book I couldn't find that anywhere.
VERY good stuff, gentlemen. I appreciate it. CRAWL - please let us know how your hunt goes. Thanks again, and Good Huntin'
Sorry I wasn't around to join in this conversation,...was out chasing those very Merriam's. Much good advice has already been given by others, but I will add my half-cents worth.
First, find gobbling turkeys before you start hunting. NM Merriam's, even hard-hunted ones, are perfectly willing to let you know where they are just about every morning of the season,...and often in the evening, as well. Use locator calls at first and last light and keep moving until you find a gobbling bird,...and preferably several.
Second, there are two ways to kill our birds. Some are not likely to come to a turkey call,...but you can ambush them because they gobble a lot. But if you get on the wrong bird that will not come to your calling,...and you think that if you just keep calling at him he will change his mind as some point,...you are likely to have a long and frustrating hunt.
The second way to kill our birds is to keep looking until you find one that wants to play. They are out there,...but sometimes you have to run through a bunch of gobblers that won't play until you find the one that will. When you find the right gobbler, he will give you the "classic" hunt,...come in gobbling and strutting. Of the two ways to kill them, you can choose which one suits you. (I know which one I prefer)
Finally, I think too many people equate public-lands Merriam's with the stories we all hear about lightly-hunted private land birds that stereotype Merriam's gobblers as being easy to kill. Indeed, they can be if you get on the right one by chance. But if you come here thinking that killing one of our public-lands birds is going to be a walk in the park, you may be in for a very rude awakening.
Be prepared to hunt hard to find your NM Merriam's gobbler. The altitude they are at is a killer,...and if you are not in shape for that, and you underestimate these birds, you will go home with a new respect for hunting these turkeys.
Quote from: Texforce on April 15, 2016, 10:28:32 AM
VERY good stuff, gentlemen. I appreciate it. CRAWL - please let us know how your hunt goes. Thanks again, and Good Huntin'
Looked at the weather for the week and decided to leave 12 hours early to get an early start with the weather looking so good the next few days.
Left Louisiana a few hours ago and now the long ride across Texas.
Will let everyone know how I'm doing once I get started.
Quote from: Crawl79 on April 19, 2016, 07:48:40 PM
Quote from: Texforce on April 15, 2016, 10:28:32 AM
VERY good stuff, gentlemen. I appreciate it. CRAWL - please let us know how your hunt goes. Thanks again, and Good Huntin'
Looked at the weather for the week and decided to leave 12 hours early to get an early start with the weather looking so good the next few days.
Left Louisiana a few hours ago and now the long ride across Texas.
Will let everyone know how I'm doing once I get started.
Thanks. Will be waiting for update. Thinking about going for merriams next year myself. Haven't yet decided on SD or NM though. Thinking if we do SD we can stop and hunt kansas a couple days on the way home. Good luck!!
I wanted to try SD as well but girlfriend has friends here and a shorter drive. Plus I get to see mountains. Saw my first two elk this am. Already planning a return.
Will be making first hunt shortly.
Good luck
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Quote from: Crawl79 on April 20, 2016, 04:00:13 PM
I wanted to try SD as well but girlfriend has friends here and a shorter drive. Plus I get to see mountains. Saw my first two elk this am. Already planning a return.
Will be making first hunt shortly.
Awesome man. I'm from louisiana also. I've been to the mountains a few times chasing mule deer. Love it. But I wanna try the spring. Next spring can't get here fast enough. Good luck and watch for elk sheds!
Finding birds isn't too hard (at least, it wasn't for me). Any area that has reliable source of water will have them and they gobble like crazy from the roost. Finding a bird that will be receptive to your calls is an entirely different story. I'd recommend getting high and staying high on a ridge. Pack some trail mix, jerky, and a two quarts of water and prepare to work for them. I'm relatively young and in pretty good shape and dropping down from one ridge to get on the next one isn't something I'd recommend. I didn't feel it was a lack of oxygen as much as it was just the steepness of the faces of the mountains I climbed. Just stay high and keep pressing forward whichever direction your ridge runs.
Birds roost in different areas and can move from canyon to canyon every day. If sign isn't extremely fresh don't trust it but better than no sign for sure.
Birds roost 2/3 to 1/2 up ridges. If possible get right above them. Had one hunt where we got too close and setup eye level with 4 jakes. They dropped down right below me and came into setup and looked for me at 10 steps never spooking. They are wary but not as wary as easterns.
Look for ridges that have meadows and water holes. Never seen any birds in low farm pastures but they love eating dandelions in the meadows and normally go straight to water when they come down from roost.
Keep eye out for sheds.
When hunting with guide we messed up a few times by getting way to close. The terrain is open in some areas and thick in others but birds have no problem traveling and fast. Both times we busted birds I had just stopped and told the guide I thought we should stop and get setup.
Birds seem to respond better to sweet calling as opposed to raspy calls. A good box call that is not raspy is a must. Although I had some luck getting birds to gobble cutting hard on a mouth call.
Crow call is a must. I read on here before I left that birds didn't gobble at owls but that wasn't the case. Wish I would have had one with me. They gobbled at the Owls early and normally with plenty of time to setup.
Probably can think of more tips and post them later. I have been hunting public land out of state for a while but hunting with some locals for first time here was a plus. Learned allot quick.
Quote from: JMalin on April 21, 2016, 10:33:10 AM
dropping down from one ridge to get on the next one isn't something I'd recommend. I didn't feel it was a lack of oxygen as much as it was just the steepness of the faces of the mountains I climbed. Just stay high and keep pressing forward whichever direction your ridge runs.
Totally agree, we tried to get at their level o a little higher and work that level. The one day we went up and down ridges I had the guide stopping to rest. I guess all the time at the gym the last 8 months helped.
We did hunt higher up one morning at close to 9000 feet and I was gasping for air but hunting at 7-8 was not an issue for me as long as didn't have to climb too many canyons and hills.
Beautiful birds and thanks for the updates. How was hunter pressure there on public land? I think we are set on south dakota next year but nothing is in stone.
Quote from: Tomfoolery on April 24, 2016, 02:52:03 PM
Beautiful birds and thanks for the updates. How was hunter pressure there on public land? I think we are set on south dakota next year but nothing is in stone.
Didn't see many out of state license plates but every forest rd that was still closed due to elk calving had New Mexico trucks parked at the gates. Locals told me that towards end of season those rds may be opened up and some fresh birds could be available. But at least for now you would have to walk a long ways to get to some birds that haven't had pressure and no set date when roads could open so hard to plan OOS hunt around that.
Competition was high even on private land and besides my luck with the rancher most locals aren't friendly compared to where I am from. Even among the guides at camp it was tight lipped about where to hunt and I could tell that there was some frustration about turkey hunting rights and leasing of property among the outfitters and guides. We were driving 45 miles or more to get to best areas on public and private and we were already lodged in a good area and less than 2 weeks into the season. Had two other guys in camp. One killed two birds, a jake and mature bird and other had zero after 3 days of hard hunting.
Outfitter knew up front that my plan was to learn how to hunt these birds so I could come back on my own and hunt public next year. I told him that the first time we talked luckily he came through and set me up with a local guide and it was expensive for someone who normally hunts public land alone but worth it to me in the long run.
WOW - Great stuff, and Congrats on a successful hunt. This has been a great thread, gentlemen - & I so appreciate all of the awesome info. Good Huntin'
I'd say that was a very successful trip! Congratulations to you on a couple of dandy birds.
Another thing to remember is the weather can turn sour very quick in that part of the country and you will need to be prepared especially if plan on hunting public land and want to get to birds that have not been busted up by hunters yet.