Merriam's color variations

[hobbes]

I've been asked some questions on Merriams and hunting the West in the past couple weeks, so thought I'd show some photos of the color variations that you can expect if you're hunting Merriams this season.  I know some folks are always concerned they are killing hybrids if their bird doesn't have snow white tips.  I don't believe that is the case unless you are hunting areas that are known hybrid areas.  Merriam's will vary from white to buff.  You should be able to see that for sure with the MT and CO birds since they are killed in areas that have never seen anything but Merriam's. 

Also, I am not by any means an authority on hunting Merriam's (turkeys at all for that matter) but have lived in CO and MT over the last eight years, so I have had the opportunity to hunt them each of those years.  There are plenty of guys on here that have killed more birds (including Merriam's) than I'll ever dream of killing.

As a generalization, Merriam's gobble a lot and I call to them a lot more than I would most Easterns.  They aren't known for being the toughest bird to hunt.  However, don't kid yourself, you can run across a Merriam's that will act just like a hard hunted Eastern.  The best thing about a Merriam's is the country you will hunt them in.  Also, they usually have a destination in mind and it can be difficult to change their mind.  They always seem to be on a mission.  Another thing to be aware of, especially for the mountain birds, is don't depend on the beard to determine a tom vs. jake. Merriam's are notorious for not having much of a beard.  If the beard looks short, look at it close to see if it is just thin.  The best bet is to look for a full fan and pay attention to the secondaries and primaries in the wings.

Most of these photos have been posted on here at one time or another, so I've tried to include those of just the turkey, but there are some birds that the only photo I have includes the hunter.  The photos include SD, NE, CO, and MT turkeys.  The SD birds were my first Merriam's and were killed on private land.  The rest are all public land birds.


South Dakota
These are the only Merriam's I've killed that may be hybrids, but NWTF listed them as Merriam's at the time.  They were killed in Pennington County just east of the Black Hills.  My first Merriam's was a jake that was snow white.


Note the buff color on these two that were killed within 500 yards of one another and only a few miles from the jake.



Northwest Nebraska

I know NE is known for Hybrids but NW Nebraska is still listed as Merriam's.  I've settled on, if they gobble..........I'm good.
Little bit narrower fan tips than most Merriam's that we've killed.  He was also wet after packing him to the truck in a light rain.


These two doubled by my son and I from the same flock of birds have a little more buff look but that same wide fan tip barring that seems customary for a Merriam's


This is the whitest tipped bird we've killed in NW NE.  Although, I think the exposure makes it look a little whiter than it was.


Nice creamy tips


A light buff to creamy tips


Colorado

These are all mountain birds, so they are Merriam's..........period.

Central Mountains.  A little washed out, but you can see some buff coloring.  Note how wide the white band is on the tips.  The second photo is a close up of the thigh feathers that shows the color well.



Killed the following year within a few hundred yards of the first CO bird shown.


This bird was killed in the mountains in south/central CO but was killed on private land with a limited tag.  I've marked the guys face out because this is the only time I hunted with him and don't like posting other folks faces online if I don't know them very well.  You can see he was quite happy with his first tom.


Montana
All of these were in the eastern half of MT.  The first two are SE and the rest are more central and a little farther west.

Really wide buff colored tips.


A little creamier than the previous bird and killed at least 75 miles apart.


Called in for a hunting buddy.


This was killed within a few miles of the previous bird and has the whitest tips of the MT birds we've killed although not as wide.


This was killed in a completely different are than the last four.  My son killed a jake within 10 miles of this on the first day that had creamy tips.

[GobbleNut]

Great post, Hobbes.  Some hunters have the mistaken impression that pure-strain Merriams turkeys must have snowy white feather tips, and if they don't, they must be hybrids.  Here in the mountains of New Mexico in the heart of native Merriams range, snowy white fans are as rare as turkey teeth.  Most are distinctively buff,....so much so that they could be mistaken for Rios at times by those that aren't good at subspecies ID. 

You mention the band widths of the fans as a clue.  A more tell tale sign is the sheen of the iridescent body feathers.  Merriams have a hard-to-describe purplish sheen to their iridescent feathers, while Rio's have a distinct metallic gold/copper/brass sheen.  Put a true Merriams next to a Rio or Rio/Merriams hybrid and the difference is unmistakeable. 

[zelmo1]

  Good post and great info for everyone. I am planning a Nebraska hunt for 2016 and I would like to get a Merriams and a Rio on the hunt. The outfitter says he has different camps and it should be no problem. Your post will help with the hunt. Thanks again, Al Baker

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

Terrific post and reference photos.  This issues comes up a lot out here in New Mexico where, as GobbleNut says, some local populations of birds lean towards buff colored fan tips and hunters new to the area think they must be hybrids.  These are the documented remnant Merriam's populations that at the greatest contraction of their historical range existed primarily in New Mexico, but also the mountains of southern Colorado and Arizona, and were the source of the original transplants to other states.

[hobbes]

Gobblenut
You should post up some of yours.   I meant to encourage more photos of Merriams.  I don't know that the white tip width is a good indication, but something I've noticed.  I have a photo that shows the color difference you are talking about.

[Bama turkey hunter]

Those are some great looking birds. 

[hobbes]

Here is a Rio killed in Eastern CO.  Rio's are the only transplants in this area.

It has fairly wide tips as well and isn't much darker on the tips, but the body color is different.

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

Here is one from New Mexico, with buff colored tail band, but also showing the very dark body with purple sheen.


Here's another one taken only a couple of miles away from the first one.

[marshboy]

Here's a NW Nebraska tom I killed in 2011, very white tips:




And here's a South Dakota Black Hills tom I killed last spring:



Sorry about the large image size 

[ShortSpurs]

Great stuff, guys.

I hope to add a couple of those MT beauties to my pack this spring.


James

[marshboy]

Huh, you learn something every day...
Looking at my Nebraska tom, I see a purplish sheen.
Looking at my Black Hills tom, I see a coppery sheen, similair to the one Rio I killed in Oklahoma a couple years ago...
Might this bird be a Rio? 
I don't care either way, he came to the call strutting and gobbling, but I find it interesting.
Greg

[hobbes]

I think you can expect variations in the sheen also.  In addition to that...just the way we take photos can affect that.  I expect and see variatons in all the Easterns I kill in IL and never question if they are hybrids because it is historical Eastern range.

In case you aren't aware of MT's historical subspecies........turkeys are not native to MT so you have to look at where did the transplants come from.

[crappieangler]

 We hunt in NWNE and shoot some snow white tipped birds, but seems that probably 50% or maybe a little less.  The rest have some variation of buff color. We run into the same thing in KS with Rios.  We are far from the hybrid area according to NWTF map, and a couple of the birds we shot look about like an eastern.   

[sasquatch1]

Here's some trivia on the subject. Anyone wanna guess what this is? Later ill say where it was killed.

[hobbes]

I'm assuming it is something unexpected since you're asking.  Background looks West.  I know Washington has some Eastern hybrids and NW MT probably has some around Kalispell since they released some there years ago.  With the variations in color that I mentioned, I don't think I can tell by the photos alone.  In addition,  beyond the variations are the oddballs that have biological/chemical deficiencies of some sort.