Merriams turkey hunt suggestions?

[dirtdobber]

I'm new here and was interested in any information anyone may have concerning good locations for a Merriams hunt either public or private land. I've killed Easterns and Rios and would love to get a snow white tipped Merriams. I thought about trying the Custer National Forest in SE Montana. I thought somebody might have some suggestions on where to go and maybe a few specifics. PMs are welcome. Thanks.

[huntn4bucks]

Welcome to the forums. I killed my first Merriam turkey last year in Northern Nebraska. I hunted with an outfitter but I wouldn't recommend them. I won't mention any names in an open forum but if you choose to go with an outfitter in that area, definitely send me a PM and I'll be happy to give you more details.

[Covehnter]

DD, welcome to the forums. Where ya from? Fill out your bio and more folks may chime in.

[Strut10]

I can provide you the info for an outfitter in Wyoming if you want it. They are a top notch bunch. Last year they went 100% with 86 hunters.

[dirtdobber]

Outfitters are fine. I was curious if anyone has had any success going the public route?

[wyohunter]

in the black hills of northeast wyoming....some national forest and private land both in the area, great bird numbers, thats where i'll be this spring

[WaCoyote]

Colville Nat. Forest. Washington State. It's full of them. Newport, Colville, Kettle Falls, Chewela areas are gross with Merriams. If your interested in areas PM me.

[WaCoyote]

Last year we had a two bird limit on this side of the state. Three if the third is on the west side. This year it's a 5 bird limit but the regs wont be out for a while so I'm not sure if some will have to be fall birds or how many can be shot east vs. west.

If you have time and money we do have 3 subspecies here. Turkey nuts call it a Washington slam. We have Rios in the central to South and southeast, merriams are northeast (lincoln county mainly) and easterns on the west side.

[Strut10]

[ QUOTE ]
........ and easterns on the west side.

[/ QUOTE ]

Those have to be some confused birds.

[NWTFHUNTER]

Hey WaCoyote, Where are you at up there ?
And dont be giving our little secrete away, before you know it there will be 10 thousand out of staters looking for Tom

As for the 5 birds this year, 3 are for the spring and you can buy one fall tag. The 5th one is for a fall draw only. I think its limited to Stevens and Lincoln countys.

I will be up there on the 13th. I will PM you where, but if we are in the same area we should stop in for a bite to eat or something.
Do you hunt Nat. or private?
We have both, around 10K acres of Nat Forest and 280 of private.

Strut, the bio's are starting to say there is some serious crossing happening or soon to happen between the Rios and Merriams.

[Colorado Bob]

South-West Colorado------lots of birds & plenty of National Forest. US Hiway 160. From Pagosa Springs to Cortez. CB

[WaCoyote]

NWTFHUNTER,
Nobody pays attention to WA. I just like to brag.
I'm in Spokane. I have 3 good public land spots Northeast and zero private. I know of other areas that hold birds but I don't hunt them since the other spots produce.....Well kind of. I'm not exactly the most prolific turkey hunter around but I get into birds every year. Unfortunately I just don't shoot them every year. LOL. I'd like to go out with one of these turkey freaks and trade them for a yote hunt or something. Then they can show me the ropes. I had one spot for Rios (private) that kind of fell through. 6000 acres and they'd only let me hunt 1 area of about 100 acres that had no cover. The guy who owns it is my neighbor too! Go figure. So far in 6 years I've connected on 3 and called one in for my girl. I give her the first shot. This winter I found an area close to home that they may have just planted birds. I saw 9 Toms while yote hunting. I'm gonna take my girl there for the youth hunt. Anyways get with me if you're around. I assume you mean you'll be up here April 13th?? Hope the weather is better opening weekend. It was attrocious last year. Birds didn't make a peep!!

[ QUOTE ]
Strut, the bio's are starting to say there is some serious crossing happening or soon to happen between the Rios and Merriams.



[/ QUOTE ]

They call them Merrios. And yes Strut they are confused. EVERYTHING and everybody on the west side is confused!

[NWTFHUNTER]

Good to hear from someone from my neck of the "woods" What a neighbor you have there. We will have to talk and share where our hot spots are. With out saying the township, how far N.E from Spokane is it? Mine are about 1 hour up 95. But not as far as the Turkey Capital of the N.W. if you know what I mean.
Yes I will be up there on the 13 for a week. Not sure if I am going to use my southwest free ticket or if the Dist. Dir and I are going to drive. I was telling him about some of my spots and he said "lets go, I'll drive." So maybe I will hold him to it. My best friend from Monroe can only come for 4 days and has to get back to work. At least we can still hunt together. Lets meet up this spring and if you want to shoot yotes come on down, we have plenty of them. Cameron

[WaCoyote]

[ QUOTE ]
With out saying the township, how far N.E from Spokane is it? Mine are about 1 hour up 95.

[/ QUOTE ]

The close spot is near Loon Lake. The other two are near springdale. Don't mind saying the town. As you know it's BIG country up here. Plus like I said I know of so many spots in the Colville that I really don't mind telling people where to start looking. I'm here on this board quite a bit, especially in the winter. I'm self employed and don't work in the winter. So PM me if your around. See ya.

[borch]

[ QUOTE ]
Outfitters are fine. I was curious if anyone has had any success going the public route?

[/ QUOTE ]

We've had decent success hunting the Black Hills of SD. We're about 50 percent over all for our group which includes several turkey hunitng novices. Tons of beatiful but rugged public land with lots of Merriams.