Turkey hunt!

mickeyelk · Apr 28, 2020

Opening day hunt in Utah on my LE hunt. Haven't hunted in Utah for the past 3 years for turkeys. Always enjoy my hunts there. Opening morning heard at least 8-10 Gobblers and saw just as many strutting on the ridge. It was a tough hunt trying to get this bird to come in. He had allot of hens with him. My assumption is that this was a flock that hadn't broken up yet. But he was a nice 2 year old bird and can't wait til next time I hunt in Utah.

rmanwill · Apr 28, 2020

Awesome. Glad you made it out to enjoy the outdoors. Congrats on a nice bird. Thanks for sharing.

3TOE · Apr 29, 2020

mickeyelk said:
Opening day hunt in Utah on my LE hunt. Haven't hunted in Utah for the past 3 years for turkeys. Always enjoy my hunts there. Opening morning heard at least 8-10 Gobblers and saw just as many strutting on the ridge. It was a tough hunt trying to get this bird to come in. He had allot of hens with him. My assumption is that this was a flock that hadn't broken up yet. But he was a nice 2 year old bird and can't wait til next time I hunt in Utah.

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Congratulations to ya & nice looking bird. It looks like a Rio, what area of the state were you hunting? I’m hunting the general hunt next week & focusing on the south central region in hopes of getting into some merriams.

deerkiller · Apr 29, 2020

3TOE said:
Congratulations to ya & nice looking bird. It looks like a Rio, what area of the state were you hunting? I’m hunting the general hunt next week & focusing on the south central region in hopes of getting into some merriams.

I’m don’t think there’s any true pure Merriams anywhere in the central region. Only ones i Know of are in southern Utah areas, like San Juan.

mickeyelk · Apr 29, 2020

Thanks

mickeyelk · Apr 29, 2020

Southern

3TOE · Apr 29, 2020

deerkiller said:
I’m don’t think there’s any true pure Merriams anywhere in the central region. Only ones i Know of are in southern Utah areas, like San Juan.

I’m planning to hunt between Boulder & Torrey. According to the NWTF maps and some reading I’ve done on UT’s population estimates there are supposed to be a few small pockets of merriams in that general area extending slightly further south & to the west. We will see...

yoteduster · May 4, 2020

Gott er done opening day double on utahs general hunt

3TOE · May 5, 2020

At 2:30 PM yesterday on opening day of Utah’s general season hunt, I managed to put my tag on this birds leg. After 3 hours of playing with this bird hemmed up with 4 hens & 7 jakes, he finally came in close enough for a clean shot.

rmanwill · May 5, 2020

You did well. Great bird there. Thanks for sharing.

yoteduster · May 5, 2020

Nice gobbler there 3toes

3TOE · May 6, 2020

Thanks yoteduster! I was super happy to get him. I went into the particular area I hunted in hopes of getting a Merriam. After a day and a half of scouting, I couldn’t locate any birds up high because they weren’t vocal. I ended up dropping down in elevation in the same area and found a few flocks. I believe my bird is a Rio, but he looked like he may have a bit of Merriam in him. Either way... one of these days I’m hoping for a true Merriam.

mickeyelk · May 6, 2020

This year I took 2 Rio's and one Merriam. The only difference that was noticed was in the tail feathers. The Merriam has a off white band in the black if the tail feathers. Plus the Merrian's tail feathers was about an inch longer overall, The two tail feathers that I saved I believe the Rio was 3 and the Merrian was 2. I have always wondered how to tell them apart til now.

3TOE · May 6, 2020

mickeyelk said:
This year I took 2 Rio's and one Merriam. The only difference that was noticed was in the tail feathers. The Merriam has a off white band in the black if the tail feathers. Plus the Merrian's tail feathers was about an inch longer overall, The two tail feathers that I saved I believe the Rio was 3 and the Merrian was 2. I have always wondered how to tell them apart til now.

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Nice! Yeah you can really see the difference in the bottom pic of the Merriam. My bird had a light honey tone to the primary & secondary feather tips. It’s possible it was a hybrid but doesn’t really matter either way. I’m looking forward to cooking some next weekend. I smoked my last turkey breast from last year a month or so ago.