Turkey hunt!

mickeyelk

Very Active Member
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1,893
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.

Kerry's April 2020 012.jpg


Kerry's April 2020 004.jpg
 
Awesome. Glad you made it out to enjoy the outdoors. Congrats on a nice bird. Thanks for sharing.
 
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.

View attachment 5980

View attachment 5981
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.
 
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.
 
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...
 
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.
 
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.

Kerry's April 2020 003.jpg


Kerry's April 2020 037.jpg
 
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.

View attachment 6348

View attachment 6349
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.
 
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