I went on a marathon gobbler scout today searching for the elusive merriams on public land in the foothills of the Northern Front Range in Colo. Talk about a needle in a haystack! It's amazing how much public land there is with no tracks or sign of turkeys. The merriams in our area hardly utter a word so it makes it even that much tougher to locate them. Good news....I found tracks in a couple patches of snow in an area where I got a tom last year. Bad news is I didn't see nor hear 1 turkey. Even better news...I'm heading to Nebraska in a few weeks where locating turkeys usually isn't too tough!
Does anyone share the same challenge of hunting public land gobblers on the Front Range and have any tips on how to narrow down areas that may hold merriams?
Went on another marathon hike today. Mumms the word for mountain merriams around here! I saw a few more sets of tracks and tiny bit of sign in one spot but that's all I have to work with. I sure hope they start talking or its going to be rough.
Were you there before daylight to listen as daylight approached? I wasnt hunting the front range but the San Isabel NF. I could usually find gobbling birds by opening weekend. However, I think it gets better as May approaches and later in the season.
Crickets in the dark!
If I didn't hear or see some birds between now and opening, I'd try something else on the opener but I wouldn't give up on the spot. If you found tracks there are definitely toms around somewhere. I typically did a lot of calling from the ridge tops to find a responsive bird. Good Luck!
The gobblers around here hardly make a peep. I called in a giant chocolate black bear 2 years ago so that kind of tells you what happens if they make noise. Last year on opening I was fortunate to find some toms that gobbled prior to daylight so I could pin down their location. The last 2 days I've tried calling on hilltops the entire day without a response. There are crows flying around and every time they make a sound I listen for shock gobbles but have heard nothing. The last snow was last Tuesday so the tracks I found are relatively fresh so I'm sure they are around but not making noise. There are very few birds on public land where I'm hunting so I guess it's a matter of sticking with it!
I hunted the San Isabel National Forest last year in early May and harvested a beautiful gobbler. I hunted one area three days and heard a beard gobbling all three days. He gobbled like a Rio on the roost and when he flew down. I know he gobbled at least a 100 times one morning. I did not kill this bird. I got him to about 60 yards and a hen ran between us and took him away.
I lived in and hunted CO from 06 to 11 and found the toms to be quite responsive. Finding them was the hardest part. I hunted the San Isabel several years. I also hunted once by Pagosa, once near Aguilar, and one plains tag for a Rio. You may want to try some other areas in the state.
Good luck. I hope you find some responsive birds.
Hobbes---I also hunted Bonnie Reservoir again last spring before I went to the mountains to hunt a Merriam's. I took another Rio there but the numbers were way down from the earlier time I hunted there. Bonnie Reservoir is completely dried up due to the state of Kansas winning a suit and forcing Colorado to release the water. It is a big dried up, growed up dust bowl now.
I wondered how that would affect the numbers. Sounds like it hasn't helped.
I'll make it back to the mtns there some time to chase turkeys but it isn't possible right now.
It goes against my "grain" to get into a conversation which I am not directly familiar with, but I will try to be helpful nonetheless. Having hunted Merriam's turkeys in southern NM for lots of years, I have yet to find a place where they will not willingly gobble at first light in the morning once the breeding season kicks into full gear.
One problem you may be facing in that area, besides there being few birds, is that you have started looking for gobbling birds too early in the season in that latitude. That seems a bit unlikely after April 1st, but I know there have been some late snow storms up that way, so that may have delayed roost gobbling a bit. Again, not being familiar with that specific situation, I couldn't say for sure.
If I was to guess, however, I would suspect that you just have not been in the right place at the right time to hear gobbling birds. My suggestion to locate gobblers, if you have not done so already (and if you have, please disregard my recommendations, but expand your search outward using the same techniques) is to get out in the places you have seen some turkey sign at the first hint of daylight in the morning. Using a loud crow call (or equal), start where you have seen sign and begin using your locator call. Drive the roads if there are roads in the area,
Starting at any location at the first hint of daylight (a glow on the eastern horizon), blow your locator loudly and abruptly, making only a short, loud blast (with a crow call, two quick blasts on the call, no more). Listen quietly for about ten seconds, and if you don't hear a response, do it one more time. Most gobblers will respond immediately after your first calls on the locator. It is imperative that you do not draw your calling out too long. If you do, you are likely to call over a gobbler that responds, and you may not hear him.
If no response, jump in your vehicle and drive down the road another half mile, stop, and do this again,...and again,...moving quickly from one spot to the next. You generally have about forty-five minutes to an hour using this technique to find birds that will gobble on the roost. If you are being efficient, you can cover perhaps twenty miles of ground during that period, depending on how often you stop. In mountain country, you can hear a gobbler from a mile or more if there are no obstructions (ridges) between you and them, so you don't want to stop too often. Do stop at places where side canyons go off from the road so that birds that are roosted in these draws will hear your locator and likely respond.
Based on my experience here in New Mexico (and this tactic works everywhere I have hunted,...even in other states and with other subspecies), if there are gobblers around, you will find them using this method. If you have not already, you should try this. If you have tried it, and you have not found gobblers, you have either started too early in the season,...or there are no gobblers where you are doing it.
Another thing, this same tactic works very well (although not as well as in the morning) in the evening from fifteen minutes after sunset until full darkness (usually a period of about thirty minutes).
Good advice Gobblenut. This is how I start finding birds in any new location unless the road system doesn't allow such an approach. Roads along mountain streams can be tough because the water flow this time of year is at a low roar and gets worse as the season progresses.
Yeah, Hobbes, there are circumstances that can make finding birds with those roosting tactics a bit more complex, so to speak. But as I am sure you know, when the circumstances are right, there is no better way to figure out where those gobblers are. Especially in areas where birds are scarce, being able to eliminate (or confirm) over large chunks of ground sure cuts the time spent looking by a tremendous amount.
:icon_thumright:
I agree.
Today was opening of Colo gobbler season and I learned a little about what's going on. The area I hunt is on public land...the only public I know that is any good close to home is a 2,000' verticle climb then 2 miles back to where the birds are. There is no way I can cover the area in a vehicle listening for gobblers!
Anyway, I left at 4 am this morning and to my surprise toms were gobbling in the trees.....1 1/2 hours before daylight. 45 minutes before daylight the birds were totally quiet and I only heard 2 gobbles after they first landed. They know exactly what to do in predator country because they hi-tail it completely out of the country where they roost. I don't think they are as dumb as some people admit! I had the flue today so found a decent spot to set up decoys and call. I kept calling to minimum and saw 0 turkeys. There were at least 7 different toms I heard that were roosting in different trees so at least I know they are around. I stayed until dark and 0 calls again. Merriams where I live are one smart critter! Those that say merriams are a slam dunk to call in need to try hunting them in my area! Until they start calling during daylight hours or coming in silently to light calling I'm pretty much lost....but haven't given up hope!
I look for areas that have burned...I've found that turkeys will even roost in the burnt trees. Last season I called in a bear and a bobcat, and I killed a nice tom a few years ago that that been attacked pretty bad and had gangrenous lesions on the breast and legs. I wouldn't make much noise either! I work the logging roads until I see sign and then work those areas. This has worked every season for me here in Colorado. The San Isabel NF is much better than the front range. I got my bird on May the 4th this year and I heard several turkeys gobble right after they left the roost then nothing for a few hours. He responded to my call when he got close. I've found also that you have to follow the snowline as it recedes. This week, a person will have to be 1000 ft higher than I was last week. I absolutely love chasing these mountain turkeys and they are a challenge.
I was able to make another marathon hike into the same turkey spot one day last week. I didn't get into the area until around 8 am. The toms actually gobbled this time about once every hour or 2 until around 11 am. It made it super tough pinpointing their location but I did find a group of 2 toms with around 8 hens. I had a slam dunk opportunity that I managed to botch up on a gorgeous mature tom. I could have shot a jake but passed. The remainder of the day the turkeys were silent but I got 3 stray hens to wander into decoys. They hung around my decoys for around 3 hours. It was nice having live decoys running around. I could get the hens excited and do soft turkey talk but no toms showed up. It seemed like the few toms that are in the area are with hens. I'm going to try giving it another shot this weekend. I'll probably backpack in a spike camp this time so I can spend more time hunting than hiking in the dark!