I am wanting to go somewhere to kill a pure white tipped Merriam. Having said that, where would be the best states to go? I am wanting to harvest one that has real white tipped tail feathers and not the buff looking/ hybrid birds. Also any outfitters or public land references would be great. Thanks in advance.
From what I have seen, the more northern Merriam's populations seem to have more light-colored, white-tipped birds than the southern populations, although that characteristic has nothing to do with genetic purity of the subspecies. The historic-range populations in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado often have a wide spectrum of light coloration in individual specimens. Some will have very light tail and rump feather tips,...and some will have much darker tips. They are all pure Merriam's (in most cases),...the coloration differences are just caused by the combination of genes from their parents.
Anyplace you hunt, you will have to look carefully at individual birds to see if they suit your definition of "white-tipped". Often, however, you can shoot a bird that appears to have really light-tipped feathers only to find, once you walk up to it, that the feathers are actually more buff in appearance than you thought. Merriam's "on the hoof" often look much lighter than they do up close and personal.
The point to be made is that the lightness of the tail/rump feathers in a Merriam's turkey really has nothing to do with its genetic purity. The bottom line is if you want to kill a "pure" Merriam's gobbler, regardless of tail/rump coloration, you should be looking at historically-pure populations, either indigenous or introduced populations, that are far from areas that have other subspecies nearby.
If you want a white tipped bird its no problem to find one but white tip has nothing to do with " pure Merriams ". pure Merriams can be buff same as white tipped I've killed both in areas that only have pure Merriams and in areas that have many many hybrids as matter of fact the whitest one I've shot was shot in same pasture as one you would swear was an eastern. Look to hills of SD or WY both good choices
+1 .. blackhills WY
I could not agree more.
One thing about hunting in Merriams country, many areas have sufficient bird numbers that a fella could pass a bird in hopes of the next one have " whiter" feathers. I am not one to pass a bird in range and usually shoot and not worry about coloration.
Montana, Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota have all been good to me and the birds there are white enough. I have killed 24 Merriams in WA State and they have run the gamut of buff- pure white . I shoot them just the same. To me, the Merriams is the most fun of all the subspecies. They live in the finest country, gobble with reckless abandon all day and respond well to calling. I have had some tough hunts for them and a few slam dunk suicide hunt.
Good luck!!
Just from memory, it seems like Colorado, Arizona and Montana produced the "whitest" colors for me. But I'll echo what everyone else has said, the color has nothing to do with how much of a Merriam you are chasing.
Northern New Mexico has a good population of Merriams. One of mine was very white but the other had a bit of buff to it. Isn't the Goudes even whiter then the Merriam?
We are planning a trip to the black hills next spring. Will be our first try at merriams. Really looking forward to it.
I never hunted Merriams, but I would think that the purest strains would be located in the mountains, perhaps Black Hills, Bighorn Mountains or the Rockies.
Quote from: silvestris on October 07, 2016, 05:22:38 PM
I never hunted Merriams, but I would think that the purest strains would be located in the mountains, perhaps Black Hills, Bighorn Mountains or the Rockies.
The Merriam's are a blast to hunt. I always heard that the Merriam's are a mountain bird. This was why I chose to hunt them in New Mexico as they are native and I would be hunting mountains. Of course I was only about 30 miles from the Colorado/New Mexico boarder. Highly suggest hunting the Merriam turkey at least once. Will hunt Rio's this Spring and the Osceola if Mathew does not knock them off.