Question for NM

[LI Outdoorsman]

Question for NM hunters..Hunted the Lincoln NF this year with a friend.( I'm a non resident)...we got in the day before opening day did some scouting and located some birds.. weather was extremely dry...cool at night hot middle day..birds gobbled some on the roost but completely clammed up after flydown... we hunted 5 days...never did hear a bird gobble on the ground was very hard to track them... opening day around midday we cruised the roads and spotted a nice gobbler just strolling by himself on a ridge I got in front of him did some calling and got him to gobble but not really hot just answering me and trying to see where I was...I got him to come close but never could get him in the clear for a clean shot ended up letting him walk..never got another chance in 4 days....we also did afternoon noon sits by roost sites but never did end up on the X...my question to the regular hunters of this area is did the season this year seem to go off early or was it not happening till the later part ?..is it common for the birds on this public land to be so quiet? a biologist told us the birds were already done mating by opening day because of the weather..I want to come again next year and if possible could use some input..I also know that hunter pressure moved the birds and off their regular route..we mainly hunted weekdays to limit the weekend brigade..
This is my second time Hunting the Lincoln so now this has become a quest to tag a gobbler there!
any info would be greatly appreciated!
Rob

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

My impression hunting the Lincoln the opening few days and several days later in the season in the Gila was that this was overall an off year.  We heard only a minor fraction of the gobbles we normally hear and it was possible, but very tough, to find a hot bird. I also encountered a number of birds that were entirely uninterested. My buddy and I each killed one, but with lots of miles horizontal and vertical. So, in short, it was not what I would call a typical year.  If next winter is similar to this one, I wouldn't hope for much better.

[JMalin]

I've yet to have an "easy" hunt there.  Seems like it is always a grind between the terrain and the lack of birds willing to work to the call.  I managed to fill both tags last year and this year, and found a new productive area (albeit with hybrid birds), and they did come a little easier than they did last year, but it's still work.  My only advice would be to scout several areas and not waste too much time on birds that aren't at least responding to your calls.  Even if they will gobble back, it's no guarantee that they will actually work to you, but at least you can maybe figure out where they are going, get out in front, and soft call on a pot.

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

I don't think there are any hybrid birds in the Lincoln.  They are naturally more buff colored than what many people think of as pure Merriam's, but they are well documented to be birds that survived through the low point of the 1940s and served as source birds for transplants to other parts of the country.

[JMalin]

I don't think there are any hybrid birds in the Lincoln.  They are naturally more buff colored than what many people think of as pure Merriam's, but they are well documented to be birds that survived through the low point of the 1940s and served as source birds for transplants to other parts of the country.

Rios were released around Ft. Stanton 10 years ago from what I've been told.  Some hybrids for sure in unit 36, but not an issue in 34.