ILHUNTER, I did not hunt Nebraska this year, but I've killed multiple Merriam's in the NW corner of the state.
I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but Merriam's range from a buff to white feather tips, with most of them somwhere between the two extremes. I've seen them in their native range of SW Colorado with much darker tips than those above, so don't just assume that they have to be white to be a Merriam's. However, the majority of birds that I've seen in NW Nebraska (one of my favorite places to hunt) are on the creamy half of that scale.