New Mexico Update

[GobbleNut]

Figured I better file a report.  My NM season is done,....two birds down.  Haven't been in a hurry to record numbers as, per usual, these Merriam's gobblers can't compete with those high-scoring Eastern birds.  Preliminary measurements on both indicate mid-50s scores,...good mature birds for around here, but they probably won't break into the top nine for the team.  Headed to Colorado tomorrow (May 6th),...will report back in when I get back....
Jim
Gobbler #1

[ScottS]

Nice bird!!! I've struck out in New Mexico and Colorado so far. Headed to New Mexico this weekend and hoping to keep looking for a better spot in Colorado before the season ends.


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[hookedspur]

Congratulations on a pair of beautiful birds, and good luck in Colorado.

[callaway71]

Congrats!  Beautiful birds. One of these years I'm gonna bow hunt a Merriam's. I love the white tips and want one mounted so bad.

[Roost 1]

Congrats...NM is still on my list.

[GobbleNut]

Another update from NM:
First off, congratulations to everybody on the team for their successes this spring.

Last we spoke, I was headed for Colorado with optimistic expectations.  That optimism was unfounded again this year.  After three years, I have concluded that public-land turkey hunting in southwest CO is less-than stellar.  This was the first spring I was actually able to reach some of the places I felt certain would hold turkeys due to the annoying habit of the Forest Service in keeping a lot of the forest roads closed.

I covered a couple hundred miles of what appears to be ideal Merriam's turkey habitat.  My conclusion: they are just not there in any (what I would consider to be) "huntable" numbers.  The few gobblers I was able to locate acted like they never wanted to ever get close to anything resembling another turkey again in their lives. 

Perhaps a more skilled and determined turkey hunter could have found a way,...but not this boy.  I gave up rather quickly,...probably more quickly than I should have,...and came home. 

Good news (for me) is that the "boss" (wife) has decided that she wants to see a part of Utah next week that coincidentally has turkeys to hunt,...so we're off in a couple of days to go explore UT again!  I have no real expectations of success since we will only be there a couple of days,...but what the heck!  Gonna give it a try!

As a postscript, I finally got around to measuring the largest of the two gobblers I killed here in NM, and to my surprise, he actually scored 58!,...a lunker for a NM Merriam's gobbler!  If I had done my due diligence and recorded him properly, I might have actually cracked the bottom of our list this spring.  Oh well, it looks like we are well on our way to another contest victory this year anyway...so no need to be concerned from the looks of it...

[Roost 1]

Thanks for the updates. I hope you and the Mrs have a wonderful trip to UT.

[hookedspur]

Sounds great , good luck

[GobbleNut]

Utah report:  Had a good quick trip for sightseeing with the wife, but to put it succinctly, the turkey hunting SUCKED!

...It didn't just suck, it was nonexistent.  Honestly don't believe there was a gobbler within ten miles (or more) of where we camped. ...And this in an area where three years ago we would hear numerous birds.  No sign, no tracks,...except one old hen that was literally so lonely she tried to get in the truck with us (she answered my call from about two hundred yards away while I was standing next to the truck and she walked up to within ten yards of me and the truck,..must have been convinced there was a turkey inside  )

Don't get what's happened in that area, but the turkey population has all but disappeared.  Not Good!  (whoever is managing turkeys there ain't payin' attention apparently)

Bottom line is that I am done for the season.  Hope others are still out hunting.  Good luck if you are,...and for those like me that are done, hope this "Virus" turkey season ended up good for everybody considering the odds!
Jim