Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Montana Merriam's....

OK, let me just preface this with I know turkeys aren't big game, but I'd rather post it here than the Campfire....

Nash and I went out after gobblers yesterday for the first time of the year.. The first spot we stopped and called, right away we heard a distant gobble about a mile off.. He was in the general area where we wanted to go anyway, so we headed out the ridge toward him.. We got about half way to him, and called again. Bam, he cut in right away, and was closer than we'd figured he would be. He kept gobbling, getting closer each time. We scrambled and got set up. Every time we even touched the call, he'd cut in. I started hearing spittin' and drummin' and then a big red head through the cedars at about 12 yards.. It promptly got a dose of 5 shot.... And so my Montucky turkey season lasted about 30 minutes. it'd be nice if they all came in as good as him......



The caller....





And we did it in blue jeans too boot....grin



Ben

Nice one! And a great photo, too.

The gobblers at the Ranch were really strutting here yesterday. Going to take a couple of my nephews to hunt them here next week.

Dandy Bird! I had to stop my jeep today to let a big Tom move out of the road! my hunt dont start for another 10 days here!

We got a few in spite of bad knees and a broken Benelli...

GOOD deal Ben and Nash!

Why don't you have the decency to acknowledge my success. I am sure it hurt a lot more...

Nice birds.. How do you break a Benelli

Nice job guys!

Nice job to ALL!

Thanks guys...

And I'll acknowledge your success Shrap, good job on the bird. Melstone country?



Ben

Ashland, we ran over a Wyoming license plate with deer guts all over it on our way by Roundup...

...those are some big honkin birds!!

Well done all three.

Interesting route. Wonder if the guy from WY wants his plate back like the guy from CO.

Nice job Ben and Nash.




Dave

shrap,

What happened to the Benelli?




Dave

While hiking around the charging handle fell out of the bolt, so I had to take my Swiss Army knife and open the leather punch on it and stick it into the top of a pop can in the side by side so I could grab it quick and stick it into the hole on the bolt of the Benelli to charge it in case I saw a turkey.

The gun was so dirty from all the dust, it wouldn't cycle when fired and I ended up with a Benelli Super Blackeagle II Single Shot. Those are rare guns and I have one for sale...

You need to take better care of your stuff.




Dave

Shrap that's what you get for not taking that Damascus barreled side by side...

Nice job on the birds guys. I got a 9 1/2 incher on opening day in the Bitterroot. Headed out here in a few for bird #2.

Shrap demonstrated why I likely will never own another semi-auto...I had that happen once with my Rem 1100 while chucker hunting. I'm a pump and O/U type guy.

Good luck Inman! Never had an 870 fail me. I've seen all sorts of very nice semi auto's puke at inopportune times, while 870's and doubles kept on chuggin'.. A side by side with two triggers is about a reliable as they come too.


I would like a Benelli 20 gauge someday though.

Dear fugking God almighty.




Clark

I guarantee you, that if your O/U had the dirt in it the Benelli did, you wouldn't have gotten the action closed.

Hey Shrap, can you still shoot a turkey in region 4?

I can shoot a turkey anywhere, I still have all my tags and few shotgun shells...

I know where a guy could pick up a '12ga double barrel shotgun CHEAP'.......

I know where there is a license plate all covered with deer guts...

Just cuz you pulled it off with a phouced up shotgun, you think you're hot stuff.....

You should see what I said about your gun on the varmint/dead stuff thread!



I will acknowledge one thing, I have a minor idea approx. where your PDs, your rabbits and your turkeys are. You really travel to bring us these pics!


I don't think a lot of the guys back east can quite get a grasp on that....

That may be, but due to the design of a break action, that much dirt wouldn't have been in the action in the first place, and I wouldn't be relying on a Swiss Army knife to work the action. I've had one O/U rust shut on me, but 3-4 autos fail to feed/cycle. I've hunted an O/U a LOT more than any semi too.

Ben's right about that 870 though. Those things are bombproof. I had a mossberg that puked with less than 500 rounds and a Win 1300 that has been OK, but it ain't no 870.

Anyhoo...no bird for me tonight. Had 3 hens within range but no tom. Tomorrows another day!

You guys need to learn how to take proper care of a firearm.




Dave

Warm beer??? Kids [bleep] and ran? No clean forks? Over cooked the chicken? For christ sakes tell us what happened??

What's bad shrap trying to bust jokes and can't even get huntsman state right insisting he's from Wyoming [bleep].. You better help him out next time since he helped you out with your horrible April fools joke..

Who said it was Huntsman's license plate? You need to let it go. Get out of the house once a month and leave the Campfire on your computer...

Congratulations guys those are some nice birds.

That was all his idea.



Dave

I thought it a bit elaborate for you...

I can't... and you changed ever since you got that bionic knee..

If you went through Roundup on your way to Ashland, you were lost -- or just on a road hunting trip!!

It should be on his doorstep today or tomorrow.

Dang those Merriam's get big. Good job guys!

Got it today troutslayer. I can't believe you didn't hose those guts off. What was you trying to do? Give the bomb-sniffing dogs at the PO a rise?......grin

I thought maybe it was some of your sentimental cow shiit.

Merriam's are beautiful birds. I've heard tale of a few Montana folks having problems with eastern birds though.

Not to step on Ben's toes here, but here are two more Montana Merriams. One from yesterday and one from opening day. First has a 9 1/2 inch beard and the second has a 9 inch beard.



I think Merriams are easier to hunt than easterns...as I've hunted and killed both but I think the Merriams just are not hunted as hard. I don't necessarily think easterns are more difficult to call in and outsmart, at least not unpressured easterns.

The hard hunted Merriams I've hunted in northern Idaho were every bit as wary as the easterns I chased when stationed in North Carolina.

And there are enough mutts running around crossed with easterns, or whatever the local farm & ranch store is peddling, to make it hard to speak in absolutes.

true...the birds in the Bitterroot Valley are not like the Merriams of the eastern part of the state...as their tail feather trims are not the almost white color that traditional Merriams have. They're not as dark as an eastern either. Maybe a Rio cross of some sort? The second bird above had spurs like an eastern, but the first had short stubby spurs like a Merriams. Both had the tail feathers of neither traditional eastern nor Merriams...

Who knows...

I think the few I've shot in ID were mutts...

Tyler, did you hunt those Idaho birds with Mark? He helped me get my first bird near Southwick Idaho, 18 years ago from yesterday.

I believe it was one of the rare easterns that had been transplanted into the area, or was of a direct lineage of them. Tail feathers and the bases were dark brown and his spurs were close to 2 inches long. Best I could tell, he was a purebred eastern, but I'll bet they're so crossbred these days that a bird like him doesn't exist there anymore, unless they've transplanted more eastern into the area.

Yep. Probably in the same canyon you did. We got one there and one closer to the reservoir. Here's my bird from up there.

Very nice and great pics.

Fine story and pics!

You two brothers really get after them!