Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Newbie Merriam Hunter

Hunting in Colorado - I finally decided to go try and chase some of the native Merriams in the woods around where I live.

I went out last Sunday and found a forested area that is surrounded by a big burn (Hayman Fire). I spotted a hen from the backcountry FS road. I pulled about 100 yards above her and then looped underneath where she was to try to set up and do some calling, in the hopes some gobblers were around. It had been snowing for a couple days (14 inches) and was lightly snowing while we were out. I waited an hour and got no answer to my calls. I then continued underneath where I saw her and picked up her solo track. She had gone straight to the bottom. I tracked her about 3/4's of the way down, occasionally calling with no response. I went back up to the top and scoured where I first saw her and her track was the only track in the area.

I plan to go back and work that area again soon when the snow melts some. Is it common for hens to be solo? Obviously, where there is one, there is more.

Just looking for some insight from experienced Merriam hunters. I know they range over large areas. Would the burn scar keep them locked closer to the green timber I was working? For those not familiar with the area, about 3 million acres burned and there are pockets of unburned trees. I'm working one of those pockets. water in the bottom, ponderosas on the hills.

Turkeys need water. I'd start at the water at before sun up and listen. Give a few calls at day break and set back and enjoy the morning coming alive. Random calling the first hour then after the sun is up good, hit the water edge looking for tracks. Sometime you can tell by the lay of the land their travel route from roost to water. Set up anywhere in between. It's a lot easier to call one in if your already where they are going.
Good luck!!

Thanks - I appreciate it.

With 14 inches of snow they just bend over to get water - snow. I have been hunting the same areas for thirty years, in three states, and they have all burned, to varying degrees. One near Newcastle, WY burned 5 times in 14 years, and there I can tell you that no trees equals no turkeys. They are all gone. In the other two states the turkeys are concentrated in the remaining trees, with occasional forays into the burned areas where there is greenery coming up, but never far from trees. They have no qualms about roosting in dead trees, though, burned or not.
When the snow disappears, they will be near water, but they can get moisture from fresh greenery they are eating for quite some time, not to mention the wall-to-wall grasshoppers this year in SD.
I have better luck finding turkeys by driving roads and listening for birds gobbling on the roost at dark or the next morning, then concentrating my hunting in areas where I hear birds. In the snow, as you discovered by following the hen, you can also wander around looking for tracks, either driving or walking.

Get a coyote howler going in the morning, they will gobble like mad men to it. It's good to know where they want to go off the roost. My experience with them is that they had a place they had to be when the flew off the roost. I had much better luck getting them to the shotgun in the afternoon.