Because Wyoming has had so much help from people dumping domestic Eastern turkeys out after bad winters, which have interbred with the wild turkeys, or from domestics going back to the mountain with the wild birds, if it isn't white, it isn't a Merriam's. That means the tail tips and coverts at the base of the tail on the back have to be white. If they're tan, it's a hybrid. Lots of turkey flocks in the Black Hills contain no Merriam's these days, and I've killed two Easterns up there near Newcastle that were going along to the mountain with wild birds.
The Rios I've shot have all had tan tail tips and tail coverts, some lighter, some darker, and they tend to be lankier, with longer legs and longer beards.
why would someone from the east drive all the way to wyoming to dump some turkeys. you are nuts. we would just eat them.
