Merriam's Turkey- May 3-7, 2009

Our third destination was much further north and somewhat colder. My father and I travelled to Devils Tower, Wyoming to hunt the Merriam’s turkey, the final bird for my dad to complete his world slam; at this point I still had not shot my Eastern so it was my second last bird. Wyoming is very open, and mostly occupied by private ranches, this gives the turkeys a chance to flourish with very little pressure. It is also a very safe state to hunt a pure Merriam’s breed in, without running the risk of shooting a hybrid. When we pulled into Whitetail Creek Outfitters, the first thing we saw was about 25 turkeys, both hens and toms just going crazy right outside the camp. Immediately I knew we were going to have a good trip. This was one of my favorite hunting experiences, my father shot his bird first, we were set up and a flock of about fifteen turkeys came right by us, my dad waited for a clear shot, and completed his world slam. The next day it was my turn. Although there were lots of toms, there were also lots of hens and it was somewhat difficult to get the toms away from the hens. We hunted hard all day and in late afternoon it was not looking so good. We were calling like crazy and could not get anything to gobble, when all of a sudden way off in the distance we heard two birds gobble hard. We set up right away hoping we could get them to us, without a hen intercepting them on the way. All of a sudden I saw two black spots about a mile and a half away. These birds were hot, and competing with each other to get to the hen. They continued to run and cross each others path all the way to us, and when they got to about twenty-five yards and were well separated I got my shot. He went right down and I finally started to breathe again. It was an incredible experience.

That time of year the weather is unpredictable, I would recommend bringing a rain suit, a winter jacket, warm boots, and gloves. In the five days we were there the temperature varied from about five degrees Celsius to about fifteen degrees Celsius. We had frost, thunderstorms, and sun. Pack for various weather changes.

To contact Whitetail Creek visit the website: http://www.whitetailcreek.com/