Dam good bird Shed, one of these days im going after a Merriam somewhere, they are beautiful congrats Troy
Thanks guys, Steve to answer your question, we have a fair amount of birds in the area I live in. Nothing like I saw out in Kansas or Iowa, but a fair amount. A lot like our deer population in regards to being spread out, big country, and lots of predators to keep the numbers down. I have to admit, merriams are a beautiful bird. They are much prettier in person than in my photos. Blood, I know there are a lot higher numbers of merriams in other western states. But if you ever want to do a mountain hunt for turkeys, you can come out and stay with me. Just let me know. We'd find a few to work up.
He sure does look dark for a Merriams. Maybe it's a cross with an Eastern. Congrats on a great gobbler whichever he is. :D
That's a hoss of a bird there Troy.. congrats! (authors note: not really sure if a bird could be called hoss... perhaps emu would have been a more accurate description of bird size.. if so.. that's a emu of a bird Troy!)
thanks again guys, he was 5/8 and 6/8 on the spurs, 9 1/4 beard.. didnt weigh him but he was a big framed bird.. I would guess, comparing him to birds I have weighed around here in the past.. I would guess he was in that 23-24 lb range.. he was a good hvy bird.. John, yeah the pix of his fan tips are a little darker than in person.. But he does have that eastern appearance in the pix I can see why you would say that.. I can't get over how pretty these merriams are.. he was a lot of fun to hunt thats forsure.
