# Textbook youth hunt morning



## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

My son shot his bird at 6:15 opening day, but the story goes well beyond that, so....

I roosted these birds a couple weeks back. There were a couple Springs about a half mile apart, and due to limited water, and past experience, i figured they would still be around for the opener. Fast forward to the night before, and we were listening to birds shock gobbling on the roost as a spring storm passed over us. Boooyah... my boy was excited!

This spot is no secret and I thought there would be a chance that someone else would try to hunt it, so my plan was this...arrive the day before, camp as closr as possible to the birds, and let my truck be very visible to discourage (but not forbid) others, and get set up at o-dark thirty to beat others to the punch. It worked. 

We got there that night, and set up camp about 250 yards away. Told my son we needed to be extra quiet so as not to disturb the birds. Got to bed at 11am, and were up at 3am. Walked in and got to our spot about 100 yards from the birds and set up in complete darkness (unravelling a pull cord for my decoy was no small feat in the pitch black). Anyway, we had everything set to go by 4:15, so it was time to nap. We did so for about 45 minutes...then headlights - shiz!! Thankfully, these hunters were headed to other parts, but the road literally paralleled the roost and these guys drove right by. The birds were silent, then gobbled at the taillights as if to bid them farewell. Little did they know...

We settled back down for another hour, then birds started to yelp and gobbling intensified. I could hear at least 4 or 5 different birds. Every gobble, and my son would look at me with wide eyes and say, "that is awesome dad - I hope they come our way". This continued for 10-15 minutes, and I used the time for instruction. Settle down, deep breaths, when the birds fly down, shoulder your gun, no sudden movements, "only shoot a tom or jake", etc. These are some of the lessons learned over the past few years. It never hurts to reiterate them either!

Well, 6:15 arrives, and the birds fly down. Immediately, we have 7-8 birds in the decoys at 20 yards. My biggest fear was having the birds bunch up around the decoy and potentially flubbing the opportunity, so looking thru binos (yeah, it was still that dark), i saw that the far right bird was a tom...and a nice one at that! I passed that info along and whispered "shoot him"! KABOOM!!! Turkeys busted everywhere...except one bird that was flopping on the ground. Success!! Several more birds flew down to investigate and we got to watch a jake take out some pent up anger on his fallen leader. Carson got a kick out of that, and then it was time to get his bird. Things just don't get much better. As much as I love to pull the trigger, it is way more satisfying to see your kids be successful. There has been alot of learning going on the past 4 seasons. This is his second bird in a row, as he got a jake in OK last year. He was pumped to get his first tom this year.

I asked him if he wanted a fan made to go along with his jake and he said something to the effect of "yeah dad....duh". I was hoping that would be his response. ;

Now a question...this bird looks like a Merriams, but we were hunting a southern area where it should only be Rios. Anyone know if the DWR has been planting Merriams outside of SE Utah? I love Merriams as they really work to calls well, so hoping this is the case. B/t/w, I have a call into the biologist, and will post what he tells me.

Good luck to everyone else out there. Go help them get their birds!


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## Papa Moses (Sep 27, 2018)

Congrats!! Definitely a cool white tail fan!


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## johnrr65 (Nov 7, 2019)

Congrats!


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Congrats!


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

johnrr65 said:


> Congrats!


John - what did u post? The link was broken on my end.


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## Wire (Nov 2, 2017)

Congrats on a beautiful bird.


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## richard rouleau (Apr 12, 2008)

Congrats on bird 👍 .


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## richard rouleau (Apr 12, 2008)

Plus there I see lots of corss breading here in Utah


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

Turkey with attitude, Thick white bars on the wings, white fan and “rump” feathers, Darker body feathers. Looks Merriam’s to me! Merriams have stubby rounded spurs and typically smaller beard ( specie trait ) I hunt southern Utah outside of SE and 1/3 of the birds we kill are Merriam’s 

And yes, Merriams get LOCO over the calls. 
Can’t wait to hear back from the DNR.
I’ll be down that way in a couple days. 

Love it when a plan comes together like that, and doing it the right way! Nice bird!!


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

Yep, long (pushing 9") but thinner beard, and rounded, stubby 1/2" spurs. Obvious coloring. I would have no problem if Merriam's were the dominant species in the State - such a fun bird to mix it up with. Will be interesting what the biologist tells me, and I will share once he does. Good luck...sounds like you're hunting the opener!


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

Read about the only real way to tell is from the banding on the primary feathers, larger black is Rio and larger white is Merriam.

Either way, nice bird!


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Nice, nice, nice. Never shot one at that spring but hunted there a few times, I have shot a couple birds at the "other spring" you mention. Good to hear there are a few birds still hanging around that area.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

It's a turkey. I know exactly where you shot that bird and I can tell you there has never been a Merriams turkey within a 100 miles of that place. In fact it is highly unlikely that that bird it is even a hybrid. Beyond an interesting conversation, it doesn't matter at all. it's a great turkey...congrats!...


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## hawglips (Aug 23, 2013)

Congratulations!

Looks as merriams as they get. Long white colored bands, very white rump with long feathers that fall over when you hold him up, shorter legs.... looks a lot like a merriams got somewhere the state says they ain't....

I wish UT had stocked only merriams everywhere...


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

BPturkeys said:


> It's a turkey. I know exactly where you shot that bird and I can tell you there has never been a Merriams turkey within a 100 miles of that place. In fact it is highly unlikely that that bird it is even a hybrid. Beyond an interesting conversation, it doesn't matter at all. it's a great turkey...congrats!...


Never is in the past BP...I hope this is the future.!


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## BradN (Sep 25, 2007)

Congrats! That was a fun story. Thanks for sharing!!


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

Gobbler down! I like seeing the youth hunter taking the field congrats!


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

So I heard back from the bio. He didn't commit to any Merriams stocking...just that Rios and Merriams have been hybridizing for years, and this bird likely had historic Merriams blood.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Way2go!!


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