HorseDoctor
PMA Member
After a disappointing 1st season in Iowa in which only a few jakes seemed interested in what I was telling them, I headed for the "Hills" for my annual Merriam hunt. Set up on my favorite fenceline between a wooded hillside & a hay field last Friday AM. As the sky started to get lighter the birds lit up! Had a dozen or more hens in the trees uphill from me. They preceeded to give me quite a tutorial on "hen talk" from the roost for about 20 minutes. Lots of gobblers a couple hundred yards down the ridge south answered them (as well as any other sound including crows, coyotes & horses nickering) of me. At flydown, it got kinda silent for a bit and I was a little concerned that the birds had all gone the other direction. I thought I might be in for a long day but was pretty sure that sooner or later someone would show up. The turkeys have developed a taste for the second hand oats & bugs in the manure pile behind my friends horse barn a quarter mile away & I was set up where they would see my decoys as they crossed the hay field enroute to the pile. Fairly soon I heard the hen talk pick up again as the birds came back down the ridge. Curiously though no gobbler talk, at least until I called to the hens. Then it was obvious that the hens had at least a few gobblers with them as they hammered at every noise I made. Gotta love those vocal Merriams!!!! Soon I was surrounded by a flock of 12-15 hens some less than 5 yards away. I tried to be motionless knowing that if I buggered the hens the gobblers would go with them. Eventually 3 white tailed longbeards showed up, spotted my DS Jake out in the field and committed to a scrap. My plan was to take the strutter but they all were strutting, gobbling & stalking the decoy. All seemed to be the same size with equal beards so the one with the whitest tail got the vote. Had to wait a bit for them to seperate so I didn't end up killing more than one bird but eventually the chosen one seperated & stood still long enough to steady the crosshairs on his neck. Last thing that went through his mind was 2 1/2 oz. of #7 hevi-shot & the hunt was over. Typical "suicidal" 2 YO bird; 3/4" spurs, 8" beard & 17.5#. No prize winner, but a beautiful bird none the less. Long drive for a turkey but I just LOVE playing with birds that will talk to ya like a Merriam!!! Leaving the ranch there was another one "makin bacon" on the side of the road so the future is bright for the area. 
