I have never been, but through research found that the Black Hills around Rapid City gets hammered during spring season...Not sure if you are used to pressure from others where you hunt or not, I admittedly am not. I was just out there last month on a antelope hunt, and we did see a lot of turkey in the black hills, but the horror stories of the masses kind of intimidates me. I have heard that during the week it is alot less people...

Best of luck, Merriams are a dream of mine. Like you said, any turkey hunt beats work.