Adrian J Hare

Your veiws are right to a point but the hills hold lots of large wooded areas. Merriams like to move as soon as fly down. You have no problem driving around and use locators to locate. High loud calls work great hear as the sound will travel. Be ready to jump when you get answers. It is not hard to hunt the Blackhills, you may have to put some miles on locating. Early mornings are the best before light and a coyote howler will answer your question...

salukipv1

anyone have a town suggestion to hunt out of? probably in North Central KS? but really any zone with pure rio's is fair game...

paintbrush

Getting a "pure" Rio in NC kansas is going to be near impossible I believe. The birds are Rio's/Merriams/or Eastern crosses. I've hunted around Mankato KS. the last 2 years and have taken 4 birds. 2 looked like Merriams and 2 looked like Rio's. Last year one guy in camp shot one that looked like an Eastern. Tons of birds out there. When they are still bunched up in their winter flocks, you can pick out ones that look more like Merriams from the ones that look more like Rio's fairly easily.

salukipv1

Check out this map... were you in/near the hybrid zone according to KS?

http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/Hunting/...tion-in-Kansas

I mapquested Mankato, looks like that should be a pure rio area...?

the national map suggests Iowa has mostly hybrids...so perhaps its some influence from Iowa.
I meant NE has mostly hybrids....sorry referred to the wrong state...
http://www.nwtf.org/images/range_map_full.jpg

jepcho

As far as I know, and I have seen, Iowa only has pure easterns. I suppose you could find some hybrids right along the missouri river but I've been turkey hunting in Iowa a really long time and I've never heard of it.

paintbrush

Mankato KS is in the Rio's zone on the Kansas turkey zone map, but if you go into Nebraska's web site, you will see that they say most of their turkeys are Merriams or hybrids. Mankato is only about 15 miles south of the Nebraska border. No state line can seperate a sub-species. If you want one that looks like a Rio's,which most of them do, they are there for the hunting. I'm just not sure they are "pure" Rio's. To me it doesn't matter much as any turkey is great by me. The NWTF will recognize a bird from the Mankato area as a Rio's.

DTC

I have hunted north central NE on the SD line and we have killed birds that looked like merriams, rios, and easterns. The NWTF map shows them a merriams but they are crossed up for sure.

salukipv1

I just want a turkey that looks like a rio or merriams when I'm hunting for either, don't want to travel many states over to hunt what I can hunt 2hrs away...ie an eastern...

Maybe I should just head to OK or TX for a rio? or Hawaii lol
Or just hunt in KS and pass on eastern looking birds and wait for a rio looking one.

and then something like MT or WY for a merriam's

mez

Black Hills of SD is where you need to go for a Merriam. Pine Forest, 1.5 million acres of public land with over the counter tags. There are a ton of turkeys in the hills.

Not hard to find them, they are very vocal. Get on a ridge top and listen and then you just have to decide which one you want to set up on. I live on the edge of the National Forest service gound. I can usually hear 7 or 8 different birds every morning in the spring.

It is a great place for a do it yourself turkey hunt.

Adrian J Hare

Larry,

Thanks for understanding. It appears to me that you have a lot of knowledge in this sport and even as you make money in the field, don't feel that some relayed towards the forum would be great and help out others at times.

I guide aswell and understand both sides...

Thanks again