Turkey camp
We are obviously roughing it
It's an hour hike in to one of my listening spots. Leave camp at 4:30 AM. An awesome place to be at first light. The picture is looking over many many square miles of designated wilderness. First gobble came at 5:58 AM. Then two more birds lit up. All three about 500 yards away in various directions across a deep draw.
I set up twice and abandoned both setups pretty quickly because I didn't like them. Settled on here.
One gobbler was particularly hot and got even hotter when I started alternating between the two box calls, and it was enough to convince him it was worth his effort to cross the ravine. When he decided to come, he came fast. When he was about 100 yards out I switch to the slate. He gobbled, I cut him off and put the slate down. He came in behind the log from left to right in the previous picture. Shot him at 35 yards when his wattles cleared the lower part of log on the right.
18.6 lbs, 7/8" spurs, 9 1/4" beard. Good numbers for a two year old Merriam's here.
I'd filled one New Mexico tag before going to the Gila, so it was just scouting and camp stuff for me until my buddy filled a tag.
We took some midday time to drive down to the site of the 2012 Whitewater-Baldy fire that burned nearly 300,000 acres of prime Merriam's country. In some places this is all you can see in any direction. This is a panorama covering about 180 degrees.
My buddy filled his tag on the third day. Already daydreaming about next year.
Gil
