DIY Merriam's Black Hills success

AT Hiker

AT Hiker

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My wife and I spent a week hiking and camping in the Black Hills NF of South Dakota the first of May, I was even able to sneak in a hunt too. My original hunting plans were canceled due to the massive snow storm they got in mid April.

I wrote a blog about the trip here Fire on the Mountain , this is more an informative blog about the overall trip but I thought I would share it here and hopefully help a few hunters out that might want to try a public land DIY Merriams hunt.

I would like to plan another trip for next Spring, if anyone is interested maybe we can work something out. Right now I have two people interested but not committed.

My first Merriam


One of the best parts about turkey hunting, nuggets marinaded in Crow Peak IPA
 
Congrats and great story. I was all set to DIY hunt the Black Hills NF on the Wyoming side during a business trip, but my trip got cancelled at the last minute. Major bummer. I'm hoping to work something out for next year. Very nice bird. Love the white tips.
 
Thanks all! Its a great trip, especially if you go with the mind set of "killing a turkey is a bonus". If you like to hike and fish, the hills are a paradise. Plus all the elk and deer you see is neat as well.

The Hills in SD are so big that you can never cover the area in one trip, plus you can hunt and explore all day and basically never run in to another hunter.

If I ever kill out in SD early in a trip I will purchase on OTC WY tag and hit them up, its smaller but less roads so more back country style hunting.
 
callemquacktn said:
Congrats on the Merriam! I did a DIY Merriam hunt in Nw Nebraska on NF land and had a blast. I'm hooked on them white tips now!
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Did you get a pure Merriams or a hybrid? One of my friends hunts Nebraska and he told me the hybrids have all but taken over.
 
Vermin93 said:
callemquacktn said:
Congrats on the Merriam! I did a DIY Merriam hunt in Nw Nebraska on NF land and had a blast. I'm hooked on them white tips now!
Click to expand...

Did you get a pure Merriams or a hybrid? One of my friends hunts Nebraska and he told me the hybrids have all but taken over.
Click to expand...

If he hunted the extreme NW corner it was likely a pure Merriam, but that area got burned real bad and I was told the numbers dropped way down.
 

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