Posted By: elkaholic
My son got his Merriam in NM - 04/13/15 08:24 PM
We just got back late last night from our weekend hunt in NM. My 14 year old is working toward a Turkey Grand Slam and we needed to check a Merriam off his list. We hunted with James (Sitkahunter) with Luna Canyon Outdoor Adventure. We got there late Friday afternoon and James took us right to where he thought a group might be getting ready to roost. We found the birds and put them to bed and early the next morning we were back at it. We had turkeys gobbling all around us and my son had several opportunties right outside of "Dads convert zone" of within 45 yards. He just moved up from his 20 guage to a 12 guage, shooting 3 1/2" shells and a turkey choke. He listened to me and passed on several nice Toms throughout the day that were outside that distance I gave him. He gave me an ear full that evening about having to pass up on those birds. After talking to James we adjusted the kill zone a bit and Sunday morning he took us to another spot and had turkeys gobbling right away. After 30 minutes or so of working the birds they came in to where James had ranged the new kill zone of 60 yards. My son took his 60 yard shot and got his Merriam turkey.
I can't say enough on how hard James worked to get my son his bird. My 8 year tagged along on this hunt and James let him do some Prairie Dog shooting during some down time. A pic of his trophy is below too. The boys saw TONS of Elk and Turkey, did a little shed hunting and really didn't want to leave the area. We will definitely be doing another hunt with James.... either Elk or bear. This was probably one of their favorite hunts and we hunt A LOT.
I can't say enough on how hard James worked to get my son his bird. My 8 year tagged along on this hunt and James let him do some Prairie Dog shooting during some down time. A pic of his trophy is below too. The boys saw TONS of Elk and Turkey, did a little shed hunting and really didn't want to leave the area. We will definitely be doing another hunt with James.... either Elk or bear. This was probably one of their favorite hunts and we hunt A LOT.