I moved out here to western SD in late feb and feel very fortunate to enjoy a long and enjoyable season here.It began April 14 and ended with a bang on the last day May 20th. I will tell about the 2nd bird I harvested later on, but I would like to share with all of you my whole season. It may be long winded, but there are some great things I learned that included turkey stategy and gain access to private land.
When I first moved out here I purchased a non-resident license for turkeys since I did not qualify for a resident license before the turkey lotto. I was pleased to see that my county offered a double tag good for any 2 turkeys. After the lotto I got my tags and started pre season work. We have a local bar/grill/gas station nearby so I started to ask the locals a few questions about turkeys and was very happy to hear a lot about good populations. I followed a few tips and started to explore the areas public land. We are fortunate to have a lot of walk in areas and bureau of land management land, but most is geared for mule deer and antelope. I kept exploring the area and found the turkey numbers on private land to be quite impressive. One fine day I met my next door neighbor ( a relative term here in SD) he was a very nice guy and we talked at length. Somehow during our coversation I brought up the fact that I like to hunt and he suggested I get a turkey license and invited me to hunt his ranch. I told him I had one and he said please stop over before season and he would show me where to hunt and outline any guidelines. Here is lesson 1 in landowner ralations, stop over and talk, do not call. I must have stopped by 10 times, but he was busy calving and we never could seem to meet up. Opening day arrived and I was not able to hunt his land, but I decided to try some public land. I had a great encounter with a tom but was not able to close the deal. I drove home by my neighbors and there was 6 toms gobbling and strutting around. Since I did not have the final permission form him I could not chase them and just watched in amazement at the beautiful merriams strutting around and putting on a show. 4 days into the season I luckily ran into the neighbor fixing fence by the road shot the breeze for a while and asked him if it would be ok to hunt his ground. He smiled and said absolutely! I felt like I won the jackpot. He took the time to tell me where he sees birds and showed me the land boundaries. He also wanted me to be very careful around his cattle. The land he granted me permission to hunt was 7,000 acres and I was the only one hunting there! I felt like the luckiest guy in the world! Lesson 2 for me was good things come to those who wait.
As we were surveying the property, I asked him when they were branding calves and if I could help them. He told me when they were going to brand and I arranged my schedule to help them. He said they like to have rookies so they can have good laughs! It was fun work and also very physical. I was very sore for a few days, but very happy to help the landowner and show my respect by pitching in. Another lesson learned. If you ever get the chance to help your landowner out, make the time and get to know them better. I also found out his favorite bottle while we were working and presented him the bottle and some venison sausage in apppreciation for allowing me on his ranch.
I told the story about my 1st turkey in another post, so I will just say I got him the first time out on the ranch.
After I harvested the 1st tom I decided the 2nd one I wanted to get with my bow. I tried setting up on them like traditional easterns, but I soon learned the merriam is a very different bird in some ways. After many failures and numerous hens stealing my boys, I tried a new approach. Basically my plan was to glass them from a distance and cut them off with my double bull. Having a long season really makes you a better turkey hunter. In MN I would get drawn every other year and get to hunt for 5 days. Practice makes perfect. Without out the extra days to learn and call the season would have been tougher.
My first day out with plan B was really coming together. I was calling 2 toms in and they were strutting and gobbling towaeds my position. They had to cross one significant draw, but they seemed pretty hot. As I was calling, 4 antelope appeared on the ridge above my boys and they spooked my birds…..grrrrrrr. Well I decided the next day to set up across the draw where they were the previous day. I set up my blind and decoys and began to call. They answered me, but were across a deep draw to the east. I kept hammmering on them and I could hear thety were getting closer. After 10 minutes they sounded like they were close to crossing the draw. I looked directly out my blind and mr. coyote also liked my calling. He was sizing up my decoys at 70 yards and then disappeared into the draw and you guessed it my birds quit gobbling. For about a week after work I kept trying to get on a group of 3 toms and every time they would be on the other side of a draw unwilling to cross to my side. It was a real game of cat and mouse. I learned afully fast that trying to pull them across a draw was not going to happend. The hard thing about these merriams is that they do cover a lot of ground and they sometimes act more like a deer by holding to there travel patterns rather than deviating toward a call that pulls them too far off their course. Also these birds are generally positoned on a high ridge that gives them the adavantage of seeing for over a mile. I figured plan c was to find those toms on a ridge that I could access easily without beeing seen, but still get close enough to call them in with out trying to pull them too far off course. I also was hoping to have time around noon to pull this off. I have really noticed here in SD the best time is 10-2.Back in MN I always felt early am was best where I hunted.
The last day of the season the birds were in perfect position. I decided to leave the bow at home and use the gun for the last day. They were just working up a draw and were going to move to the west towards were I usuallly park. I had to work until noon so the timing was perfect. I slowly moved toward the birds using the low ground to my adavantage. Finally I had to get on top of the ridge in an open area. I spied a cedar tree 50 yards ahead and was going to make a move towards, but I saw a red head poke up 150 yds in front of me. I quickly hit the ground. If you have ever been to the high dry plains, this is not a good idea because I laid down on a prickly pear! Later I had to have my wife remove about 50-75 from my side. After I hit the dirt, I noticed 4 cedar posts lying side by side 10 feet in front of me so I crawled on my belly dodging cactus figuring that the posts and 10″ grass beats sitting out in the open. I slowly removed my hen decoy from my pack and wedged the stake between 2 posts. I have also learned that out here the ground is very hard and dry making staking your decoys and blinds quite difficult.
After setting my decoy 2 feet in front of my face, I began to use my mouth call. Immediately 2 toms gobbled. Within minutes I saw them appear over the ridge checking out my decoy. I kept calling softly and watched them both come in full strut for over 100 yards. When they came in to 10 yards I gave them a cluck they gobbled and I swear I could feel that all through my body. As they raised their heads I picked out the bigger one and jellied his head.
I felt fortunate to have pulled off this hunt and harvest a great tom. He was 20 #, 9″ beard, 1 1/8″ spurs.
It was a great season for turkeys for me, but equally fun was to meet my neighbor and share a friendship for years to come.
I hope I didn’t bore you all, but I thought it would be nice to share the positive experiences I had this year. 
