Seeking Advice for a Backpack Turkey Hunt (NM)

[Nickofthewoods]

Thanks for the update! Hopefully your next outing will be more productive. I'm not very familiar with Turkeys in the Pecos but 10k+ sounds a little high. There are always exceptions to the rule, but in general I'd say if there are still snow drifts from the winter where you are hunting turkeys you might head for lower elevations.

 

[dtrkyman]

Birds will follow the snow line and hit the fresh green.

Just typical mountain turkeys, lot's of birds in small areas and vast lands void of turkeys.

 

[swampmountaineer]

Thanks for the update! Hopefully your next outing will be more productive. I'm not very familiar with Turkeys in the Pecos but 10k+ sounds a little high. There are always exceptions to the rule, but in general I'd say if there are still snow drifts from the winter where you are hunting turkeys you might head for lower elevations.

Thanks! I'll be looking to fill my tag again in November in NM if you have a general area or national forest that you can recommend.

 

[swampmountaineer]

Turkey is the perfect first backpack hunt. Here are some random lessons I have learned.
Personally 90% of my calling is done with a diaphragm call, it is very advantageous to be able to call hands free.
Take some kind of locator call, crow, peacock, elk. Something sharp and loud. There are times they will shock gobble but not respond to turkey calls.
cover ground and call mid day. You will hear lots of gobbles at first light, but the birds that gobble from 10-2 are very killable.
decoys work but are not at all essential, certainly don’t get busted setting up decoys if you have a bird coming to calls. I personally don’t carry them.
As others have said mature well spaced preferably recently burned ponderosa areas are gold. Most of the birds I have killed I am sitting at the base of a big fat Ponderosa.
Good luck and have fun.

I wanted to update this ancient thread, because although I never found any turkey on that last trip, I got my first Merriam's 2 weeks ago, sitting in the middle of a Ponderosa forest. I remembered your advice, just took a couple of years to put it all together. Thanks again.

 

[Austink47]

I wanted to update this ancient thread, because although I never found any turkey on that last trip, I got my first Merriam's 2 weeks ago, sitting in the middle of a Ponderosa forest. I remembered your advice, just took a couple of years to put it all together. Thanks again.

That is very cool. Way to keep after it. Thanks for the update.