I hunt them in Wabaunsee, Morris, and Lyon counties. There are a lot of the big birds around here. I have on occasion seen Easterns and Rios in the same outing. I'm pretty sure I've even seen a Merriam, but I can't say that with certainty. It looked much different than the Eastern and the Rio, but I've been told it was probably a cross between the 2. I'm no biologist, so I'm not sure what it was, but I know it looked different.
While we're talking turkey, I'd like to share a story from an adventure of 2 years ago....
Opening morning I took a friend that had never been turkey hunting with me. We were hunting along a creek bed where I'd seen several birds the night before. I started calling right about sunrise and got an immediate response. We had set up in a place with lots of tracks where we were well hidden. The excitement that the gobblers created put us in a bit of a frenzy. I wanted to get my friend closer, before the sun was fully up.
We moved down the creek bed about a 1/4 mile and came to a fencerow. I was planning to cross the fence as I had permission on both sides, but I could tell by the gobbles that the birds were moving toward us quickly. I laid my portable blind on the ground right next to my decoys (not like they were going to do us much good there) and told him to get ready. 2 toms appeared almost simultaneously less than 35 yards from us and we didn't even have our guns up. One was definately a Rio and the other I still believe was a Merriam, but I may be wrong. My partner and I raised our guns while both birds were facing the opposite direction looking for the hen that they were about to fight over. One came out of his strut and decided to cross the fence about 20 yards from us to find his girl. The other bird followed him and now they were to the side of us, neither of us had a shot. We decided to make our move and turn toward them while there was some brush between ourselves and the birds. As soon as we turned we noticed that there were 4 Easterns directly behind us in a bare field. Needless to say we were busted and all 6 of the birds took off running.
I guess that's what I get for being greedy. I should have let my friend take his first bird, but I really wanted a double when the opportunity presented itself. Though we did not harvest a bird that day, I will always remember it as one of my greatest outdoor experiences.
