Merriam turkey and Eastern turkey are the two wild turkey subspecies hunters compare most, and they are two of the four birds in a Grand Slam. A Merriam turkey has near-white tips on its tail fan and rump feathers, lives in the western pine country, and numbers around 335,000 birds. An Eastern turkey has chocolate-brown tail tips, lives in the hardwood forests of the eastern two-thirds of the country, and is the most numerous wild turkey subspecies in North America at roughly 5 million birds. South Dakota is one of the few states that holds both Merriam turkey and Eastern turkey, split roughly at the Missouri River.
The difference between Merriam and Eastern turkey shows up first in the tail fan. Fan a Merriam turkey out and the band across the top reads cream to nearly white. Fan an Eastern turkey out and that same band reads dark chocolate brown. Hold the two side by side and nobody needs a field guide.
Everything else follows from where they live:
Look at the rump and the tail tips before the bird ever fans. On a Merriam turkey the lower back and tail coverts carry pale, almost bleached edges, so a strutting tom throws a light halo in low sun. An Eastern turkey in the same light reads dark all the way through.
Three checks that work at 40 yards:
Merriam turkey live in the ponderosa pine forests and foothills of the western states, including South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The subspecies was originally native to the pine country of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, and most of the northern range Merriam turkey occupy today came from transplants made through the middle of the twentieth century.
The bird carries the name of C. Hart Merriam, the first chief of the U.S. Biological Survey.
Merriam turkey move more than Eastern turkey do. Flocks shift with elevation and snow line through the year, and a bird that roosted three miles from you last week can be in your lap this week. That mobility is why the same pine ridge can be dead one morning and loud the next.
Where to hunt Merriam turkey comes down to a short list of western states, and the best-known ground is the South Dakota Black Hills and the Nebraska Pine Ridge. Those two sit inside a two-hour drive of each other in the northwest corner of Nebraska and the southwest corner of South Dakota. Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado all hold huntable Merriam turkey populations as well.
Our hunts run right through the heart of that country. The Merriam turkey hunts we guide cover private ranches in the Nebraska Pine Ridge and private ground in the South Dakota Black Hills, and our 5-day two-state package puts hunters in both.
Merriam turkey are generally considered the most callable of the four Grand Slam subspecies, and most hunters who have chased both rate a Merriam as the easier bird. They live in less-pressured country, they gobble readily, and they will cross open ground to a decoy in a way a heavily hunted Eastern rarely will.
Easy is relative. A Merriam turkey that has been called to for three straight weekends on public Pine Ridge ground behaves exactly like a pressured Eastern. Pressure makes the bird, not the subspecies.
A Grand Slam requires four subspecies: the Eastern, the Osceola, the Rio Grande, and the Merriam. Hunters usually knock out the Eastern and the Rio Grande first because access is easy across many states, then chase the Merriam, and finish with the Osceola, which lives only in peninsular Florida.
The Merriam leg is the one most hunters travel for. Booking a guided hunt in Merriam turkey country is the fastest way to close it, and our two-state package gives a hunter four tags across Nebraska and South Dakota in five days.
South Dakota splits its two subspecies at the Missouri River. Game, Fish and Parks says most suitable habitat east of the Missouri holds Eastern wild turkeys, and most suitable habitat west of it holds the Merriam subspecies. A hunter with tags on both sides of the river can take both birds without leaving the state.
Nebraska is messier, and worth understanding before you book. Nebraska Game and Parks describes the state’s dominant bird as a hybrid Merriam crossed with a game-farm variety, and says most Nebraska turkeys are a mix of two or more breeds. The birds that show Merriam plumage most consistently live in the panhandle and the Niobrara River valley, which is the northwest country where turkeys were first reintroduced. Just 28 Merriam birds were released in the Pine Ridge in 1959, and the statewide population grew from that start.
For a Merriam-typed bird in Nebraska, hunt the northwest. That is where our ground is. Dates, prices, and the 2027 season changes are on our Nebraska turkey season and permit guide.
A Merriam turkey has near-white or cream tips on its tail fan and lower back feathers, with blue and purple sheen through the body plumage. Toms run 18 to 22 pounds with beards that average shorter than an Eastern turkey’s.
No. Eastern turkey average slightly heavier and carry longer beards and heavier spurs. Both subspecies produce toms in the 18 to 22 pound range, and the Eastern holds most of the record-book weight entries.
South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona all hold Merriam turkey, along with parts of Idaho, Utah, and Washington. The subspecies was native to the southern Rockies and expanded north through transplants.
Merriam turkey number around 335,000 birds, which makes them one of the less common subspecies. Eastern turkey outnumber them by roughly 15 to 1.
Merriam turkey gobble readily and are widely rated the most callable subspecies. Eastern gobblers are generally considered louder, which has more to do with hardwood timber carrying sound than with the birds themselves.
We have been guiding Merriam turkey hunts on private Nebraska and South Dakota ground since 2000, and our hunts have generally run 100 percent shot opportunity. See packages and rates for our Merriam turkey hunts, look through a decade of birds in our photo galleries, or call (605) 877-2550 to check open spring dates.
