Thurston County Boss Tom Down!

[Jester052]

I hope the OP realizes all this talk about what sub species has absolutely nothing to do with my view of how great a bird he harvested.  That is one great bird and an equally awesome story of persistence and hard work. 

At least for me I was just curious on how those Merriam genes got in that area.  I've never seen a bird like that in Thurston Co.  To me that means an even more rare and exciting bird

Thanks Rad!

[rosscrazyelk]

Congrats on the bird.. You guys that kill easterns  I am extremely jealous of.. Been my nemesis for more years I care to talk about.

[Jonathan_S]

There is a smoke-phase Tom running around my neck of the woods according to my neighbor.  I told him not to shoot my Blue-Slate tom 

We had a local Winco selling Narragansett chicks last year.  They are sure a cool looking bird.  I've seen them smoke-phase until they go into strut and then they turned black, grey and white.  Really neat how drastic the change was.  Years ago Oregon had a few southern ranches that gave you the opportunity to shoot some of the exotic turkey species.  I never did one of those, but had friends that did and said they were super hunter wise.  Guess hunting pressure almost year round can make them pretty smart...for a dumb bird   I'm thinking ODFW put a halt to that recently.

Narragansetts are cool birds, I love watching them strut, same as my Royal Palms.  I have yet to eat a wild turkey that came close to as tasty as my free-ranging heritage birds   

Haven't had any Eastern yet though

[MerriamMagician]

I'm hearing reports of others who have killed Merriam looking birds in areas of Thurston county. Maybe these are feral birds?

[Jester052]

Do you hunt Thurston Merriam? Have you ever seen anything like this

[MerriamMagician]

No a little further south in Lewis county. Everything I've seen is pure Eastern.

[Jonathan_S]

I'm hearing reports of others who have killed Merriam looking birds in areas of Thurston county. Maybe these are feral birds?

Not tough to feature.  You know there are wild strains of turkey poults and eggs available through a bunch of hatcheries nationwide.  Merriams, Rios, Easterns...