Merriam's callers

[delacroix]

What are your favorite callers for those western birds? I have stuff that works, but it takes extraordinary effort to get matching sounds.

 

[JWT]

Same as every turkey

 

[turkeykirk]

The times I’ve hunted them I preferred to use my box call. It seemed to carry farther in the hills I hunted.

 

[buckpasser]

I strongly disagree with @JWT. Georgia/Florida hen talk has very little in common with western hens. I wish I could tell you what call sounds good out there, but all I know for sure is that raspy and “eastern” doesn’t cut it.

I suspect a very clean, high pitched call would be just what the doctor ordered. If you’ve ever heard the two varieties of hens mentioned do a danger putt, you know what I’m saying is true.

 

[delacroix]

I guess I coulda said I have best luck with an aluminum over glass and a trumpet.

 

[six]

The two time I’ve been I just used my normal mouth call, no issues. The hens I heard sounded like any other hen. The only thing I noticed was maybe a slightly faster cadence out of the Merriam. Now the gobbles I could tell a big difference. The Merriams sounded like Bubba’s barn yard bird down the road.

 

[Longbeard1975]

I’ve hunted Merriams several times NM SD and Nebraska. A ceramic was the call that worked most for me. More specificity the K&H yella hammer with a Purple Heart striker it has bout zero rasp but still has a two note yelp just clear and whiny which is what most of the Merriams hens sounded like. First trip I went thru my vest and it seemed like nothing was getting a response, the YH was the ticket. The Merriams is pretty and so is the country...but I just can’t get used to the farm yard, gay sounding gobble.

 

[earlyspur]

They will gobble at all of it. You just want to make sure to get the decibel level up. Everything is higher volume with them. I guess its because of the need to communicate over longer distance coupled with the lack of ground foliage to break the sound. I have called them in with the throatiest raspy box in my vest and also with a no rasp glass. Don't worry about the call, just make sure you are in front of them. That's all that matters. You can call them from a mile away with about anything, but only if that's the general direction he is heading. Well at least with real mountain Merrriams. I have no experience with them below about 6500 ft.

 

[GADAWGS]

This was a New Mexico bird, responded well to the same calls I use for every other species.

 

[goblr77]

I’ve hunted Merriams several times NM SD and Nebraska. A ceramic was the call that worked most for me. More specificity the K&H yella hammer with a Purple Heart striker it has bout zero rasp but still has a two note yelp just clear and whiny which is what most of the Merriams hens sounded like. First trip I went thru my vest and it seemed like nothing was getting a response, the YH was the ticket. The Merriams is pretty and so is the country...but I just can’t get used to the farm yard, gay sounding gobble.

A ceramic worked best for me as well on my Merriam's hunt last year. I used a Stumpy ceramic with various strikers.

 

[wvdawg]

I used a copper pot on all three of mine. Those birds are constantly on the go. Make sure you get out in front of them.

 

[PharmHunter]

I can tell you for certain that raspy and Eastern will do just fine and bring truckloads of them to their demise. Don't overthink it.