Black Hills Turkey hunting

[Switchbackxt71]

Howdy everyone and good luck hunting this spring. I'm heading to the Black Hills this spring for opening weekend 2013 and I'm looking for some pointers on the best way to hunt those crazy Merriams. I've been out to the Hills twice around Hill City and the Tom's would gobble but then when they flew down we wouldn't get a responce. Also have people been seeing many turkeys around Hill City. Heading right back to that town because I just love it there. Take care and good luck with your hunt and thanks for any advice I can get. Switchback71

[Gopherlongbeards]

Welcome switchback,

There are quite a few posts here about hunting int he hills, so take a little time and browse through them. You should be able to find some helpful info. My best advice to you for hunting merriam's out there is: you have 100's of thousands of acres of public national forest at your disposal, USE IT. put some miles on and find some birds that want to play the game. Don't beat your head against the wall on a stubborn uncooperative tom. Go find another one.

[howler243]

I've hunted the Hill City area a few times and seen a few birds but seen more in the early season around Custer area. The last time we went out there we started at custer and hit a logging road that we found on the map that would bring us to Bear mtn lookout and killed three out of our four birds. We kept the truck on the main road pulled off and walked down some 2ndary logging roads. Last time I was out there they did alot of logging as you head up and over the mtn. We mainly trolled stopping every few hundred yards and calling and listening for a response and moving on. On the way back keep an eye out and do some calling we had a silent tom come in but we moved on and were heading back to the truck tried a few calls and he responded. We stayed on the trail for silence and there was water in the truck ruts so we were able to look for sign. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions Hope this helps