Taking Toms in the Snow with Jim Zumbo, Plus a Turkey Hunting Video with Will Primos
Editor’s Note: Another common bad-weather condition for hunting turkeys is snow. However, outdoorsmen can hunt turkeys in the snow successfully. If you’re wondering about hunting turkeys in the snow in May, don’t forget that snow fell heavily the end of April out West.
My friend Jim Zumbo of Cody, Wyoming, hunts Merriam’s turkeys each spring and often locates them in still-snowy areas. Zumbo has found that during blizzards, Merriam’s turkeys may stay on the roost all day. Or, they may get on the lee side of a mountain or a ridge, or remain in thick timber where they’ll have protection. They move less in snowstorms than in better weather.
Zumbo suggests that instead of calling a turkey into shooting distance and waiting on a trail for one to walk down or determining where one will walk up and down a ridge that hunters may track a turkey in the snow. “But you won’t find this method easy,” Zumbo emphasized. “A Merriam’s gobbler is much like a smart deer. When you trail him, he’ll watch his back trail and often spot you before you see him. Rarely can you get a turkey this way. However, you possibly can track one to a ridgetop, then peer over it and spot him before he sees you. A good rifleman will bag him.”
The lack of cover in Merriam’s country may mean tough hunting, unless you have a blind. You easily can conceal yourself when hunting Eastern turkeys. But according to Zumbo, “Many times when you attempt to work a Merriam’s, you’ll get caught flatfooted in the open. He may sound-off only a short distance from you, and you’ll have no cover to get behind. Before you can run to any cover, the turkey will spot you. Other times, though, you may have a few seconds to put on some camo netting before the turkey arrives.” Zumbo recommends you carry white and green netting with you when you hunt Merriam’s turkeys in the spring. “In the West, during the spring, you’ll find ridges snow-covered on one side and green and summer-like on the other. Therefore, carry both the white and the green camo netting with you. I generally just drape the netting over me to look like a snowbank or a bush. If the turkey comes in, I shoot through the netting. Using this technique, I’ve called turkeys in the snow within 10 or 15 yards before and taken them.”
Learn more about hunting legendary gobblers from John E. Phillips’ library of turkey-hunting books, including “The Turkey Hunter’s Bible,” “Turkey Tactics,” “Outdoor Life’s Complete Turkey Hunting,” “The Masters’ Secrets of Turkey Hunting” and “Hunter’s Specialties’ PhD Gobblers.” To learn more about these hunting books and others, visit www.nighthawkpublications.com/hunting/hunting.htm, or call 205-967-3830.
Watch Video: “Will Primos – When I Use a Blind for Hunting”
