By Patrick Meitin

It's a long time between deer season and the best fishing of summer. If fishing is not your thing, the next deer season is so distant as to not even exist. Thank God for spring turkey hunting!

I can't really say turkey does it for me like deer, elk or even pronghorn, but I haven't missed a single season since killing my first gobbler at age 16. I wouldn't miss it because about the time turkey season arrives I'm simply chomping at the bit to hunt something - anything! - and there are worse times to be in the woods than spring. Of course, turkeys are worthy of ample respect. After all these years the sight of a long-beard puffed like a cumulus cloud, its red, white and blue head aglow, strutting in to calls I have produced, never fails to get my heart racing and my hands a jitter.

I've hunted spring turkey all across New Mexico, in less-than-ideal areas, and the best the state has to offer. There are three areas I keep returning to when success is important to me: the Sacramento Mountains in the southeast, the Gila area of the southwest, and the Zuni Mountains of central New Mexico. These are the Land of Enchantment's best turkey areas, harboring the highest densities of birds, and relinquishing the highest hunter success rates. In each of these places you've a better then even chance of tagging your tom.

The Sacs also have two species of turkey for the slam-oriented. Plain ol' western Merriam's make up the brunt of turkey populations in this southeastern hotspot, but several areas can also be looked to for birds of the Rio Grande subspecies. Overall hunting success is generally a bit better than 55 percent in this area.

Mike Andrews busted this handsome gobbler while hunting the Gila Wilderness with outfitter Billy Lee of Membres Guide Service. The tom weighed 22 pounds and sported an 11-inch beard. Photo by Patrick Meitin

Merriam's hotspots include everything in the Cloudcroft area, Mayhill, Timberon and Weed. That's a lot of country to cover, and more than you'll be able to deal with in a single season. Try around Seven Springs Canyon near Mayhill, the James Canyon area closer to Cloudcroft, and Sunspot high country nearer Timberon.

Pull out your map and look for areas void of roads in any of these places and you're sure to get into willing gobblers. Anything near the Mescalero Apache Reservation is typically worth looking into, especially if you're able to find areas away from roads.

It takes a bit of luck to bag a Rio Grande, if for no other reason than there are a lot of Merriam's genes mixed in. If you've a hankering for a true Rio, look to the Hale Lake area near Ruidoso Downs for birds that have traveled up the Rio Ruidoso from the Hondo Valley. You may also discover a few Texas migrants in the southern reaches of these mountains, south of Timberon and closer to the Guadalupe Mountains.

You can distinguish a Rio from a Merriam's by its tail feathers, which appear tan, not white.

In this part of the world the best turkey hunting is found on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. These birds are lightly hunted, and also happen to enjoy some of the best habitat in the southeast. Hunts can be guided, guided with lodging at the Inn of the Mountain Gods, or self-guided. Prices vary according to the amenities you require. Contact Jonathan Adams at (505) 464-9770 to learn more.

The Negrito Fire Base area is a good bet, offering easy access to a lot of high country for those who want it, but also wide open, rugged places without roads, where a long hike gets you into gobblers, but also allows you to return to a nice camp at the end of each day. The north, middle and south Elk Mountains are much the same: Hunting near the truck is possible for weekend warriors, and more remote areas available for those not afraid to explore. Take your map and look to less-traveled areas for assured success.

The western Black Range and northern portions of the Gila Wilderness can be accessed via Wall Lake and the Meown Fire Base. This is another area where you can drive to the end of a 4WD road and hear a roosted gobbler while enjoying your morning coffee, or hike to your heart's content into more remote places. Diamond Creek, Black Canyon and Tom Moore Canyon make promising places to begin your search.

For pure wilderness adventure strap on a backpack and trek into areas such as Turkey Feather Pass via Willow Creek, the Jerky Mountains via the West Fork of the Gila River, or McKenzie Park on the opposite bank of the West Fork. Better yet, let a professional such as Billy Lee of Membres Guide Service (505) 536-9685) ferry you into the most productive places aboard sturdy, sure-footed mules. This allows luxuries such as soft cots, T-bone steaks, and cold beer to go along.

Billy always seems to know a place where the gobblers are plain naïve and willing to charge into calls. These are typically guided affairs, though Billy can be talked into drop-camp arrangements if you ask real nice.

Finding turkeys is not difficult. Knowing where you are at all times is more problematic. The Zunis host land of just about every status known in the West, including Indian reservation, national park, military reserves, privately owned blocks, Bureau of Land Management, state and national forest. National Forest areas should interest you most, but purchase a map and study it closely to assure you do not trespass onto private property.

Productive high country includes the Mt. Sedgwick area, including Cerro Colorado, the Ojo Redondo Campground vicinity, and the heads of canyons such as Pole, Wild Horse, and Copperton. Oso Ridge, running along the southern reaches of the Zunis, has promise, including high country surrounding McGaffey Lake and Barometer Mountain.

I have also had great luck in lower areas where hunting pressure is normally lighter, places like the Grasshopper Canyon area between the Fort Wingate Army Depot and the Zuni Reservation. There's also a lot of wide-open country just above Bluewater Lake, in areas such as Rice Park Dam, Tusa Mesa, and Cottonwood Creek. Look to canyon heads and sharp edges with ponderosa pines that turkeys prefer for roosting. The Zunis do receive plenty of hunting pressure, so walking away from roads in these lower areas can net you private hunting ground into which few seldom venture.