Last April’s strut zones? Forget them. This March has run 6 to 10 degrees above average across much of western and central Montana, with precipitation sitting well below normal from Missoula to Miles City. That combination is quietly rewriting where Merriam’s toms are setting up right now — and hunters who figure that out in the next two weeks will have a serious edge when Montana’s spring turkey season opens on April 15, 2026 in most districts.

This isn’t a normal pre-season. Pay attention to what the landscape is telling you, because the birds already are.

Why Warm, Dry Marches Change Everything for Merriam’s

Merriam’s in Montana are deeply tied to ponderosa pine and Douglas fir country — think the Garnet Range east of Missoula, the Pryor Mountains south of Billings, the Bull Mountains near Roundup, and the breaks country along the Musselshell. In a typical year, snowpack pushes birds lower through March. They stack up near creek bottoms, south-facing benches, and ag edges, waiting for green-up to crawl up the slopes before they follow it.

But when March runs warm and dry like it has this year, that compression disappears early. Birds are already moving upslope. Toms that would normally be loafing on a south-facing draw above the Stillwater River in mid-April are already up there now, in late March, starting to claim strut zones on ridgelines and open pine benches that most hunters don’t reach until the season is half over.

The bottom line: your strut zone from last year may be a ghost town come opener. The toms have already moved higher and earlier than expected, and they’re establishing breeding territories on terrain you probably haven’t glassed in previous springs.

Where to Focus Your Scouting Right Now

Get off the low creek bottoms this week. Start glassing mid-elevation pine benches and open ponderosa parks between 4,500 and 6,000 feet. On public land in the Custer Gallatin, Lewis and Clark, and Lolo National Forests, focus on south and southwest-facing open benches with scattered ponderosa — they warm first and they pull in strutting birds when snowpack is absent. Logging roads and two-tracks cutting through timber are worth your attention too. Toms love to strut on exposed dirt and gravel, and in a dry March those surfaces are bare and warm weeks ahead of schedule.

Don’t overlook grass parks inside timber that are already greening up. Green-up is running two to three weeks ahead of schedule in many drainages, hens are following the green, and toms are right behind them. Water sources on dry ridges — stock ponds, seeps, small creek crossings in otherwise arid terrain — become congregation points when lower-elevation water isn’t the draw it normally is.

Use OnX or FWP’s public land mapping to identify accessible BMA or National Forest tracts in these zones. The Bull Mountains WMA near Roundup and public blocks in the Pryors are worth glassing hard this week. So is the country around Sula and Darby in the Bitterroot, where birds have already been spotted well up the timbered slopes.

Adjust Your Trail Cameras and Calling Strategy

If you’ve got cameras out on winter patterns — near haystacks, low creek benches, or field edges — pull them now, or at least add new sets higher up. A camera on a mid-elevation logging road or open ridge bench over the next ten days will tell you more about where to be on opening morning than anything else you can do short of boots-on-ground glassing.

The early warm-up also means toms are already gobbling in some areas. That matters for how you call. When birds are this deep into pre-breeding mode before the season even opens, they’ve often already sorted out some of the dominance hierarchy. Subordinate toms can be aggressive and very callable — but dominant birds may be henned up earlier than usual come opener. Honestly, I’d plan a two-call setup: lead with aggressive cutting and cackling to pull in fired-up two-year-olds, then be ready to slow way down with patient yelping if a dominant bird hangs up at distance with hens glued to him.

Season Dates and License Reminders

Montana’s general spring turkey season opens April 15 and runs through May 31, 2026 in most hunting districts. Some districts in eastern Montana open earlier, so check the FWP 2026 Turkey Regulations closely for your specific HD. You’ll need a valid Montana hunting license plus a turkey license — both available at fwp.mt.gov. Spring turkey tags are over-the-counter in most districts, but don’t wait until the week before opener to sort that out. Get your tags in hand now so you’re ready to hunt if you bump a bird mid-scouting session.

The Three-Week Window That Decides Your Season

You’ve got roughly three weeks before the opener. That’s exactly enough time to locate two or three serious strut zones, pattern one or two toms, and identify a setup position — if you start now. Hunters who wait until opening week to scout in a year like this are going to find birds in unexpected places and burn the first several days of the season learning what early legwork would’ve shown them for free.

Get out this weekend. Glass higher than you think you need to. In my experience, the hunters who kill Merriam’s consistently aren’t the ones with the best setups from last year — they’re the ones willing to throw out last year’s map entirely when conditions demand it. This is one of those years. The toms of 2026 aren’t where last year’s birds were, and that’s actually good news if you’re the one who figures it out first.