Spurless Tom?

FiringSquad

FiringSquad

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I harvested my first 2018 bird this morning. Great hunt. My blind was right near the roost site and there were 8 birds together. I shot the only one with a beard. Weird thing is, it had no spurs or any sign of spurs. It had a full fan and a 5" beard. So is this very common? Anyone else get a bird like this!
 
Two year old toms sometimes have just little bumps... it could also be a full fan jake, which occasionally happens with an early hatched bird. Is the fan discoloured or unevenly coloured in the center feathers compared to the outer feathers? If so, you have a jake... sounds like a big one.
 
Sounds like a bearded hen to me. If it was a jake/tom, you would see little button bumps on the legs where the spurs will eventually be. If there is zero sign of anything, likely a hen. Look at the breast feathers...if the feathers have brown tips...its a hen
 
Thanks for the replies. Im leaning toward bearded hen because there is no sign at all of spurs, not even button spurs. The plumage looks like every other tom/jake I've taken. Never seen a bearded hen before.
 
FiringSquad said:
Update: Yup it's a hen, the ovaries were a dead giveaway. I've taken lots of turkeys but this is my first bearded hen. Kinda neat
Click to expand...

We had a bearded hen come in this morning... but only a 2" (ish) beard... she was bigger than the jake she was running with.
 
Dang! I am jealous of you guys!

I'm talking about the guys hunting turkeys, not the ones who have so much experience with bearded women...
 
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