Super rare freak she-he turkey spotted!
Turkey
Contributors to this thread:
So today while out driving around I witnessed some thing crazy. Now I've seen thousands of turkeys throughout my life as I live in an area thick of them, so today was a first for me. As I approached a small farm I see a hen walking the fence line trying to get through it along the road. As I get closer I notice she has a legit 10" beard, which is the longest hen beard I've seen. The beard had the common pencil thickness of a beard most hens usually have. Then I look closer and sure enough she had about 1/2" Spurs... I was like wth! Weirdest turkey I've seen yet.. A hen she/he with beard... And Spurs. Here's a pic for you guys to see.
Anythings possible in Cali!
The only answer is to kill it and be the pecker checker.
Very cool! Bearded hens legal game in Cali? I've seen lots of bearded hens but none that long!
Where's TBM when we need him??!!
Yes bearded hens are legal in the spring.
Let's name her Rhonda!!! :-)
Or Feinstein. She's got a beard too...
Rosie. Dont think it will make good table fare.
The state of nuts n fruits, eh?
good looking she-he :> wow green i havent seen green since sept !!!
Wandered a long way from San Fran!
bruce henner wow thats funny !! :>
I hope TBM doesn't hear bout this!!! :>))
Bruce Henner....hilarious!
Kind of hard to tell in the pics.
What was her feather coloration like?
Buff and dull like a hen or black and shiny like a tom...or somewhere in between.
It would be interesting to see how other turkeys react around that bird.
We had an antlered doe shot in Kansas this year and neither the bucks or does wanted anything to do with her...er, him. Whatever.
I've seen plenty of bearded hen but the spurs are a first! That is weird.
Bruce Henner = Pun of the year! LMAO!
I too have seen many bearded hens but none had spurs. Thats very cool! I did shoot a doe one time that had spike antlers.
Apparently her mother must have visited Colorado ant sometime!
In Nebraska that's a 'Diesel'.
Pretty dark bird, maybe its a male with low T...lol
Bearded hens are pretty common where we hunt in NE Ohio. Makes me wonder what is in the water:)
I don't recall seeing any with a beard that long and thick. He/she would make a cool mount!!
What makes you think it's a hen? Probably a male with odd coloring rather than a hen with otherwise male characteristics.
Imo she looked just like a hen due to feather colors and patterns (no secondary fan feathers with bars, lighter typical hen color) she had a hen body with no tom like breast, , small hen colored grayish small head with feathers running up the crown,, and Prob weighed only 8-10 pounds... Like I said first glance I thought just an old hen. Then saw the boy parts lol..... About 100 yards away from her was twi longbeards that were strutting for hens... That group seamed to not pay attention to her or wait for her. If it was a tom something deff wrong with it......
Looks like a gobbler to me. I have seen my share of bearded hens.
Looks like a tom in drag to me....
Transgender hen chose the long beard.
I saw what I thought was a tom one day while deer hunting. My first thought was " What's a tom doing with a flock of girls in the fall ? " as I looked through my binos as they walked across a 75 acre oat field I could find nothing about her/him that looked like a gobbler except the beard and ......yes.....some nubby looking spurs. They were about a hundred yards away but I had nine power binos, so I got a pretty good look at the spurs. Out of hundreds of turkeys, that is the only bird I've seen that looked like a hen with spurs. Bearded hens I saw plenty of in Central Texas, and killed one or two.
Here's a deff gobbler, which was 10 minutes up the road... Season starts soon here. Can't wait.
Chris, is this bird anywhere that you might have a chance to get an arrow in it come opener?
I see one or two bearded ladies a season...This one was one of the best so far!
I called in a bearded hen a few years ago for my buddy. It had an 8" beard and she was trying to gobble as she broke into strut. No Spurs though.
Ike she's about 1/4 mile from a spot I can hunt but I'm not sure if she ventures far from that farm I saw her at.
I shot a bearded hen several years ago. But she only had about a six inch beard, but she did have buttons for spurs. Only buttons though. I have read that even these hens can raise young.
I had a friend kill a white bearded hen several years ago as well. I figured that was a real rarity, white, on top of bearded.
Dark tips on breast feathers and spurs would indicate a tom. What's with the yellow chicken like legs? Ike's Turk with buff tips on breast feathers is what a hen should look like.
Didn't notice the yellowish legs.
Hens often have a nubbin for spurs, but nothing that's usually that visible.
How approriate she/he is headed left.
I've only cleaned one bearded hen in the spring, that a buddy shot. She had eggs. It's not uncommon to see bearded hen with broods in the summer and fall.
Didn't notice the yellowish legs.
Hens often have a nubbin for spurs, but nothing that's usually that visible.
How approriate she/he is headed left.
I've only cleaned one bearded hen in the spring, that a buddy shot. She had eggs. It's not uncommon to see bearded hen with broods in the summer and fall.
It's no doubt a hen. Mounter!!
bearded hens are unusual but not super rare
That's what Californication will do...
If it's not a hen something is majorly wrong with it. I've seen unhealthy sick longbeards which still had the same looking head that healthy longbeards have with coloring, size, larger waddles, larger snood, etc. this one has a head that looks like a hen and small body size as well. No matter what it is something is wrong with it.. Bruce Henner lol....
Its genetically engineered! look at the high fence operation its in! LOL
What a trophy that Cali He-She will make:)
Mark
I shot one with a 7.5 " beard on my place in KS a few fall seasons ago. Thought is was a tom when I drew.
I have shot one once, they are not that uncommon in the Eastern Turkeys where I live. Beards and spurs. Most of the time they don't have real long beards like some that have been posted but sometimes they do.
How do mistake a hen for a tom? That's like thinking a cow with horns is a bull. :-)
Body size is different, feather shine and colors are different, head is different...
It's almost as easy as telling a cock from a hen pheasant.
Of course I have no room to comment. Only bearded hen I shot, I didn't know she had a beard - 7" - until the dog made the retrieve.
Michael that's why I'm confused this things body,size, feathers and head looks more like a typical hen.. Then it has boy parts lol... I saw it again last week but to far for a pic.
Prolly boycotting Indiana.
Hope you get to see that bird when there are both toms and hens around. They'll know.
That Turkey, he, she, is a trophy in itself.
We have at least two of them on our farm now. Must be some weird genetic as se seem to have one or two every year and i doubt it would still be the same birds after all these years. Beards are usually pretty thin but a couple have been 10" or so like the ones pictured. I have several trail cam pics and short video clips of them. I've only seen them once myself while hunting. Just out of range or I would have killed one and had it mounted. Its legal in VA. Spring or fall.