Unusual Colored Turkeys
Contributors to this thread:Turkey
From: DL
25-Feb-14
This picture was from Ohio. Really neat colored birds
From: huntingbob
25-Feb-14
That would make a real neat obscure mount! Bob.
From: Ziek
26-Feb-14
We have a Merriam's hen that is the same color here in CO. I hope to get a good photo of her this year.
From: 'Ike' (Phone)
26-Feb-14
Smokey, love 'em...
From: JayG@work
26-Feb-14
I wonder if they are a cross with a domestic turkey. A guy from here had a couple Narragansetts that were bred with a male wild turkey. The hens hatched out the brood, and then disappeared into the woods one day. I wonder if the same thing happened there. Pretty cool looking birds for sure.. Jay
From: LINK
26-Feb-14
Looks similar to this store bought bird of a guy I know. Bird was really cool until some greyhounds got ahold of it.
From: ridgerunnerron
26-Feb-14
A few wild turkeys grow unusually colored feathers. These are known as color phases.
There are four color phases, a smokey gray color phase, a melanistic color phase (all black), an erythritic color phase (reddish coloration) and an albino color phase (very rare).
Color phases have been reported in quite a number of states, but it seems that Smokey Gray appear in Tenn more than in other states.
From: Lucas
26-Feb-14
I have read that the smoky gray phase only occurs in hens, anyone have any experience that contradicts that?
From: Ermine
26-Feb-14
I love the color phased birds. Would be cool to harvest one. I have only seen pictures never one out in the wild.
From: sitO
26-Feb-14
I shot this young Jake in the Fall of 2012 in KS. Not an Albino, not even 100% positive it's a wild bird. It was with another of the same color, and in a group of around 70 wild birds when I shot it. I've checked with several Biologist's and it seems there is no way to distinguish it's true "heritage".
I can tell you that the other bird, of the same color, picked up and flew 2-300yds after the shot and that folks had seen these two with other wild birds since they were poults.
From: Brotsky
26-Feb-14
I had a partially smokey colored gobbler in my area one spring. I tried my hardest ot get a shot at him but he was a little too crafty for me. Never saw him again, guessing someone outfoxed him. Very cool to see!
From: sticksender
26-Feb-14
This hen lived in my hunting area for about a year. Wanted to take her in the fall season but never got an opportunity.
From: daleheth
26-Feb-14
I saw a gobbler like that in PA about 10 years ago I wondered the same thing about the cross breeding with a domestic turkey.
From: TEmbry
26-Feb-14
I've seen melanistic colored and smokey colored gobblers in person. Seen SEVERAL smokey grey hens in SD. Was part of a youth hunt in Kentucky a few years back where the kid shot a beautiful orange/creme colored gobbler. Hands down most beautiful bird I've ever seen. Dont have pics on this computer though.
From: LBshooter
26-Feb-14
So albino turkeys are not protected like deer?
From: Ziek
26-Feb-14
Albino deer are only protected in a few states. Dumb law.
From: t-roy
26-Feb-14
A friends' son shot huge tom here in Iowa a few years ago. They had been after him for 3 years & finally got him. 25+ pounds, 1 1/2'' spurs, 11'' beard. It was the most beautiful turkey that I have ever seen. The bird was running with other normal colored turkeys the entire time that they knew of him.
From: t-roy
26-Feb-14
Here is a pic of the bird.
From: Jaquomo_feral
26-Feb-14
My hunting partner's 13 year old daughter killed a big Merriam smokey a couple years ago here in the CO foothills. Very cool looking bird. I'd just like to see one in the wild someday..
From: Packrat
26-Feb-14
Didn't all domesticated breeds come from wild stock in the past? I think it is more likely that some of these color phases are naturally occurring in the wild birds and we get to enjoy them. It was some of those same characteristics that were bred and re-bred into the birds that created what we see on the farms.
From: drycreek
26-Feb-14
These are wild birds on a farm in ND. My BIL took pity on them and has been feeding them through this tough winter.
From: drycreek
26-Feb-14
Oh yeah, they hang upside down too ! Sheesh !
From: DL
26-Feb-14
T-Roy that's a well done mount. First class.
From: Alexis Desjardins
26-Feb-14
Thanks for the pics guys I never seen colored turkeys like that.
From: DL
26-Feb-14
I was in Kentucky doing some training on turkeys and on my way to the Taxidermists shop the was a turkey in the road that was about 1/3 white. Spotted white all over. Something else that was shown to me that the birds had around there was beard rot. Big mature birds with almost no beards.
From: DL
26-Feb-14
From NWTF Website.
Myth #3: Silver-phase turkeys are a result of domestic turkeys joining a flock in the wild.
Fact: Silver-phase turkeys are wild and do not come from domestic turkeys.
Some hunters believe silver-phase turkeys are a result of domestic turkeys mixing with a wild flock, but silver-phase turkeys "are just as wild as their bronze brothers and sisters," said NWTF Mid-Atlantic States Regional Biologist Dowd Bruton. Consider the coloring just a genetic anomaly. "We often hear that they're `white turkeys,' but when you actually get your hands on one you'll see they have a silver and black tint whereas a typical Eastern wild turkey will be bronze and black."
From: StormCloud
26-Feb-14
LINK-- Thats called a Royal Palm Turkey... I have raised them for several years.In fact my neighbors son killed my best Tom with his pellet gun a few months back..I have raised all kinds of birds for many years..DL is correct. My Royal Palm bred with a eastern and all the chicks were eastern colored every time. The birds that are silver will not have all silver young if any.They need to be bred with a male that has a recessive gene..regardless of the males color.
From: JW
27-Feb-14
I bow hunt them too TBM :)
From: DL
27-Feb-14
Here's another nice looking bird.
