Super rare freak she-he turkey spotted!
Contributors to this thread:Turkey
From: trkyslr
04-Mar-15
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.
From: DL
04-Mar-15
Maybe its a He She
From: trkyslr
04-Mar-15
From: Nick Muche
04-Mar-15
Anythings possible in Cali!
From: 'Ike'
04-Mar-15
I know that spot...
From: trkyslr
04-Mar-15
Lmao ....
From: IdyllwildArcher
04-Mar-15
The only answer is to kill it and be the pecker checker.
From: t-roy
04-Mar-15
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??!!
From: trkyslr
04-Mar-15
Yes bearded hens are legal in the spring.
From: joehunter8301
04-Mar-15
Let's name her Rhonda!!! :-)
From: IdyllwildArcher
04-Mar-15
Or Feinstein. She's got a beard too...
From: sitO@play
04-Mar-15
Or Pat? Easy now ;)
From: DL
05-Mar-15
Rosie. Dont think it will make good table fare.
From: stick n string
05-Mar-15
The state of nuts n fruits, eh?
From: mtoomey
05-Mar-15
From: cityhunter
05-Mar-15
good looking she-he :> wow green i havent seen green since sept !!!
From: midwest
05-Mar-15
Wandered a long way from San Fran!
From: Woodsman416
05-Mar-15
Pretty cool!
From: 4araquiver
05-Mar-15
Bruce Henner
From: cityhunter
05-Mar-15
bruce henner wow thats funny !! :>
From: OleThumper
05-Mar-15
I hope TBM doesn't hear bout this!!! :>))
From: pav
05-Mar-15
Bruce Henner....hilarious!
From: writer
05-Mar-15
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.
From: greg simon
05-Mar-15
I've seen plenty of bearded hen but the spurs are a first! That is weird.
From: Brotsky
05-Mar-15
Bruce Henner = Pun of the year! LMAO!
From: longbeard
05-Mar-15
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.
From: Ole Coyote
05-Mar-15
Apparently her mother must have visited Colorado ant sometime!
From: Eagle_eye_Andy
05-Mar-15
In Nebraska that's a 'Diesel'.
From: tobywon
05-Mar-15
Pretty dark bird, maybe its a male with low T...lol
From: Rick M
05-Mar-15
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!!
From: Ziek
05-Mar-15
What makes you think it's a hen? Probably a male with odd coloring rather than a hen with otherwise male characteristics.
From: trkyslr
05-Mar-15
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......
From: BO-N-ARO
05-Mar-15
Looks like a gobbler to me. I have seen my share of bearded hens.
From: dg72A
05-Mar-15
Looks like a tom in drag to me....
From: Bear Track
05-Mar-15
Transgender hen chose the long beard.
From: drycreek
05-Mar-15
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.
From: trkyslr
05-Mar-15
Here's a deff gobbler, which was 10 minutes up the road... Season starts soon here. Can't wait.
From: IdyllwildArcher
05-Mar-15
Chris, is this bird anywhere that you might have a chance to get an arrow in it come opener?
From: 'Ike'
05-Mar-15
I see one or two bearded ladies a season...This one was one of the best so far!
From: skipmaster1
05-Mar-15
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.
From: trkyslr
05-Mar-15
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.
From: ToddT
05-Mar-15
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.
From: Corn bore
06-Mar-15
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.
From: writer
06-Mar-15
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.
From: writer
06-Mar-15
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.
From: joehunter8301
06-Mar-15
It's no doubt a hen. Mounter!!
From: Fuzzy
06-Mar-15
bearded hens are unusual but not super rare
From: Jack Harris
06-Mar-15
That's what Californication will do...
From: trkyslr
07-Mar-15
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....
From: Dan Mallia
31-Mar-15
Crazy stuff.
From: 'Ike' (Phone)
01-Apr-15
On the trail cam...
From: CurveBow
02-Apr-15
Its genetically engineered! look at the high fence operation its in! LOL
From: Mark Watkins
02-Apr-15
What a trophy that Cali He-She will make:)
Mark
From: Thornton
02-Apr-15
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.
From: Straight —» Arrow
03-Apr-15
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.
From: writer
03-Apr-15
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.
From: trkyslr
03-Apr-15
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.
From: Bullshooter
04-Apr-15
Prolly boycotting Indiana.
From: writer
04-Apr-15
Hope you get to see that bird when there are both toms and hens around. They'll know.
From: turkeyhunter60
05-Apr-15
That Turkey, he, she, is a trophy in itself.
From: Rayzor
05-Apr-15
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.
