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Missing feathers

My buddy got this bird yesterday. Had a bunch of missing feathers. It started a debate amongst my friends. What do you think? From a) breeding b) fighting or c) other...............

Perhaps a home boy helping out feathering the nest.

C. Looks to me like he’s not missing any feathers

Here is a better pic. He said it was definitely missing feathers..................not just an optical illusion due to the feathers being wet.

Near miss with a broadhead?

i'm a taxidermist. there is a gap in the feather tracks between the Mantel and the breast feathers. it just looks like its missing feathers because its wet...

Looks wet to me

Ok- thanks guys. 2 taxidermists now saying it’s wet feathers....................I’m inclined to believe that. ;-)

I'm also wondering if some weren't plucked in the death flopping?

I shot a tom this year and was using my new ebike for transport. Tried to hang him from his neck from the bow holder on the handle bars. That didn't work, but did skin all the feathers for 6 inches off his neck. Perfectly plucked.

Turns out there's no good way to carry a dead turkey on an ebike without a pack or some method of strapping one on. :)

What Bake said^^^^ When they get wet they get ratty looking-like they are missing feathers. Also, during the death flop, which might turn into a wrestling match, some of those shallow neck and breast feathers get plucked out.

Turkey mange!

Interesting, same thing happened to me this season. After shooting this tom, he spun around like a tornado on the ground, and all of his feathers just flew off and then disappeared. Go figure! What the heck is going on in the turkey woods?????????????????

He did a lot of breeding and rubbed them off.

Looks like there are missing feathers to me. Fence, predator, fight, close miss with arrow....it's hard to know? It doesn't like there is a scar so it could have happened when it was flopping around. I try to minimize flopping because they tend to loose a lot of feathers.

LMBO Paul! : )

He did say it flopped around on ground quite a bit before it died....................

Bake - I see an invention in the making. Could a guy plug in a chicken rotisserie to his ebike and hover that thing above the wheel and have ‘er plucked before getting to the truck?

Bird is wet

Here’s one I’ve never seen or heard of. My son got a Tom yesterday morning. Came in gobbling and strutting. Full fan. 1” Spurs. No Beard. Not even a little spot where it should grow. Zippo.

If you were ever to see a turkey skin or any upland bird for that matter, after it was skinned, fleshed, washed, and rinsed, you wouldn't believe how many "gaps" there are between their feather tracts. Essentially, they have groups of feathers that are narrow strips of feather butts, that when dry, and alive on a skin, are splayed outwardly, and fill these voids. Dead and wet, you'll see them. There is a gap up the midline of the breast, in the crotch of the legs, between the mantle and the scapulars, and between the flank feathers and the back feathers. Turkey taxidermy has progressed lately to make it much easier to mount the bird on a manikin in pieces, due to these gaps. Many people including myself will remove the tail and head (of course), but also the legs and wings, and mount just the cape on the manikin with the legs already attached, then adding the tail freeze dried head, and wings that are already shaped and dried at the ready . You'd never notice it was assembled in pieces, because those same feather tracts dried are very full and fluffy, and will cover the bird and those gaps in its entirety.

That's interesting Kyle! In PA we wouldn't be able to shoot that one.(Bearded birds only! ;-)

Thanks for that info Pete- interesting!

You bet rut-nut, Andrew wouldn't be able to kill a bird with no beard here in Wisconsin, either.

Male pattern baldness?

Petes correct imo, the jake i killed with my recurve looked very similar,, it rained hard the previous night,,,

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