Beardless tom
Contributors to this thread:Kansas
From: Shootermike
18-Apr-19
So I had a bird today gobbling his head off, comes into the decoys strutting, visible spurs but no beard.... is this bird legal to shoot?
From: sitO
19-Apr-19
No
From: Dale06
24-Apr-19
Interesting. Been bowhunting them for 25 plus years. Never saw a non bearded male. Have seen a few bearded hens and arrowed one.
From: Matt Palmquist
24-Apr-19
I have seen one like that before as well. I really question if you would get a ticket for killing him. It is obvious it is a tom. I bet if killed there would be a stub of a beard there, but it is a gamble doing so.
From: jingalls
24-Apr-19
Has to be a visible beard.
From: TwoDogs@work
24-Apr-19
I do agree that it is likely that a reasonable CO would not write a ticket, but the regulation says one bearded turkey. I would definitely not take the risk of shooting a beardless gobbler.
From: writer
24-Apr-19
Regulation is clear. We had one for a couple of years in the Flint Hills.
From: t-roy
25-Apr-19
What if it identifies as a Tom?!
From: Zmax
25-Apr-19
Yes, you can kill it, in the appropriate season. Spring isnt it.
From: Zmax
25-Apr-19
This yrs trail cam
From: Forest bows
26-Apr-19
Why would you kill it?
From: writer
29-Apr-19
Forest...if it was a legal bird, wouldn’t you?
From: Forest bows
29-Apr-19
No. I don't shoot Jake's either. Not that mad at them I guess.
From: writer
30-Apr-19
i don’t shoot jakes, usually, because they’re more fun as two year olds. I’d zap a mature bird, beardless, if legal, especially if it was a good hunt.
From: One Arrow
03-May-19
Took my son hunting this year. We had a hen come in... full strut.
I’ve had hens do weird things before, even kind of a semi-strut, but she walked all the way in with her fan out, and wings down... stuck around for several minutes that way. I looked hard for a beard (I get pics almost every year of a bearded hen), no luck, so we let Caitlyn walk.
From: Genesis
13-May-19
Had to make that call this weekend when a called two gobblers up and the strutter had beard rot and 2” blond stub and the non strutting bird had a 10” beard.
Shot stubby thinking he could be a 3 year old but he was only two so out thunk myself
