"Beardless" jake

A flock of 18 kept me entertained most of this morning, ultimately resulting in a nice (bearded) jake that's now in my freezer.
At one point 2 hens broke off from the group and came within 20 yards. That's when I realized that one of the "hens" was actually coloured like a jake. I had a good long look at him from various angles, but no amount of squinting on my part could make a "visible beard" appear. Just to rub it in, he gobbled before he finally walked away. Presumably he had a short beard buried in his chest feathers, which saved his life today.

I had one come out to me on a rainy day, coloured like a jake but all I could see was a bump where a beard should be. I cannot say, even to this day, that the bird was a jake with a beard under there.

Two years ago I had what was obviously a tom gobbling 10 meters from me. I could not see a beard so I did not take the shot. He stuck around for a long time actually, which was even more frustrating. He then walked by my friend at the other end of the property, and he confirmed that he could not see a beard on the bird either. We assumed the beard fell off somehow during the winter.

All I know if I was a Tom or a Jake I would make sure I got beard rot every year and rubbed the rest of my beard against a rock right off LOL

Don't you guys remember my bird from 2 years ago? "Beard" amount to 4 strands that only could be identified from a few yards from me.
http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/...psqngxp4uc.jpg

fortunately his spurs made up for the minimalistic beard
http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/...ps620hkeas.jpg

This morning I had a big Tom come sailing right into the decoys after gobbling like a fool all morning on the roost. I could not put a beard on him for nothing. I looked at him for a long time and just could not see any beard. Strange. So I had you let him walk.

The second turkey I ever shot about 15 years ago had a near invisible beard. It to this day is still one of my most memorable hunts. Two jakes came in looking for love, and at twenty yards I couldn't see a beard so I wasnt shooting. However I didnt have any decoys out so the birds actually came right up to me. Literally about a foot from the end of my barrel. I could see this little tufted beard about as long as thier chest feathers. Anyways, waited till they were about 5 yards away and sawed the ones head off lol. Bear was about an inch and a half long.