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Pulled these off my trail cam the other day.....what appears, in a hunting scenario, a beardless Tom. He might have a very short beard hidden in the feathers but a non-shooter by the rules.
Also odd looking Tail feathers for what appears to be a mature Tom...
https://i.imgur.com/iyikcCSl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/i858PRYl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/onsvmY9l.jpg
Looks like he had a rough winter! I had a beardless tom in front of me one turkey season. He gobbled his head off 15 yards from me. I was looking for even one beard hair, but couldn't find any. I had to let him go. He passed by my friend a few minutes later, and he also couldn't find a beard.
Either a rough winter, and tail feathers frozen in snow, or attacked by something (coyote??) who just got his tail.
You see some weird configurations in turkeys. I had a hen come in, strutting and trying to gobble ! This year, bearded hens were pretty common. I haven’t seen a mature gobbler yet with no beard though....could be a genetic anomaly...
I wonder if we are going to see more of this. There is a trend in Africa for elephants to not have tusks, tusked elephants are shot and those who have no tusks have no value to poachers so they are left to enhance their weird genetics into the population.
This would apply if no beard was a genetic trait. Don't think is an issue as there is not a significant report of verified beardless Toms. I'd speculate the beard is there but lost due to some physical circumstance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fox
This old bird was down to two visible strands and if he kept his distance would of passed as a breadless Tom however fortunately for me walk too within yards for a visible confirmation.
https://live.staticflickr.com/955/39...3a3c91d3_z.jpg[url=https://flic.kr/p/23LxukS]
In any case good to error on caution as the possibility may exist however unlikely
Definitely a mature Tom judging by the wing patch. Beard rot is common, and I have shot a few Toms over the years with quite short beards.
I've also shot a mature Tom with no spurs. No nubs, just smooth legs.
-Nick
You call him a beardless Tom but I call him a smart Tom. Would you grow your beard knowing your going to get shot lol I’m sure he knows that and got his buddies to step on his tail lol
The tom I got opening morning was getting the absolute snot kicked out of him by a beardless tom right before I shot it. I wanted to shoot the beardless one as he was clearly the dominant bird, however is friend got it lol.
It could be genetic, there are bearded hens, something in their genes causes that.Quote:
Originally Posted by finsfurfeathers