Take a look at this picture.

[sambo]

Goose smasher please Help with the answer

[bellerivercrossbowhunter]

No beard on the JAKE?

[Savage308]

Only thing I see missing is a bbq, a broiler pan and some meat candy(bacon) wrapped around a yummy beer can turkey! Oh my, I think I just made myself very hungry! Savage308

[scradley17]

What is suppose to be a jake looks more like a hem the colour is off to light to brown

[Gern1980]

It's not a hen. Only males have black feather tips.

Not sure what this means? I am looking at pics of a few fall hens I've shot and they look exactly like the smaller bird. They have black band on the tail fan if that what's you mean by black tips. I assume you are referring to the MNR identification tips in the hunting regs. Not a good idea to go by the "rules" those clowns give you. I mean if you look at these two birds I see a very clear lighter colour of brown or tan on the tips of the feathers past the black band. By the hunting regulation booklet that would mean two females lol.

I do agree however that it is hard to tell for sure. My guess would be the smaller bird is a hen but how does anyone know it isn't bearded and hence legal and tagged to boot? So worst case some journalist incorrectly referred to it as a young jake. Big deal.

[Gern1980]

in fact do we know it wasn't a fall hunt and that is a hen anyway? Whatever.......

[Fox]

Always good to show the beard in pictures you put up, a tag would be a requirement for posting a picture on this board.

Looks like a little bird, could be a jake with very little colour in the head and really young, but it could also be a hen. If it had a beard then nothing wrong there, my one spot has a hen with a 6in+ beard, I passed on it and took a jake last year, saw it during hunting season for deer this past fall and I will be trying to get it this coming spring.

We also had pictures of what looked like an antlered doe, weird things happen out there.

[Gern1980]

beard nothing. Tag nothing. Posting a picture to show off a successful hunt has ZERO obligation to prove to you or anyone else the kill was legal. Gotta love the internet.

[Fox]

beard nothing. Tag nothing. Posting a picture to show off a successful hunt has ZERO obligation to prove to you or anyone else the kill was legal. Gotta love the internet.

People have been charged by the MNRF for not applying the game seal right after the kill and at the kill site due to pictures on the internet. If you put pictures on the internet you better understand that those pictures can be seen by everyone. You have an obligation to seal the game immediately after the kill and at the kill site if a seal needs to be applied to the game, that means before pictures.

[Goose smasher]

The fall season is in mid october when all the leaves are still on the tree's so its not a fall picture. That "young jake" is a hen clear as day.

1. Brown feathers
2. Very small
3. Full round tail fan that is half the size of the tom
4.Look at the head! It has feathers right to the top. Just like a hen because it is a hen 100% no question about it.

If its a bearded hen why call it a "young jake"? Having shot more turkeys then most and done lots of guiding for many years it is clear that that is no jake.