I've killed a variety of gobblers w/ physical oddities over the years, ie. a solid black totally melanistic 2 yr. old gobbler, a boss gobbler w/ 15/8" spurs and no beard, a gobbler w/ an 11" beard and no spurs (not even spur buds), a gobbling jake w/ a 101/2" beard (jake fan and spurs), a gobbler w/ two spurs on one leg 11/4" and 1/2", a one-eyed gobbler- the bad eye was healed over,a gobbler w/ a 16" beard and birds w/ multiple beards etc. What odd birds have others harvested?
I have been hunting turkeys for 15 years and never killed a odd one i dont guess.They all been pretty normal.
I shot a bird that had a 9''+ beard, and absolutely no spurs. There wasn't even a mark where the spurs were supposed to be. Must have been a lover, not a fighter. ???
I have taken one with no spurs and one with no spur on one leg and a nub on the other.
One that had no spurs, a pencil 6 inch beard but weighed 20 lbs 3 oz ??? Another that had gangrene so bad you couldnt even stand to be around him he stunk so bad. Both legs and breast were as green as grass and he had puncture marks all over him from getting his butt whooped. He still came in like he was the king and never acted hurt.
I don't think it's too odd, but I killed one that had a 2 inch beard from beard rot or from the ice from the hard winters we have. It looked like it had been cut off clean with scissors.
Killed a bird with double spurs on both legs they both were 1 1/8" on one leg and on the other one was 1 3/16" and the other was about 5/8" he had a 10 3/4" beard and weighed 23 lbs
Quote from: Hognutz on February 26, 2011, 03:06:31 PM
I shot a bird that had a 9''+ beard, and absolutely no spurs. There wasn't even a mark where the spurs were supposed to be. Must have been a lover, not a fighter. ???
Pretty much the same story. Put my buddy on his first bird, nice beard, big adult gobbler, absolutely no spurs. I heard of another bird from that same ridge who had the same problem. Wonder if it's genetics?
Mine have all been pretty normal. Killed one or two that only had one spur. My Granda killed one in the late 60's that had a broken wing. It was a old enjury that had healed up. The turkey was a 4 year old. Sounds like B.S. but the way he roosted he would walk up leaning trees because he couldn't fly. When Grandpa cleaned him he had a load of 4's healed up on his left side.............
Quote from: renegade19 on February 26, 2011, 04:55:41 PM
Quote from: Hognutz on February 26, 2011, 03:06:31 PM
I shot a bird that had a 9''+ beard, and absolutely no spurs. There wasn't even a mark where the spurs were supposed to be. Must have been a lover, not a fighter. ???
Pretty much the same story. Put my buddy on his first bird, nice beard, big adult gobbler, absolutely no spurs. I heard of another bird from that same ridge who had the same problem. Wonder if it's genetics?
Me too. 10 1/2 in. beard . Little bitty nubs for spurs and weighed about 13-14 lbs. Scrawny .
Called this one in for my cousin's son.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/alloutdoors/Hunting/DSC03561Medium.jpg)
Quote from: alloutdoors on February 26, 2011, 06:12:32 PM
Called this one in for my cousin's son.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/alloutdoors/Hunting/DSC03561Medium.jpg)
that is very unusual. kinda funny too :TooFunny: :TooFunny:
wander if they had froze off??
Quote from: alloutdoors on February 26, 2011, 06:12:32 PM
Called this one in for my cousin's son.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/alloutdoors/Hunting/DSC03561Medium.jpg)
I bet he couldnt do the scratch......scratch scratch routine
I've killed two different gobblers, one with a 9" bird and the other with a 10" beard and neither had any spurs. Not even the black nubs, and both had full tail fans. The only other odd one had 7/8" spurs that were odd colored. Close to the actual leg they were black, the middle part was a caramel color and the rest out to the tip was black again. Kinda like they were striped.
I killed one a couple of years ago that had avian pox. It had knobs all over its head that were black and crusty and the scales on his legs were white and peeling off. Old boy stunk so bad I could barely stand to clean it. Once I got the meat away from the bird though it smelled fine and tasted fine.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/08-09%20Season/Boncespictures394.jpg)
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/08-09%20Season/Boncespictures393.jpg)
killed one with a golf ball in its crawl :TooFunny: i will never tell the property i was hunting NEXT to :TooFunny: :turkey2:
Killed "oddities" with multiple beards, no beard, no spurs and one with a golf ball size growth between the foot and spur on one leg, looked like may have taken a few pellets to the foot before. All mature gobblers
Quote from: Hookspur on February 27, 2011, 10:38:30 AM
I've shot 11 double-bearded toms, 1 triple-bearded, and a tom with no beard at all; 4 banded birds; a tom with a pair of 3" feathers growing straight up off the top of his head; 3 adult toms with no spurs; 1 tom with no tail feathers at all; a tom with sharply downward-curving spurs; 2 toms with several solid black wing primary feathers; a couple of toms with "club feet;" 1 tom with spurs hooking almost back to the legbone; 2 or 3 more toms with various diseases and/or tumors; and 2 toms that had impaled themselves on rather large branches (3/4"), with wounds that had already healed up around the sticks still imbedded in their flesh; and a couple toms with legs that had been broken earlier in their lives, but had totally healed before I killed them. I won't even mention all the toms that had already been shot by other hunters and still carried around pellets in their flesh, or were severely wounded by other turkeys.
Wow you have killed a bunch with oddities so its hard to tell how many "normal" birds. Will you adopt me :begging:
I was guiding my friend from WV on public land here in central Florida when we got this Osceola. His legs had white feathers. I emailed Lovett Williams the pic, and he said that he had never seen or heard of one like that.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v476/RutnNStrutn/JimBOsceola08b-1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v476/RutnNStrutn/JimBOsceola08c-1.jpg)
RutnStrut THats a pretty cool looking bird.
Quote from: socalturkeyman on February 27, 2011, 11:10:48 PM
RutnStrut THats a pretty cool looking bird.
:icon_thumright:
Quote from: rem 300 on February 26, 2011, 04:32:43 PM
Killed a bird with double spurs on both legs they both were 1 1/8" on one leg and on the other one was 1 3/16" and the other was about 5/8" he had a 10 3/4" beard and weighed 23 lbs
Nice bird
I killed a double beard that had the beard coming out at the top of the feather line next to the waddles. The beard was side by side, not one above the other traditionally.
I hunted a gobbler back in '07 that I called "No Fan," as he appeared to be missing all of his tail feathers. As it turned out, he only had two primary tail feathers left sticking in his butt. Strangely, this dude was missing all of his tail covert feathers, as well as all of the feathers going up his rump area too. I have no idea how this could have happened to him, but he sure looked funny trying to strut out in the cornfield the night before I killed him...:TooFunny:! I also shot a gobbler a few years ago that was completely missing his beard. It looked like it was plucked right out of his breast...
(http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/WNYBowhunter/Turkey%20Hunting/notail3-1.jpg)
(http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/WNYBowhunter/Turkey%20Hunting/notail7.jpg)
I killed a bird in MO that had an 11" beard with a rust colored line about 5" down the beard. I suspected it was beard rot in process... This same bird had what looked like a jake fan, but with 6 of the main feathers taller than the others. He was obviously not a jake from the beard and spurs that were right at 1".
Last spring in KS, I shot a double bearded bird that had 1 toe about half missing on one foot. His main beard was a 12" paintbrush and his secondary beard was a wavy 8 1/2" beard. He is still in KS at the taxidermist. He weighed in at 23.55 pounds.
I've got my heart set on taking a bird I saw in KS last spring after I awoke from dozing. I killed one of his strutting buddies and used my last tag before I noticed this bird had feather tips that looked like a merriams. This was near Tahlequah, OK, where they are only supposed to have easterns. As Porky Pig once said, "Hey, thews something scwewy going on hewe". I've never tried to hunt a particular bird, but I will be looking for that bird this spring.