Smokey Spotted!!

[MISSISSIPPI Double beard]

WOW!

[mgm1955]

Very cool!! Good luck!

[C.Kimzey95]

Now that's a pretty bird right there!

[eorlando]

Awesome!!!! Here is the one I killed in Florida. It was the first bird I had ever killed. I didn't know how special it was at the time.

Silver Phase Turkey by Eric Orlando, on Flickr

DSC_7164 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr

DSC_7163 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr

[ddturkeyhunter]

Take a look at him!!

MK M GOBL

Nice, don't have room for a mounted turkey but would find room if got something them

[Sixes]

Best of luck!  That would be one special kill

[guesswho]

Does DSD make a smoke phase decoy?

[870FaceLift]

Does DSD make a smoke phase decoy?

To the OP: Good luck - that's really something!

[vt35mag]

Wow, both the live one and stuffed one look awesome!

[HawkeyeGobbler]

Does DSD make a smoke phase decoy?

They might. I don't think the one I saw was a DSD but at a local retailer a while back they had a smoke hen, pretty sure it was some other brand. Weird looking IMO.

Someone around here thought they shot one a year or 2 ago, I was excited thinking maybe their genetics were around. Turns out it was some kind of heritage breed called a Royal Palm I believe. Straight up domestic 

[MK M GOBL]

Someone around here thought they shot one a year or 2 ago, I was excited thinking maybe their genetics were around. Turns out it was some kind of heritage breed called a Royal Palm I believe. Straight up domestic 

Well our domesticated fowl were derived from wild fowl. So in the genetic makeup of our wild bird is the genes to these color aberrations. So let's say your pretty old timey and back in the day you seen on of these "Smokey" birds and were able to trap it. You may have bred it with another bird and she had mixed "Smokeys" in her offspring. Now you may have used several toms with that same Smokey Hen and she would have another Smokey in her offspring. Then over some time you would use these off-spring Smokeys and let them breed and once you had a basis of the correct genes you would be now producing Smokeys on a regular basis (Line Breeding:  the selective breeding of animals for a desired feature by mating them within a closely related line.) Now you have what is know as the domesticated Royal Palm Turkey. This goes for many species/domesticated animals...

We raised a lot of birds on the farm and you could bred for certain traits, just like with dogs, cattle and so on...

MK M GOBL

[turkeywhisperer935]

I believe it's mad calls that makes the smoke phase decoy and it's called the smokey baby.

[Double B]

Love the smoke phase birds.  I have only seen one smokey gobbler in the wild but see some smoke phase hens on occasion.  Good luck, I'd say he's in danger if you are on him!   Big taxidermy bill could be coming your way!!!

[daddyduke]

Nice. Go Get Him!

[nsselle]

Were you hunting?  or did you spot him from the road or scouting?