Odd Ball!!

[coonhunter]

So this is the second morning hunting this bird.  Yesterday he came off the roost and went to a field where he got with hens.  This morning I got out of the truck at 6:15 and he gobbled in the same place as yesterday.  He was on a big oak ridge that led to the field and rolled off real slow down to a creek.  I made it up to the ridge expecting him to already be in the field.  He gobbled and he was still on the ridge maybe 300 yards away.  I set up and hit my glass call and he gobbled right away.  I purred a little and yelped again, he gobbled a bout 200 yards away headed my way.  He must have gobbled 75 times from that point until he got to about 50 yards.  This was the point that he hung up just out of site behind a cedar lap.  He strutted and gobbled for 15 mins!!  I could tell he was starting to loose interest so I cut and yelped with my mouth call and he broke and started to the right.  He was very cautious.  He finally walked into a opening at 44 yards and i let a load of LB #6 fly!

Here's the odd part!  He had no beard!?  I plucked all the feathers out and he never had grown one??  Anyone ever heard of this??

[Timmer]

Congrats!  Don't most states require a visible beard in order to harvest the bird?

[dublelung]

Congrats on the mature gobbler! Beard or no beard that's a fine one. I've never killed one with no sign of a beard, killed a couple with beard rot and very short beards though. Fortunately for us, Mississippi requires it must be an adult gobbler or gobbler with a 6" minimum beard.

[daddyduke]

Congrats!

[tha bugman]

Congrats!

[POk3s]

Great bird!!!

[Twowithone]

Congrats   

[tomstopper]

Congrats on a nice one


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[surehuntsalot]

congrats

[Tomfoolery]

I killed one sunday with no beard. But he had the nub of a beard with a callous over the nub.

[Gobble!]

Don't most states require a visible beard in order to harvest the bird?

Yes but I would assume that's a rule only 1% of natural resource police would enforce endless you shot a hen.

[zelmo1]

Nice hooks, Congrats

[turkaholic]

Nice job! Beards are over rated anyway. I'll take a great pair of hooks over a beard any day. I  shot a great gobbling/ strutting bird one day only to find no beard. Glad there was no wardens ,as my state requires you see a beard. I was taken by this mature bird strutting and he had a full fan. That was 30 years ago. After that I learned to look more closely. As a matter of fact I always try to see Spurs and beard if possible. Not always easy to do when your shaking like a leaf in a gale.

[Spitten and drummen]

Don't most states require a visible beard in order to harvest the bird?

Yes but I would assume that's a rule only 1% of natural resource police would enforce endless you shot a hen.

First congratulations to the op. Now , I will assure you that here in ms , he would get a ticket. Our game wardens  and highway patrolmen are not known to give breaks. Not all but the majority. I have had a few birds get away from me because I could not see a beard , only to catch a glimpse of it when they were leaving. Our regs  say visible beard , and I follow the rules.

[Jbird22]

Don't most states require a visible beard in order to harvest the bird?

Yes but I would assume that's a rule only 1% of natural resource police would enforce endless you shot a hen.

First congratulations to the op. Now , I will assure you that here in ms , he would get a ticket. Our game wardens  and highway patrolmen are not known to give breaks. Not all but the majority. I have had a few birds get away from me because I could not see a beard , only to catch a glimpse of it when they were leaving. Our regs  say visible beard , and I follow the rules.

No, actually our regs do not say visible beard.

http://www.eregulations.com/mississippi/guide/turkey-hunting-seasons-bag-limits/ ... "One (1) adult gobbler or 1 gobbler with a 6-inch or longer beard per day, 3 per Spring season. Hunters 15 years of age and younger may harvest 1 gobbler of choice (any age) per day, 3 per spring season"

It's obviously an adult bird due to the spurs so there would be no call for a citation according to the wording of our regs.

To answer the OP's question, no, I've never saw one that was completely beardless. Congrats on a fine one!