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A Hen with a Beard??? #5732964 05/07/15 02:23 PM
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gaharris Offline OP
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Looking for another opinion, I have seen this bird several times on my ranch and at first I thought it was a jake but it's beard is about 6-7" long and that is pretty big for a young immature tom and it has no spurs.
Then, after seeing it several more times thru my spotting scope I decided it had to be a hen with a beard.
I have seen hen's with beards before but never one with a fairly long beard, most of the time if they have one it's short or just a few strands.
Looking for your thouhgts.
Here are three photos in succession I took of it walking by the feeder last night. Please tell me what you think. I have a lot of big toms and quite a few jakes running around and they all look like tom's but this bird does not look like a tom to me.





Gary Harris
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Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5732988 05/07/15 02:38 PM
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Looks like a jake.... or a hen. smile I can't tell much through the pictures. I don't see a beard, but I take your word it's there.

Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5733116 05/07/15 04:15 PM
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nsmike Offline
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I don't know about turkeys, but does when they grow antlers they are almost always pretty small, but there are exceptions. That very well could be an exceptional hen.


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Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5733382 05/07/15 07:22 PM
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bearded hen. Let her walk...she'll produce more gobblers in her lifetime. Areas that have bearded hens typically have more multi bearded gobblers, and vice-versa.

Gman




" I don't hunt turkeys because I want to, I hunt turkeys because I have to."
Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5733391 05/07/15 07:31 PM
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Very interesting, Gman. I've never heard that before....makes sense, though.

Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5733604 05/07/15 10:09 PM
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Bearded hen, we saw one last Sunday. I agree with Gman, better to let hens live...


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Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5734278 05/08/15 05:29 AM
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Why is it not a jake? Head looks like a jake possibly. Maybe a weird hatch but doesn't look like a hen to me.

Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5734296 05/08/15 08:12 AM
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Too much grey in the head and the body to be a jake. A jakes head would have more red and body would have more of a black hue to it.

Gman




" I don't hunt turkeys because I want to, I hunt turkeys because I have to."
Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5734303 05/08/15 09:29 AM
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Bearded hen. Over the years I have killed one and let several others walk one of which had 3 small beards and another that had what looked like at least an 8 inch beard but it was about as thick as a pencil.


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Re: A Hen with a Beard??? [Re: gaharris] #5734633 05/08/15 02:55 PM
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gaharris Offline OP
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Pictures thru a spotting scope are always iffy, and the quality gets even worse using a cell phone.
The beard does not show up nearly as good in the photos as in real time. The beard is about 6-7" long and reasonably heavy compared to many of extra or multiple type beards you often find on birds.
I am pretty sure it is a hen as its head is so grey and the body looks just like all the other hens she is running with.
The toms are so much darker and almost shine or glisten in the sunshine.
I have no intentions of shooting her, is really cool to just to see and watch her and I have no idea if she will throw any multi beard offspring but can only hope.



Gary Harris
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