# Beardless Tom's??



## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Alright all you turkey expert's, The Nebo flock has something strange going on...

Tom's missing beard's , or some with short "stubb's",, clearly not jakes.

We've got quite a few of these strutting around ,, Anyone know the cause?


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## stillhuntin (Feb 14, 2008)

Ugly hens?? :shock: 
J/K J/K


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Many different reasons.

First and foremost is deep snow. While the birds are out feeding they drag their beards in the snow and they get packed with the stuff and freeze. Then they break off. Hard crusted snow is very abrasive and can broom off the beard while walking around too. Another culprit for beard destruction is rough terrain. Rocks, brush trees, and other things take their toll on the beard as well.

The good news is that the beard is actually a modified feather. It never molts but rather keeps on growing just like our fingernails or hair. So, they will eventually grow another beard back. That's the reason that turkeys in other parts of the country where there is no snow have such long beards. Every year someone down south shoots one with an 16/18 inch beard. :shock: 

So, if you have that tag, and all you can seem to call in is Jakes with little short beards you might want to take a closer look at the birds tail while he's strutting. If it's a nice round tail with no bifurcation or split level, you might just want to shoot that bird. :wink:


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

What Tex said...but...you talking about quite a few makes me suspect that you are looking at Jakes. It is impossable to tell a Jake from an older tom unless he fans his tail...although spur size gives you a clue. I guess it is also possible that there is a genetic line with short beards. Get back out there and get us a few pictures of these birds with faned tails.
I have killed birds with beards that have suffered freeze breakage and also read of this but normally it only effects the tips of the beards and would not produce a "stub" as you mention. Beards that have been broken or worn off will not have the lighter coloration at the tip...when you see this type of beard it is clear that it has been damaged.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Here's a little more detail...........First off we feed over 200 birds every winter, I watch
turkey's from my kitchen table every day..........I know the different in a jake and a 
3 year old tom with no beard.

we've noticed this happening for a couple year's now, even reported it to our biologist,
Dennis Sutherland.

We keep a snowmobile trail open up Nebo creek all winter long. One day last winter 
I broke the trail open, Went back the next day and found this in my snowmobile track.
[attachment=0:fl7mo0cj]tom 003.jpg[/attachment:fl7mo0cj]

I had to put a piece off tape on the end to keep it from falling completely apart.
It's 9 inch's long and very brittle.

Now what do you think?


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

I have taken a beardless Eastern Gobbler in Mississippi that had 11/4 spurs and weighed 19 lbs. He came in Strutting and gobbling. Have taken gobblers with double and triple beards also. I also have seen hens with beards.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

It sounds as if you know a Jake when you see it so I don't have a clue. The beard pictured seems quite normal to me and with the absents of other feathers in the area I would have no idea how the bird lost it. Beards normally don't just fall off. Be interesting to see what the birds look like next spring at this time, please let us know if you see this phenomenon again. Also, maybe some pictures? When beards are pulled off they don't grow back..they can sprout a few strands around the edges of the old growth area, but never a good thick beard as before...but if they have been broken off growth will continue at the normal rate of about 3-5 inches per year so by next spring at this time there should be none with "stubs". Anyway, interesting, please keep us informed.


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## elksign (Feb 2, 2008)

Hey 
Goofy I noticed and asked about the same thing. I have checked out this flock several times this winter and have yet to see a bearded Tom. Someone from Nephi told me that the Toms are further up the canyon but I couldn't find them. Last weekend I stopped counting at 120 birds and not one beard. I do have a pretty cool picture of a bearded hen sitting on the hay bale about a month ago that looks like it has some kind of camera thing attached to it's back? I swear there are some Toms and Jakes mixed in there but nothing dragging. I noticed that some of the hens have some small radio collars on their necks. I was wondering if whoever caught the hens removed some of the beards for some reason????? I have some cool pictures and even a couple short videos of some of the birds with the collars and the bearded hen but can't get them to post because the files are too big. I could email them to someone if you would like to give it a try.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Elk Sign,, I was actually in Salt Creek the morning they traped those bird's, It was
the DWR and the Turkey federation doing a transplant, I also spoke to Dennis',
the DWR biologist again, He is going to look into this issue further.
He also mentioned this had been reported by other's, So were not the only 
one's noticing this problem.


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## ktowncamo (Aug 27, 2008)

elksign - feel free to e-mail me a couple of the photos and I'll gladly re-size them and post them for you

kendall AT camofire DOT com

The video will likely be too big, but you could try that as well and I'll compress and upload it to a YouTube channel. I'm happy to help out.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

I've heard of beardless mature toms but never killed one myself. I did however back in Oklahoma in 2002 kill a hen with a 3 ¾ inch beard. 

I would think Tex’s explanation would explain a lot of them out here in the mountains.

According to our regulations back home a beardless tom IS NOT legal to harvest, a legal turkey must have a beard, I haven’t read the Utah regs on this.


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## ktowncamo (Aug 27, 2008)

Here are the images from elksign - good stuff.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Well, there's some good picture's there of describing the situation......

1st pic., Defantently a "bearded" hen.

3rd pic., Looks like the tom on the hay bail is missing a beard about like the one
I found.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

Nice pictures, yeap looks like a bearded hen to me.


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## EmptyNet (Mar 17, 2008)

"Your turkey permit allows you to take one bearded turkey within the area and during the season specified on your permit. Most mature male turkeys have a beard, and about 20 percent of mature female turkeys have one too. Please see page 19 to learn what a beard looks like and where it’s located on a turkey."

That is out of the turkey guidebook, so I guess you could shoot the bearded hen :roll: but not the beardless toms.

"Statistically, turkey hunting is four times safer than ping-pong, and you’re 50 times more likely to take a trip to the emergency room if you play golf." :lol: This also came out of the guidebook.


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## elksign (Feb 2, 2008)

So can someone explain what is strapped on the bearded Hens back?


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

elksign said:


> So can someone explain what is strapped on the bearded Hens back?


Looks like maybe a locator/radio collar box?????


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Well, those are some pretty nice pictures of a very common bunch of hens in their winter bunch. I am not even sure that the bird on the hay stack is a Tom. I've seen lots of very nice big black shiny hens that might pass for toms except guess what...they don't have a beard or spurs. I guess I am just not buying the story that these toms are "losing" their beards. What I would like to see is a clear picture of a beardless tom showing his legs with visable spurs. I'll bet come spring you'll see your toms, beard and all, picking out a few of them hens and heading out into parts unknown.


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