WNY Bowhunter

I opted to sleep in yesterday and skip the early morning hunt.... I hit the road around 8:30 looking for a potential victim to go after and found two strutters out in a field on a buddy's farm. Got in front of them and had one of 'em flopping on the ground 15 minutes later. Unfortunately, I was in better position to kill the subordinant bird so I went ahead and took him instead of the boss tom. As I ran out to get my turkey the big one just stood there for a few seconds watching me before he took off. If someone would have been with me we would have doubled up. Mine ended up being a pretty nice bird: 21.5 lb, 10" paint brush beard and 1" spurs...

Good deal!!! You don't get many of them...with a bow to boot.

The orange/amber coloration is caused by a melanin defficiency in the beard feathers which causes them to be brittle and break off. It's pretty common actually. One of my birds from last spring was the same way...

No joke. Check out this youtube clip...

From what I've read on the subject, I believe that its hereditary.

Hens can strut and gobble. I called up a hen in the spring about 10 years back that gobbled several times. A good friend of mine from work had a hen in PA this year that came in strutting and gobbling her head off. He's got it on video...

I've killed a couple of double bearded jakes and one triple-bearded jake. A guy that was in turkey camp with me in Indiana killed a beautiful triple this spring too. Here's a nice multiple bearded bird that an uncle of mine killed last spring on a farm that I hunt...

I've killed two banded birds...one in 2008 and the other in 2012 (consecutive band numbers). They were banded together in 2007 on a neighboring farm. The one from last year was unofficially the oldest harvested turkey on record in NYS. He was 8 or 9 years old. Here's the thread from last year... http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/9874-great-weekend/

Just the little button-like scales that all hens have. Here's another bearded hen that I shot back in the fall of 2005. I've never seen a hen with so much red in her head... Another bearded hen on trailcam...

Most of the red that you see on that hen's head can be attributed to 2.25 ounces of hevi-shot @ 25 yds. As Pygmy stated, gobblers have black barred breast feathers and a hens are just dull brown. Plus, she only weighed about 10 lbs and had eggs inside of her.

I didn't shoot all of them...a few are from family members too. They're not all this big; I just don't take pics of the smaller ones...lol.

That's an old wives tale. Bearded hens can/do lay eggs just like any other hen turkey. The one that I shot in back in '09 was defintely nesting...she had 4-5 eggs in her that were in different stages of development. I would never shoot another one during the spring season.

Awesome. Still got tag #2 to fill now. Good luck.

I would say that your gobbler was most likely a two year old. If you are undecided about a turkey's age...hold it's beard over a light source you can instantly tell whether he is two years old or if he's 3 years plus. On a jake, the tips of the beard strands will have a distinct orange-amber color to them due to a lack of melanin. At two years old, the beard hasn't grown long enough yet to wear these "jake tips" off and they still show the orange coloration. By the time he is three years old, a gobbler has grown over 15" beard and these amber tips will have broken off. Thus, a turkey with a 10" beard with orange tips is a two year old. If you have a 10" beard where the tips are jet black when viewed over a light...he is at least three years old. This may sound like a load of BS (I didn't make it up) but it you candle the beards of a bird with 1.25" spurs versus one with 3/4" spurs the contrast is extremely evident. The beard on the left from a turkey I killed last spring (10 3/8" beard & 7/8" spurs). Notice all of the orange coloration on the tips = 2 year old. The beard on the right is from another bird. He had 1.25" spurs and was definately 3-4 years old. Notice there is no orange tint at all beacuse his beard has had an extra year to grow and the intitial "jake tip" portion of his beard has been worn off.

Congrats! I was oh so close this morning too...

Spurs tend to range in color from solid black to brown to gray. I've killed a few that were clear colored with black tips. They're my favorites. Some examples of color variations in my area...

In the fall...yes. In the spring...no. Unless, it was the last morning of season, the gobbler I had roosted pulled a no show and it was about start raining. Such was the chase on 5/31/09 when I killed a bearded hen that had screwed me over several times that season. It was a matter of payback really. Plus, she was kicking the crap out of my decoy so I had to take her out...

There has been a TON of shooting in my area.

Well, I had a heck of a hunt this morning and managed to call in this nice fat two year old for my cousin. Actually, I called in the two hens that he was with and he followed them in. Not bad for his first turkey...20 lbs, 9.5" beard and 3/4" spurs. He put on a heck of a show before the ole Browning barked and ended it. I'm pretty pumped, it's kill #4 for me for the season.

Nice tom!!!

Both had 1 1/4" spurs so the were at least 3 years olds (possibly 4)...

Day 3: Heard 5 or 6 gobblers this morning. Got set up within 80 yds of the closest one...he hit the ground and went the other way gobbling occasionally. Got onto 2 lone gobbler around 7:00 and called them to within 60-70 yds but they just wouldn't close the distance. I thought that we were gonna kill on of them. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better...

Day 1: I heard two birds on the roost, both hit the ground and went silent. My uncle killed a good one: 22 lbs, 9.5" beard, 1 1/4" spurs Day 2: Started out just like day #1. Dad killed a beauty: 20 lbs, 9" beard, 1 1/4" spurs. Got love a limbhanger!!! Tried my luck with a late morning hunt. I wasn't 200 yds from the truck when I struck up a gobbler on the first notes from my Halloran Crystal. The set-up I had to deal with was awful with lots of treetops and thick woods between the birds and me. What started out as one bird turned into 4 and I was certain that I was into a group of jakes. I ended up getting a look at 3 of them as they attempted to circle me and it confirmed my jake theory. Gobbler #4 stayed over the knoll just out of sight but I could hear him drumming and gobbling. I messed with them for over an hour knowing that often times a subordinant longbeard will buddy up with jakes. When I glanced at my watch it was 11:55 and time to leave. They were all still within shooting range so in effort to spook them off I layed the gun down, grabbed a baseball sized rock and raised up on my knees to throw it in their direction. As I did, I suddenly saw the unseen bird in half strut just below the jakes between two logs!!! He was in the shadows and I couldn't see his chest but he was definately a bigger bodied bird and had a huge white glowing head. He spotted me...lowered his tail and stretched his neck up. I got a quick glimpse of what appeared to be the full fan of an adult gobbler. Wasting no time, I dropped the rock in my hand...shouldered my Browning and sent a load of heavy shot his way. Everything happened to quickly that I honesty thought I had missed him. As I walked over to the logs where he was standing I was relieved to see him laying there stone dead. Unfortunately, my mystery bird ended up being an honest to goodness 19 lb. jake!!! I was a bit disappointed at first but it was a fun hunt and if I had to do it over I still would have taken the shot. Back in 2011 I was in the same situation two times and ended up letting birds walk due to not being able to confirm whether they were adults or jakes (both ended up being longbeards). Not this time... His body frame was the same size as dad's 3 year old...

That's how it's been for me for the past couple of mornings too. They gobble a few times on the roost and then completely clam up when the hit the ground. The frustrations of hunting henned up gobblers...

This what I'd do.