NW's 2004 Spring Gobbler

[NebraskaWhitetail]

Thought I'd post of field pic of the gobbler I got on April 23, 2004, out in Custer County, Nebraska. This is a two-year-old Rio Grande hybrid. He was a heavy bird (25 lbs "on the hoof") but his 9 1/2" beard was pretty spindly. Spurs were 7/8" and sharp enough to impale my left palm! Ouch!

Saw this bird on the other side of a canyon filled with cedar trees. He was strutting in reponse to my calls, but wouldn't budge or make a sound. After awhile, I decided to employee the "run and gun" technique by working my way across the canyon until I got up behind him. We saw each other about the same time, but he couldn't outrun the Browning. The tail fan is going on the wall.

 

[Liv4Rut]

congrats nebraskan, looks like a good one to me, now explain to me how turkeys have hooves

That sure would be awesome to hunt a differrent species than these easterns

course i have a tough enough time with them

 

[simplesimon]

Congrats NW!!!! Nice looking bird.

 

[ironwood]

Great picture, congratulations

 

[tejay]

nice bird man.....

 

[Kat]

Great bird! I really like the fan. Very nice!

 

[Scott]

Nice Job! Instead of the "run and gun" I like to use the "bull rush" technique. Sometimes they just stand there till its over.

How do you tell if its a hybrid, just by its feathers?

 

[Two Beards]

Beautiful gobbler...nice job

 

[Bodeen]

Good job,beautiful bird.

 

[NebraskaWhitetail]

The turkey population there in Custer County, Nebraska, is the product of a 1960s re-introduction program of Rio Grande birds. Originally they tried the Merriam's subspecies out there and they didn't take. But the Rios seemed to like the terrain very well. Along the way, some other strains (including domesticated turkeys) got mixed into their genetic make-up so the wild birds out there today are a hydridization from the original Rio Grande subspecies. What's been interesting to see is some of the differnces in tail feather tip color from birds out of the same flock. They range from a cream color (typical of Rios) to an almost pure white (which is more characteristic of Merriam's). The two-year-old birds I took in the springs of 2002 and 2004 had cream colored tips. The one I got in 2003 was almost pure white. I guess that's the beauty of genetics.