Tom with short beard??

[jdavis]

I shot a Tom Friday that was 27lbs. with 1 1/8" spurs and a full fan but his beard was only 5" long. The beard was very full but short. I know it was not a jake. Is this due to a fungus or something?

 

[Hillwalker]

Maybe he likes to keep it short for the girls.

I have seen them that way. I think some maybe get frozen to a limb and ripped short.

 

[jdavis]

His beard looks like someone cut it with sissors.

 

[JNRBRONC]

That was me adding to my collection. Feathers first, then a beard. Next I'm looking for some spurs. So if you see a one legged gobbler around, that was me too. It would be to easy to get them all from one bird

Congrats on the bird!

 

[NaplesIceman]

A few years ago I shot a 24 lb. tom that had no beard,just the flap of skin where his beard should have been.The very next day my buddy killed another mature tom with no beard. I've never heard of that before or after.

 

[mr4play72]

just wondering but i think even a mature tom without the beard is not legal to take. we were talking about this earlier this spring because we had a tom come in and couldn't see a beard. didn't present the shot so we didn't have to worry whether it was legal or not.

 

[Limb Chicken]

QDMer.
You likely shot a bird with a melanin deficiency. The beard gets brittle and breaks off. I have also shot birds like this. Is the color right at the end either a off white or reddish?

 

[NebraskaWhitetail]

[ QUOTE ]
QDMer.
You likely shot a bird with a melanin deficiency. The beard gets brittle and breaks off. I have also shot birds like this. Is the color right at the end either a off white or reddish?

[/ QUOTE ]

Limb's right. Amber tips are a give away that the beard may have broken off. The tom I shot in the spring of 2004 was a mature two-year-old. About 1/4 of the beard was 11" and the rest of it was only about 5. Like you said, it looked like someone had taken the scissors to it.

 

[blake]

Congrats on your turkey harvest QDMer!

 

[River1]

A friend of mine has shot birds like that. If I remember right, it's only on the birds from one particular farm he hunts. He calls it "beard rot", can't remember if it's disease or a deficiency like Limb mentioned.

 

[jkratz5]

We shot one last year in SD that went 21lbs. 1" spurs and 1" beard, yep 1" beard. He came in in full strut and my brother waxed him without being able to see the beard. Kinda funny look on a mature tom

 

[Buckhunter]

I shot one a few year's back that had the same thing.It was a huge old gobbler but had only about a 4" beard.

 

[jdavis]

you guys are right, the end did have a different color to it. thanks for your help.

 

[Jethro]

Nice QDmer!