Unusal turkey

[forkedlighting]

Bowhunting this afternoon had 2 gobbled come in to the field noticed one didn't look right .I put the binaculors on them one of them was darker an didn't have barring on his wings 1st I seen like that

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

[Hoobilly]

that would definitely be one I would want to get mounted.

If you kill it, I recommend Byle Taxidermy to do the stuffing

[decoykrvr]

In 2003, I killed a 2 year old gobbler which exhibited total melanism (blackness). The legs were black and the wings were black w/ partial dark grey barring. I discussed the gobbler w/ the late Lovett E. Williams in 2006, and Lovett said that melanism is the rarest of the three color aberrations known to occur in wild turkeys and that my gobbler was only the sixth of which he knew. I had the gobbler mounted w/ a full fan, breast, head wall mount. I worked the bird which was w/ another gobbler and hens for over two hours in the woods and got him within 45 yards several times, but he wouldn't commit and leave the hens. Every time I saw the gobbler I thought, "That bird has the whitest head I've ever seen." I quit calling and listened as the birds and gobbling faded down the ridge. I slipped down the ridge and set up near the area where the gobblers had been displaying and began calling. The woods were thick, and after a few soft clucks and yelps I got a couple of hens to respond followed by a gobble. I saw birds moving up the ridge towards me, I made a couple soft clucks and a hen ran up beside me and stopped about 12 feet away and started calling loudly, yelping and clucking. I could see several birds down the ridge about 35 yards below me, and then I saw the gobbler w/ the really white head intermingled w/ hens and a jake. After several minutes the hen beside me began to cut and cluck and the gobbler finally moved to my right and in the clear which presented a shot. I raced down the ridge and by the time I got to the gobbler, almost 3 hours had elapsed since I had initially set up on him. It took me several minutes to figure out why the head had appeared to be so white, it wasn't any whiter than a normal gobbler, but the turkey was very dark. It wasn't until I got the gobbler into the sun to really appreciate what I had and realize that it was melanistic. A couple of years later I saw another "dark" bird in the area, but never got it close enough to determine the degree of melanism. Over the years I've killed several dark birds with the majority being the smaller, darker, long-legged "Mountain Easterns" which look more like an Oceola than the transplanted "Missouri Strain Eastern" which dominates our area.

[2Shooter]

That's something to see right there!!!

[firedup]

Pretty sure Lovett Williams described the black / melanistic color phase as the rarest of the color phases and a real rare bird! That one be a once in a lifer probably.

[youngoutdoors]

decoykrvr, Which part of the Mountains are you from? That a rare turkey for sure. I've killed one that had solid black; no barring on the wind feathers.

God Bless, Louis

[sajustice]

Here's one
[URLhttp://i1http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/sajjc/whiteturkey2014058.jpg134.photobucket.com/albums/m603/sajjc/whiteturkey2014058.jpg=http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m60 ... 8.jpg.html][/URL]

[decoykrvr]

I hunt several areas in East Tennessee which are adjacent to the main spine of the Appalachians. There are isolated pockets of the " Mountain Strain" Eastern wild turkeys and, as I indicated earlier, they look a lot more like an Osceola than a "Missouri" Eastern in coloration, size, leg length and have higher pitch vocalizations. Discussing the "Mountain Strain" with older experienced hunters we are in agreement that it is not just individual "odd ball" birds, but entire flocks which exhibit the Osceola characteristics, and sadly, interbreeding with the more prevalent "Missouri Strain" is reducing their incidence and numbers.

[quavers16]

I have seen kind of off-white wild turkey feathers while scouting before my May 1st opener. I never did see the owner though when the Season opened.

[timbrhuntr]

On the farm I hunt in Michigan I have shot several toms that had a darker feather coloring than most and usually had the all black sections in the wing. I have also seen a number of the smoke or grey phase . I have also noticed that some have a very reddish tinge to their feathers. It would be neat to see one all black or red but they just seem to exhibit part of the coloration.