Before you know it the woods will be green and the sun will rise to the sound of wild turkeys gobbling from the roost. It's a sound many are familiar with and a sound that gets your heart racing as you wait for that weary old Tom to sneak into range. Dave, one of the members on the NYBowhunter.com Forum, was kind enough to share some trail camera photos with us of a nice looking flock of turkeys on his hunting grounds.
Hopefully there will still be plenty of breeding left to be done by the time May 1st rolls around. As you can see from the pictures, these were taken at the end of March and the gobblers are already strutting around for the ladies.
If you look closely at the picture above you'll notice a thin beard on the bird in the foreground. Take another minute to study the bird and its feathers look lighter than those of the gobblers in the photo, it's head is missing the red, white and blue of a male bird and there aren't any spurs on this bird either - it's actually a bearded hen. Every now and then you will see a bearded hen, but they only make up about 3% to 6% of the overall population. Bearded birds are legal to kill during the spring turkey season in NY which means bearded hens are fair game. Remember though that taking a hen reduces the reproductive potential of the turkey population and by carefully studying the body characteristics of male and female turkeys you should be able to tell the difference between a bearded hen and a gobbler.
Good post and some real nice pictures. Our season starts May 6th. here in CT. Good luck to you all.
ReplyDeleteThose are some great trail cam photos. Only week left until our turkey season opens, and I can not wait.
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