That is a bearded hen look at the color of the head and the pure smallness of it Sent from my LG-UK495 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Feathers: The only sure way to tell a gobbler from a hen is to examine the lower breast feathers. The tips of male turkeys are black whereas in hens they are white or buff colored. Although differences can be seen at some distance if binoculars or a spotting scope is used, sex identification via breast features might not be useful when gobbler or spring seasons are underway. Once you have a bird down in an either sex fall hunt, the best way to identify its sex is by the breast feathers. http://www.thejump.net/turkeyarticles/how-to-tell-gobbler-hen.htm
It's going to taste great. Congratulations. We had 6 bearded hens in one flock of 38 birds that I watched last fall on several occasions.
It must be a lot more common than most think, we have a lot of them here as well. I get three or four on cameras regularly.
Same here Covey. It is a fairly "normal" thing here. There is one particular hen here that has a 6" beard on her.
Hen for sure. Hens and gobblers actually look nothing alike. The feathers on the neck, waddles, snood, spurs, color, shape and size are all different. In some areas, up to 10% of hens will have a beard. Not uncommon here. Congrats on getting a bird.
Ya congrats man! Bearded hens are a bit more scarce so well done. In 4 years turkey hunting hard, I've only seen one bearded hen and missed her. Any bearded bird out here is legal in the spring. But ya that's a lady with the feathers that far up the neck. Can't always count on spurs to tell the difference either. I shot a tom with an 8 inch beard this year and no spurs at all.
