punched tag 2 this a.m. all finished

[southwind]

Looks like I will have to start fishing heavy because hunting is over till fall.

It has been over a month since I tagged my first bird this year and with excessive rains and helping others fill their tags I didn't know if I would get a chance.

I went to one of my favorite public spots this a.m. getting there early. I climbed out of the truck at 4:45 a.m. and I already hear this Tom giving it heck. I got set up and could tell he was on the other side of the river and figured I would go ahead and sit it out to see what happened.

This bird was a real loud mouth and gobbled non-stop for over an hour on the roost. Finally I heard another gobble but it was right there with him and then another and this time it was closer and on my side of the river.

I hear the tom across the river fly down with his girls and he continues with his chorus. It is past legal shooting hour and can now see about four hens in a dead tree right in front of my set up. I hear another bird fly down and it is close but not one of the hens in the dead tree. I peek out around a small tree in front of me and there he is all strutted up and lookin good for the girls.

That display was his last as I settled the sights on him and cut one loose. Down for the count and tagged out.

Not a real big bird at 18 lbs, just a 2 year old, almost an inch on spurs but the poor lad had beard rot. Had not seen a bird with beard rot in some years but sure enough a nice thick beard but only about 6" long with that real buff coloration on the tip indicating beard rot.

[MuleyMadness]

Nicely done, what is beard rot? Didn't know there was such a thing.

[AGCHAWK]

CONGRATS bud!

Yea, I've never heard of beard rot either...but then again, I have never hunted gobblers before either.

Can ya shed a little light on the subject?

[southwind]

I had a biologist tell me about at youth hunt where a bird was taken with it.

"Quite a few wild turkeys that I’ve harvested have had what’s commonly called beard rot," Davis reports. "But I’ve observed that actually the tom’s beard decomposes structurally and doesn’t rot. Beard rot isn’t caused by a disease, infection or mites."


After eliminating most of the possible causes of beard rot, Davis finally determined that a nutritional deficiency caused beard rot and that a turkey’s beard acted as a barometer of the turkey’s overall health. "During the time that the turkey’s growing, if that bird is going through nutritional deficiency, the beard will be affected with what’s called beard rot," Davis explains.

The other part of this story is that upon cleaning the bird I found he had already been shot and had gangrene in both legs. In addition to my #5 copper plated pellets I found some #6 plain lead in the legs. I don't believe he would have made it and it also explains why he was a little under weight from other tom's we have been taking in this area.

I trashed the legs and thighs but kept the breast as they appear fine. I am however going to make a few calls as to if I should even keep the breast.

One way or the other I am very happy I put this bird down.

[sneekeepete]

Congrats on the bird. It is a good think you got him even if you aren't able to get any meat out of him. Thats too bad that he had been wounded like that.

[AntlersOutWest]

Nice turkey! Whens dinner?!

Huh.. learn something new every day.. Never heard of beard rot.. interesting

[killerbee]

very interesting , congrats on still a nice bird!

[treedagain]

WTG.....I have a good idea whats for dinner....

[southwind]

After talking to a lot of people including several medical professionals I decided not to keep the breast meat either. I really hated to do that on many different levels but when push comes to shove the chance was not worth it.

My solace is that I put a bird down that in all other aspects was doing his "turkey thing" but was slowly suffering and on his way out. So, the disappointment of loosing the meat is balanced by knowing the bird needed put down. Plus I had a great season of turkey hunting and one other very nice double bearded tom to boot.

[PLP]

Nice bird!!Congrats!!