I've seen some strange physical characteristics in wild turkeys over the years.
Along with bearded hens and smoke as well as red phase turkeys I've also seen:
A mature tom with no beard, not even a sign where one was.
A mature tom with no spurs, not broken off, just no spurs.
A mature tom with a double snood.
A mature tom that appeared to be a "dwarf", it had a long beard, pointed 1" spurs, but weighed less than 12 lbs. It wasn't poor, it was just small. We compared it to other birds taken that morning and everything about it was smaller than the others; head, feet, wings etc.
One man took two of these birds, the dwarf and the beardless one in the same pot.

What's the strangest wild turkey you guys have seen?

barry

I have seen all the ones you mentioned. I think Hody killed one of those dwarfs with me last year. My brother also killed a double snooded bird last year as well.

Flatland Gobbler hunted wth me a couple springs ago and killed a gobbler with a rotten head...



Here is the double snooded gobbler...

2 yEARS AGO i KILLED ONE OF THOSE DWARF BIRDS. Full grown adult that was 12 pounds.

Never shot one with any oddity, did see a smoke phase hen a couple months ago...

Freddy, did you all ever figure out what caused that rott.....some kind of fungus or something?

Yep sure did kill a dwarf last year. Matter of fact if you look at him on video you would never know he weighed like 15 pounds. But he had some nice old hooks and a decent beard. Freddy also killed a nice merriam with NO SPURS. Mine had nice spurs and no beard. Would not trade either one for the world though. Not even a nub on Freeddys but it was a mature bird, mine had 1 inch spurs and it had beard rot I guess. I have seen a few other oddities as well. Good post.
I also like to look at the spurs up close. I really like the ones with an ivory color in them. I have one mounted like that.

Thanks HODY,

By ivory color in spurs do you mean spurs mixed with ivory color and an off red color? I've taken a couple of these.

One of the best beards I have came off of a tom that weighed only 14 lb. 10 oz. When I dressed him he had what looked like tape worms, he was extremely poor.

...just had to mention those dang ivory colored spurs didn't you???!!!

That dwarf Bird that Hody killed sure looked big coming up that ridge in Full Strut.. I carried him out of the woods after Hody twisted his ankle and I couldn't believe how light he was.. I told him I didn't think he weighed over 15 lbs, and he weighed 14.5 I think. But he wasn't a big bodied bird that was just worn out from breeding that led him to weigh less, he was a small framed bird .. but he had some nice hooks on him..

I have killed a few with Ivory Spurs. .

and I know where there is a 5 inch jake beard hanging that has a one inch blonde section in the middle of it. I had never seen nor ever heard of this before, But I think someone on here said they saw a mature tom with the same thing last year.. at first I thought it was the start of beard rot, but every one I've ever seen has been gray or white in color not blonde..

I was took a bird last year that had 4 beards. I'll see if I can post a pic. I have seen a few with 2 beards but this is the first I had seen with 4.

JFH3006

Wvboy. You fell for that old twisted my ankle ,will you carry my bird trick?
Come on Hody it was just a little-un.

Bird dog I can promise you one thing, that was not trick. Freddy and I went to Tenn the next week and my ankle was still Purple and Green.
Trust me I wish that WVBoy had killed it as I would not have twisted my ankle then. That was a long story that I will not bring back up..LOL
That bird was amazingly light for sure.
Barry I dont recall any redness in the ones I have seen just a light color with sometimes a little black at the base or the tip. I knew this conversation would strike a response from Diablo. I think these are like a drop tine to deer hunters if you could even try to categorize them like like. Sorry GN I did not mean to use the D... word.

That story is in Freddy's Diary from 05 .. That bird was not quick enough to retreat after I clicked on him.. Needless to say it was my forgetfullness .. but Hody was the man on the spot..

Hey WVBOY, glad you brought up the blonde beards, my brother took a jake one fall with about 1 1/2 inches of blonde on the end of its 4 inch beard.

JFH3006, NICE BIRD!!!

barry

Folks...the story Hody & WVboy are talking about is also captured on video....I will say no more

Yea and I'm sure you had to do some major editing before it could be a family oriented show if you know what I mean..