Had a great first morning in MO...strutter following 2 hens broke away and came to my jake and hen decoy...smoked him at 25 steps....23.5 lbs 3/4" spurs and ALMOST NO BEARD but full fan and 2 year old spurs...with the horrible winter we had I'm guessing it simply froze and broke...doesn't look like beard rot. What do you think? He put on a show. My dad killed one this morning so we are tagged out for week 1. Time to plant food plots and do some controlled burning ahead of some rain forecasted. Hope you all have the same good fortune.
Froze off would be my guess, too.
froze off, beard rot, or super jake
Congrats!
No matter .... 23.5#s?,
mighty fine bird there!
No doubt and he put on a show footage was fantastic
Congrats!!
Congrats....
Congrats!!!
My buddy missed a big bird in VA on Saturday that had a beard identical to this one, but full fan, big gobble and was a really heavy bird. Couldnt believe when he took off all I saw was a little nub beard, but I bet the exact same thing happened to him. Crazy!
congrats on a nice bird, big heavy sucker!!
Toad! Froze most likely.
Great tom!!!!
mudhen
Killed one in Nebraska a week ago that had a double beard. One was about 9 inches and the other just had a small nub like that. I assumed that somehow only one rotted off.
Nice Bird !
I could see clearly in the camera that he didn't have a beard but I knew it was a full fan and a great show....pretty obvious as you can see. Had another buddy remind me you can't eat beards!! LOL
That was no super jake...you got shorted on bear but I bet you don't even care. I wouldn't at least, good 2yr old. Congrats
definitely don't care...I was dancin :jackson: :you_rock:
Great bird!!! Congrats.
We had a similar thing with the birds in this video: http://youtu.be/wHx07t6XYvQ
After I whacked the bird on film, my buddy shot the the other bird (went out of camera frame). When we went to retrieve him, he had bigger spurs and was heavier than the bird I shot with the bigger beard. We figured beard rot.
^^^ Nice work
I hunted a ranch in Nebraska one year. We saw several full fan strutters with jakelike beards. We asked the rancher about this. He said in the winters their beards drag the ground and accumulate ice. When the ice ball gets big enough, their beards snap off. I was fortunate to get one with a 10 inch beard that trip.
Congrats on your gobbler!! 23-1/2 pounds isn't a superjake!!
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He trimmed it down to a soul patch. ;)
Congrats
Quote from: stinkpickle on April 24, 2014, 06:42:58 PM
He trimmed it down to a soul patch. ;)
That's funny right there... :TooFunny:
I'm going to tell everyone that I shot a 2 year old gobbler with 3/4" spurs and a soul patch! Love it
Good Bird even if he had a hair cut.
congrats