Is this beard special? Wondering if anyone can shed light on why my turkeys beard is the way it is..

[Sevenyearsandcounting]

Ok guys I'm sure you've seen my turkey..I'm sure this may seem like bragging but I'm asking a serious question about what we can learn from beard size.

Not length but how dense and thick it is. My rio from Texas was about 10.5 as measured it for the first time today. I had guessed 9 inches but surprisingly it's 10.5. A hunter underestimating? Nah.

Back to over estimating lol. Compared to the Rio this easterns beard is triple. The beard looks different like maybe it's two beards? How can I tell? When I hold it sideways it parts perfect down the middle and splits. Is that just gravity separating it? The other turkey beard I have is nowhere near it. Even though it's a great beard and I'm proud of my rio, this eastern was just something else.

Anyone have any hypothesis? Is it just an old old bird? A genetic freak? Or was he just full of testosterone? I'll post the comparison photos.


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[Spring Creek Calls]

It's been my experience that Easterns have much thicker beards than Rio's or Merriam's. I have not shot or hunted Osceola's or Gould's so no comments there.  That said, your Eastern has a tremendous beard and I hope you preserve it in some way. Now those feet, not so much!

[spaightlabs]

One beard, but it's a dandy - a paintbrush for sure.  If it was a multi-bearded bird each section would be separated by some skin and clearly identifiable.

Nothing to be told about the age of the bird by the beard.

[Sevenyearsandcounting]

Thanks Spaight! I didn't think so but this whole actually bagging a bird is new.

Only thing that makes me consider him being 3+ is the Spurs. They're worn for sure. Bird in Texas I shot was walking desert Mesa type valleys and had rocks all over so of course his were worn down.

Not sure if that could happen with an eastern living mainly in dairy country.


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[Tail Feathers]

That bird has one heckuva beard!  Congrats.
Looks like a single beard, albeit a really thick one.
In my experience, Rio's have thinner beards than the average Eastern.
That one isn't average.  It's a real paintbrush!

[Dr Juice]

That's a smoking beard. Not that easily to come by in my experience. Cherish it for sure. Congrats.

[guesswho]

It is a single beard, a really thick single beard.   A lot of pictures I see of double beards are really single beards that are split.   You don't see to many beards as thick as that one, congrats on a really nice bird.

As mentioned before, multi-beards will be easy to identify by looking where they originate from.  Each beard will grow from its own "bulb".  There's a word for it but it slips my mind at the moment.  Here's an example

[zsully]

Congrats on an awesome bird with a heck of a cool beard.  I think a lot of the beard width/length is genetic.  I'm from Pa and I've observed bids near me in SW Pa usually have longer thinner beards then birds near my dad in NW Pa.  The beards on mature birds I've killed in SW Pa range from 9-11 inches while the birds my dad has killed seem to range from 8-10.  His beards year after year are thicker then mine and it's not even close. 

[Number17]

This is the bird I killed just the other day here in Pa. His beard was only 9" long to the longest strand, but nearly every strand was the same length. Extremely thick and dense. Spurs were both right at 1 3/8". He weighed 22lb.

I have some buddies who have boxes full of pencil thin beards, and most of mine tend to be thicker for some reason, so I'm guessing it has at least something to do with genetic variation.

This is actually the shortest beard I've ever killed, but it's the thickest by a good margin

[ncturkey]

I do not know about the beards from the Rio beards. If Rio beards are usually not real wide you could have hybrid Rio/Eastern. That could explain the wider beard. If it is a true Rio the wide beard could cool trait of that bird. As for eastern turkeys there beard with varies. The width as nothing to do with age in my opinion. But one thing for sure you have a awesome paintbrush bearded Rio. Are you doing a fan mount? If so I would incorporate the beard in with the fan mount. Congratulations on a nice Rio.

[Prohunter3509]

That's some good beards

[Marc]

I think there is a genetic factor or course, but I also believe there might be a nutritional aspect...

I hunt a couple ranches that are separated by about 5 miles (as the crow flies)...  One ranch typically produces long thin beards, and the other ranch typically the birds have paintbrushes....  I just assumed (possibly incorrectly) that it has somewhat to do with local food sources...

Interestingly, the birds with the thinner beards are on a cattle ranch, and often feed on dispersed cattle food or grain...  Birds on the paintbrush ranch there are no cattle, and no cattle food...  But with the taller grasses, there are often more prolific insect populations on the ranch without cattle...

[Happy]

I think that it's partly genetics and partly nutrition. I have killed birds from the same area with differing beards. Some are thin and some are thick. I do believe with age a beard will tend to get thicker but it's just a general rule. Some are programmed to have thicker beards from the egg. Now up here in the mountains most don't get much longer than 10 inches. Have killed more 9-9.5 inch beards than anything else. I think the snow and ice as well as the terrain factor in on that.

[TauntoHawk]

Why do they even grow beards...

It could be genetic as it seems random as to what birds grow thick beards. I know I've shot 2yr olds with giant thick beards and old birds with thin short beards And everything in-between. Habit helps if they aren't breaking the beards off on stuff or in deep snow.

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[SteelerFan]

It's a nice beard, probably as nice as they get for being a "brush"... but not anything freakish or "special".

As hunters, we have a tendency to try to define animals into strict "recipes" for age identification or trophy status. There are some definite generalities that apply to the game animals we seek - but they don't all conveniently fit into a defined window. For example, most every P&Y whitetail (or B&C) is probably 3.5 years old or older, yet certainly not every 3.5 yr old, or older buck carries 150+" of antler on their head.

I still get a laugh out of some of the old-timers in deer camp(s) that try to convince themselves and others that the spike buck they shot is an old deer that is on the "downhill" side of antler growth. Really?? It's an established fact that very old bucks (6, 7+) may not grow the same number of inches of antler that they may have had in their prime... but they don't revert back to "spikes" (without illness or injury) as a general rule.

Same thing applies to turkeys. Long beards, thick beards, thin beards... Spurs will also vary. Some birds will never grow great "hooks" - regardless of age, while others will sport limbhangers. The "worn down" spur is often mistaken for the rounded tip spur of a 2 yr. old. Again, generally speaking, older birds (3 yr +) will have more curve and more point (sharp). If we applied that same "deer camp logic" to turkeys - then you could argue there are lots of really old birds killed each year - you know, the ones that have "worn down" their spurs to rounded off bumps, and worn down their beards to 5" from dragging them! If gobblers constantly ran backwards through gravel, there might be more of an argument for the "worn down spur".

A biologist friend of mine explained it best to me one time: "Not every 35 year old guy is 6' 3", 225 lbs... some are 5' 8", 170 lbs." True, humans undoubtedly have a greater "range" of size at maturity - as proven on a daily basis at your local Walmart - but the principal is the same.

Congrats on a great bird!