True (or False) Osceola?

[Spurs Up]

Isn't broken or incomplete barring on a gobbler's wings characteristic of a (true) Osceola turkey?  If so, this must be a super Osceola. What's your call? 

[Happy]

My vote is buzzard.

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[guesswho]

Could just as easily be an Eastern, Rio or other.    But I'd guess Eastern just because of of their numbers put the odds in their favor.   I've killed them with a couple wing feathers like that on both wings but never the whole wing.  Pretty cool looking.

[g8rvet]

Melanistic bird would be my guess, even if it is a pure Osceola, but I will let the south Florida hunters chime in on this.  I live in FL and have killed Osceola, but it was many moons ago.

[Spurs Up]

My vote is buzzard.

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Wouldn't rule that out, but I can tell you that it behaved like a turkey and ate better than an ole buzzard (or so I've heard).

[Spurs Up]

Melanistic bird would be my guess, even if it is a pure Osceola, but I will let the south Florida hunters chime in on this.  I live in FL and have killed Osceola, but it was many moons ago.

We have a winner! 

It's a good old Eastern.  Here's another photo...

[WiLL B]

I've killed a couple with 2 or 3 buzzard feathers per wing but have only seen pictures of one like that. That's a melanistic (Black Phase) turkey. Rare and very neat trophy!

[WiLL B]

Melanistic bird would be my guess, even if it is a pure Osceola, but I will let the south Florida hunters chime in on this.  I live in FL and have killed Osceola, but it was many moons ago.

We have a winner! 

It's a good old Eastern.  Here's another photo...

Man that's a really cool gobbler!!!

[WiLL B]

Show us some more pictures of him!

[Jroddc]

Show us some more pictures of him!

X2 That's an awesome bird! Congrats!

[Old Gobbler]

Awesome specimen and trophy , please keep it in a safe place , the gobblers I've seen don't have that kind of black on the whole wing including the secondary feathers like yours


I've shot a quite a few throughout the state from the very southern most areas  , we're talking below the parallel of ft lauderdale and miami all the way up almost Georgia


In my opinion is the same as of Dr.Lovett Williams , Orlando area and south for the real thing, but I'll add that some on the eastern seaboard around Volusia county are as similar also not too much north east of Orlando that look almost  identical to the gobblers near Lake Okeechobee

I've shot a few that were almost all black like the one pictured (on primarys only) , and come back to the same spot and killed others from the same flock that did not have the all black trait , it could be a recessed genetic trait in combination with a nutritional factor , Dr .williams I recalled talked about it in his books --Shannon

[Happy]

Darn. Guess I am wrong again. My second guess was going to be a turkey. A mentally challenged one that was a little slow getting out of the way of one of those prescribed burns you boys like to do down south.

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[Spurs Up]

Darn. Guess I am wrong again. My second guess was going to be a turkey. A mentally challenged one that was a little slow getting out of the way of one of those prescribed burns you boys like to do down south.

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Wouldn't say it was "mentally challenged", but I'm always leery of eating any turkey that comes to my calling.

[Spurs Up]

Show us some more pictures of him!

X2 That's an awesome bird! Congrats!

Not the best photo, but cropped for witness protection...

[Happy]

Wouldn't say it was "mentally challenged", but I'm always leery of eating any turkey that comes to my calling.

Rest easy. If that was the case I would already be dead.

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