Nice end to the season...
Congrats!
That beard does appear like it was ripped off or possibly burned, as a new beard is growing after the injury with the scab on top.
"Beard rot" as it is often called by hunters is actually a melanin deficiency in the beard that isn't caused by a fungus or a mite. When a turkey experiences a period of high stress/nutritional deficiency or injury it's body stops producing melanin during the stress/sickness period which normally creates the black in the beard. The beard grows a lighter color at the base either white or orange. When the beard drags it often breaks at this lighter colored spot.
A similiar issue can happen in humans and cause ridges in toenails and fingernails when the body produces lower amounts of melanin. After my Lyme disease incident last summer, my finger and toe nails grew with ridges that started at the base and grew out.
"I do not hunt turkeys because I want to, I hunt them because I have to. I would really rather not do it, but I am helpless in the grip of my compulsion"
- Tom Kelly, Tenth Legion, 1973
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