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Thread: Nice end to the season...

  1. #1
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    Default Nice end to the season...

    I have wanted to go after this bird for a couple weeks but I wasn't going to do it until my Nemesis was dead. That happened a week or so ago so it was off to chase this dude. Friday morning he gave me the slip 3 different times, gobbling his head off. I stayed out of the woods all weekend to let him settle down and because of the weather. This morning, it was on...

    Heard him gobble shortly after daylight but he was WAY back in the woods. Around 7 I decided to move off the field and go sit on a little food plot down in the woods that has 3 different roads come to it. After sitting there for a while I hadn't heard a thing except for a couple distant gobbles. I was planning my move to another spot when this dude hammered down the road not 75 yards away. I never called to him cause I knew he was coming and I knew right where he was coming to. I hit the REC button, grabbed the gun, clicked off the safety, and not long after that he stepped into the food plot and BOOM. Done.

    17 lbs, 1" spurs, no beard (rot)







    This was bird number two on the list that I wanted to kill this year so I'm stoked to end it this way.
    HRCH DL's Black Kentucky Shine SH "Colby"
    HR Devil's Dirty Little Secret "Tessa"

    2015 1760dbst Havoc & 90 HP Yamaha 2 Stroke

  2. #2
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    Default

    That doesn't look like rot to me.. Not sure..

    Good murder..
    Natural Born Killer Prostaff - Killing Tomorrow's Trophies Today...

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    Conservation Permit Holder #5213

  3. #3
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    I'm not sure what else it could be. It looks like it was clean cut off and the ends were seared with a flame to keep from unraveling lol
    HRCH DL's Black Kentucky Shine SH "Colby"
    HR Devil's Dirty Little Secret "Tessa"

    2015 1760dbst Havoc & 90 HP Yamaha 2 Stroke

  4. #4
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    Default

    Beard rot is usually blondish..

    Control burning or an electric fence close by?
    Natural Born Killer Prostaff - Killing Tomorrow's Trophies Today...

    TFC -"Be tough or get tough"

    Conservation Permit Holder #5213

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
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    Default

    Sometimes they'll feed in fresh burnt timber and occasionally hit a hot spot and catch the beard. The long second/thickest on my triple bearded bird looked the same way. The other two beards were fine. Nice bird!

  6. #6
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    Yea it looks like he burned it off. Good killin!

  7. #7
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    Default 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

  8. #8
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    I didn't think it looked like rot since it was so cleanly removed but I didn't have any other explanation. I agree it looks burned off but there hasn't been any burns in the area that I'm aware of. Oh well, he'll eat good!
    HRCH DL's Black Kentucky Shine SH "Colby"
    HR Devil's Dirty Little Secret "Tessa"

    2015 1760dbst Havoc & 90 HP Yamaha 2 Stroke

  9. #9
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    Aug 2008
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    Default

    A bully grab it and jerked it off during a fight...LOL.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Default

    that is strange there for sure. wonder what it would hvae looked like when it grew out to 5-6 inches. wonder if the seared end would have remained intact.

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