Turkey Newbie ???

[Wayne Sieber]

Let me start by saying that I am a Turkey Hunting Newbie.....So, I thought I knew the answer to this possibly stupid question but here goes...I saw a group of 5 turkeys yesterday (from about 400 yards away) and all of them had bright red heads but for the life of me I couldn't see any beards. Where these jakes or could they have possibly have been hens? All the hens I have seen before had little or no color on the head but these guys were bright red. Thanks!

[Borch]

If you're seeing bright red heads they are male birds. Since you could make out the beards they were likely jakes. Jake beards can be anywhere from no beards to six inches or so.

Good Luck when you get out.

[Wayne Sieber]

Borch - Thanks for the response! I really figured they were Jakes but after watching them for 20 minutes I just could not see any beards on any of them (granted that they were a long way from where I was sitting and watching them). Is there any chance at all that they could have been hens? If not that would be sweet because they were feeding in a corn field about 20 yards from where I was planning on setting up. Thanks again!

[Tippman]

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If you're seeing bright red heads they are male birds. Since you could make out the beards they were likely jakes.

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I think he meant to say since you couldn't make out the beards. I saw many, many different jakes this year while turkey hunting and I bet about 20% did not have any beards. Most had a beard about 1.5 inches sticking out of their chest, which would be hard to see anyway at 400 yds. And the bright red heads would clearly indicate them being males.

[Borch]

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Quote:

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If you're seeing bright red heads they are male birds. Since you could make out the beards they were likely jakes.

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I think he meant to say since you couldn't make out the beards. I saw many, many different jakes this year while turkey hunting and I bet about 20% did not have any beards. Most had a beard about 1.5 inches sticking out of their chest, which would be hard to see anyway at 400 yds. And the bright red heads would clearly indicate them being males.

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Yep, That's what I meant. Darn typos.