Never seen this before

[David Veale]

Indeed. I reckon bearded hen turkeys are not all that uncommon. I saw one last summer up close for the first time.

Yeah, after researching the matter, I found figures suggesting that 10% of hens are bearded.

 

[Andrewmtnman]

Yeah, after researching the matter, I found figures suggesting that 10% of hens are bearded.

Sounds like my neighborhood

 

[deerstalkert]

Sounds like my neighborhood

yep!
had Christmas at my sisters. she feeds them dirty birds. had a flock of 40 or so. saw 5 bearded hens, and a couple lgbqrstuv birds in that group.
worked summers for a turkey grower when i was in grade school. we would sex, trim beaks, cut wing feathers on one wing. when separating them by sex, we had hens, toms, and whatzits.
the buyer only paid 50% for the whatzits.

 

[Stykbow]

Are there any private game reserves near you? If so the deer may have been an escapee, to make a raised deer legal most states require the tags.

No, nothing like that here. Something else that makes me scratch my head is that the tag was on the back of the ear.

 

[mikesto44]

Now in some areas they would have shot the deer. Cut the tag off and replaced it with their deer tag. Strange things happen in the deer woods. But in your case it was probably micro chipped....lol

 

[Stykbow]

Now in some areas they would have shot the deer. Cut the tag off and replaced it with their deer tag. Strange things happen in the deer woods. But in your case it was probably micro chipped....lol

Yeah, this is one of those areas, but I wasn’t that curious. Plus, I ain’t a piece of shat poacher. I’m still hoping TWRA will respond to my email with some info.

 

[Gum Slough Muzzleloader]

have a friend also that shot an antlered doe. our illustrious law makers in a fit of rare sanity wrote our regs to be Antlered Deer, with no consequences for shooting an antlered doe, other than bragging rights.

That's how it is here in Florida.
Antlered Deer.
For Turkey: Gobblers or Bearded Turkey.

 

[Banjoman]

Yeah, this is one of those areas, but I wasn’t that curious. Plus, I ain’t a piece of shat poacher. I’m still hoping TWRA will respond to my email with some info.

Hopefully, TWRA will answer the question. My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that this deer is part of a study being done by TWRA or UT.

 

[Steve Wagner]

Does wouldn't necessarily be without antlers. Acquaintance of mine shot an antlered doe (a product of "better living through chemistry", I suspect). His wife posted a photo to Facebook, after which he got a call from the DNR and lost his hunting license privileges for 5 years because he didn't have a doe tag. I would think there would be some leniency in that type of situation, but apparently some folks enjoy being tyrants.

Moral of the story is that you'd better check between the legs of the next "monster buck" you shoot. Maybe we'll have to start getting LGBTQIA (and however many letters there are in that alphabet soup now) deer tags, just in case. Could get interesting now that there are 89 different genders, and we won't know which one the deer we shoot actually is. Might also have to ask the deer what their pronouns are first. 8^)

A friend of my son in law shot a whitetail/muley hybrid here in MT. Whitetail antlers/muley tail. Special permit unit for muleys which he did not have. He was hunting a brushy river bottom where muleys almost never hang out and could only see ears and antlers that looked whitetail. He posted a pic for friends and got a visit from FWP. More leniency here. Just a warning. Not clear to me at all how they define a hybrid as one or the other anyway. Hybrids are somewhat common here as ranges overlap everywhere. Whitetail bucks are promiscuous and mule deer does are easy. Thats's how it usually does about. Doesn't happen a lot but it does happen. One FWP biologist told me that all of our deer have some genetic admixture. I think the warden was more curious than anything.
Most game wardens here won't make a federal case over these kinds of honest anomalies. They know it's counter productive. Alienate a hunter over something silly like that in MT, and try to take his hunting away for 5 years-create a poacher. Simple as that and not smart at all. The law may call it a "privilege", but westerners don't look at it that way. Keeps the wardens and hunters on the even ground of mutual respect. Where I live, more whitetail deer get killed by cars in two weeks than hunters kill in a season. You can keep a roadkill with out any tag if you want it. Lots of them end up at the food bank. Wardens know this and, wisely, weigh it in the balance. Much more aggressive about elk, moose and especially bighorn sheep. SW

 

[Sam squanch]

Years ago , a guy shot a ELK that wandered off a game ranch. That was fun. The best was a St. Louis guy who shot a GOAT. He was SO proud! The picture is still hanging in the sporting goods store where he checked it in.