A white wild turkey

Just back from my farm property and I saw a first for me. A flock of turkeys fed by me and mixed in was a white gobbler. He was a young bird, not a jake, and had a 6 to 8 inch beard. At first I thought it was a domestic mix, but after some research found

out that is not the case. He was not a albino. From my reading it seems most of the white birds are hens so he is a fairly rare bird. Sorry for the quality of the picture, but I had to shoot through a closed window.

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Interesting, I have never seen a white turkey in the wild. When I first read the title, my initial thought was an escaped turkey joined a wild flock, but seems not to be the case. And from what I see, it looks white, but clearly not white like a domestic turkey. Thanks for sharing.

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It was a first for me and I spend a lot of time in the woods. About 5 years back some of my relatives reported seeing a wild white hen, but I never saw her. With all the predators I’m surprised a white bird makes it to adult. Like you my first thought was a domestic bird mixed in, but the markings were clearly a wild bird so that’s when I turned to the research. I sure hope I see him again and can get a better quality photo.

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That’s really awesome. I’ve never seen it either.

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today is the last day of our deer season and turkey does not open until 3/20. This will give me some time to move around the area without disrupting things too much. I should be able to get a better handle on where these turkeys are ranging. I don’t want to shoot the bird because I’m not much for mounting animals and this bird if killed should be mounted.

Yep, agreed, it sounds like a wall hanger.
Can you get back there with a big lens and get some good zoomed photos.
That could prove fun and challenging. :slight_smile:

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It’s on my property and the land around it belongs to relatives so I’m good to go. I need to be careful though and not chase the flock off the property. I also don’t want to do any calling and have them ‘learn’ my sound and ignore me come turkey season. I really hope to call him in for a younger relative to take or get him to come in with the boss gobbler that was with this flock. I really do want some good pictures though.

Yep, it’d be fun stalking and photoing, but rethinking it, in the end get yourself a good Reconyx game cam.

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