Smoke-phase gobbler

[platoonDaddy]

Been a hunter for just over 60 years and have never EVER seen a smoke-phase turkey, let alone a smoke-phase gobbler.

April issue of American Hunter page 80 has a story about an Uncle & nephew hunting in Titusville Pa. The lad on his 1st turkey hunt with his 20ga harvested a Eastern Smoke-Phase gobbler!

Friggin awesome!

[Phire Phite]

I've actually never heard of those. Are they spread out in certain parts of the country like the rest of the species are? Getting super excited, season starts in May for me. Hoping to tag my first gobbler.

[platoonDaddy]

I've actually never heard of those. Are they spread out in certain parts of the country like the rest of the species are? Getting super excited, season starts in May for me. Hoping to tag my first gobbler.

They are VERY rare and talking to biologists there isn't any evidence they are results of breeding with pen-raised turkeys, actually it occurs naturally. Believe they are common to all turkey habitat, the NRA article used the term Eastern (at least I believe) because it was harvest in Pa.

As you, I am getting excited about spring season.

EDIT: From the article (excuse typos): Upon looking at the bird we noticed a lot of white coloring on his feathers. Michael tagged him, and we headed back to the camp to show his mom, dad and older brother. Having never seen this coloration on a turkey before, we took it to a taxidermist friend of mine, thinking we just shot a cross between some farmer's tame turkey and a wild one.

When we opened the trunk, he was amazed. He said, "You have no idea what you have here. This is an "Eastern smoke-phase gobbler!" He said it was incredible to see a hen with this coloring, but near unheard of to get a gobbler. It is caused by a recessive gene in turkeys. Smoke-phase birds are so rare, most people have never heard of one, let alone seen one.

[Watrdawg]

Can't wait for the season to start. Opening day in SC is 4/1 and here in NC it is 4/12. I'm already hearing gobbling in SC and have patterned a couple of gobblers already.

A few years ago I was heading home after finishing a hunt and a flock of turkeys ran across the dirt road I was on. Mixed in with them was what looked like a white turkey. I figured that it was a domestic bird that had fallen off of a turkey truck and mixed in with these birds. There are a lot of turkey farms in this part of NC. Those birds usually don't survive in the wild long. I just Googled smoke-phase turkey and it seems they can be fairly common. Now I'm starting to think that white bird I saw may have been a smoke-phased bird also.

[platoonDaddy]

Can't wait for the season to start. Opening day in SC is 4/1 and here in NC it is 4/12. I'm already hearing gobbling in SC and have patterned a couple of gobblers already.

A few years ago I was heading home after finishing a hunt and a flock of turkeys ran across the dirt road I was on. Mixed in with them was what looked like a white turkey. I figured that it was a domestic bird that had fallen off of a turkey truck and mixed in with these birds. There are a lot of turkey farms in this part of NC. Those birds usually don't survive in the wild long. I just Googled smoke-phase turkey and it seems they can be fairly common. Now I'm starting to think that white bird I saw may have been a smoke-phased bird also.

Yes, you probably did see one, congratulations, I am still on a quest. Did you notice if it was a hen or gobbler?

[Watrdawg]

Yes, you probably did see one, congratulations, I am still on a quest. Did you notice if it was a hen or gobbler?

It was a Hen.

Next Tuesday I'm taking the morning off and heading to the woods. Hopefully I'll kill a bird