Turkey Hunting
freak turkey photo
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That bird looks pretty cool. Especially with the red in it. There are domestic turkeys that look just like that one called Bourbon Reds. I wonder if generations ago a wild eastern bred with one of domesticated ones and they spread genetics in the wild. Very intresting either way. Good bird.
Albino animals are quite different than white animals. Color has to do with genetics, Albinism has to do with mutations in the genetics. Being albino is far more rare, and is far more dangerous for an animal to be.
P.S. I have seen white turkeys before, never saw a one legged white turkey though...Double cool.
I posted pictures of the freak bird I killed during period 1 in zone 3 in the picture thread. For those who missed it here it is again.
20#, 9.5" beard, 1 inch spurs, 4 year old bird.
All my research on the internet and talking to DNR and others on various forums, it seems like the most likely thing with this bird is erythrocism (a predominance of red pigment).
I'm no expert on turkeys or albinism, but color variations seem to be fairly common in turkeys. You see a couple every year in Wisconsin Outdoor News it seems. I spent a winter in South Dakota when I got out of college. The brother of the rancher I was living at had more hilly country which attracted more game...... and actually had a few trees by his place. There was a flock of ~500 hanging around there. At least 3 were full albino, a half dozen others were kinda mottled, and one was almost a blue/gray.
When's the last time you saw an albino chickadee? 5000 of them at your feeder all winter, you'd think once in a while one would be albino. Or a white elk? Or a white bald eagle? Or an albino walleye? Squirrels, yeah, you get black ones, and a VERY occasional white one, but if you think about it, as far as game animals go, whitetailed deer and turkeys have alot of color phase odd ball specimines.
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