Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 34
turkey population recruitment. While a
bearded hen breeds and nests like any
other, it is lawful to harvest in a spring
season that requires all turkeys taken have
beards. Consequently, hunters are asked
to take a closer look at bearded birds that
come to them to ensure they're putting
gobblers in their sights.
Passing up a bearded hen in the spring
can be a boon for local turkeys. Every
female that successfully recruits young
birds into the population matters more
than ever. So, take a minute to be sure.
GROWING INTEREST
Many informal references call turkey
beards feather-like, even if they do look
more like a horse's tail. It wasn't an easy
conclusion to reach. A. G. Schorger, a
biologist who did phenomenal work on
the plight of passenger pigeons, reported
in The Auk in October 1957 that, prior to
the 1860s, no investigation of wild turkey
beards appeared to have been made.
Some called beards filoplumes, others
hair. Schorger settled for mesofiloplumes,
which have feather characteristics. And
the scientific community concurred.
But there's always some disagreement. In a research paper by Roger H.
Sawyer and others with the University of
South Carolina, published in the Journal
of Experimental Zoology in 2003, they
found the bristles of a wild turkey beard
were unlike feathers. They are skin-like
outgrowths, which grow continuously
from a patch of elevated skin located on
the front of the neck.
Prior to hatching, a slightly thickened
area of the skin becomes the future site of
the adult beard, the paper reported. After
hatching, the area develops into a fleshy,
nipple-like papilla with a smooth surface.
Growth continues and the papilla elevates
as a patch above the surface of the skin.
34
At 6 to 8 months of age, the skin forms
numerous outgrowths with connective
tissues cores, the paper reported. These
finger-like outgrowths of epidermis and
dermis generate the bristles, which grow
continuously, producing the beard of the
turkey. Retraction of the dermal cores
from the tips of bristles leaves stiffer, but
hollow, bristles behind. The paper noted
detailed histological studies in 1972
found there are no follicles - hair-growth
pockets - associated with turkey beards.
DECOR OR MORE?
When compared to a turkey's other
3,500 fully developed feathers, the beard
seems a slight, especially when you think
about how replacing the beard with feathers on a turkey's head and neck would
help it better endure winter, sort of like
an opossum with ear muffs. That bare
skin allows turkeys, which are predominantly dark-feathered, to release heat on
hot days. But imagine how much more
comforting it would be for them if they
had feathered pates.
Even though Eriksen and others have
emphasized the importance of turkey
beards, you have to wonder, given their
abysmal utility as a physical attribute, why
turkeys have them. They're not like antlers
on the King of the Mountain. Rather, a
turkey's beard just hangs there.
When a gobbler's courting, he's strutting his stuff with a showy fantail, not
twiddling his beard. Gobblers also use
their intensely bright head, neck and
wattle colorations to woo their ladies.
It's when that lack of feathered necks
and heads help gobblers. Their normally
bright red heads pick up shades of white
and blue, whether scrapping or courting.
OK, now I get it, Ben. No eagle ever had
red, white and blue going for it.
So, does a jake recognize a mature
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021
Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - Intro
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - Cover1
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 2
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 3
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 4
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 5
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 6
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 7
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 8
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 9
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 10
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 11
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 12
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 13
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 14
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 15
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 16
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 17
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 18
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 19
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 20
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 21
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 22
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 23
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 24
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 25
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 26
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 27
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 28
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 29
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 30
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 31
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 32
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 33
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 34
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 35
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 36
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 37
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 38
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 39
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 40
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 41
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 42
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 43
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 44
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 45
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 46
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 47
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 48
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 49
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 50
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 51
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 52
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 53
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 54
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 55
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 56
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 57
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 58
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 59
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 60
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 61
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 62
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 63
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - 64
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Game News - May 2021 - Cover4
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