Here in Missouri, it states the same thing, bearded birds only, which includes bearded hens, not " male" or " female" . The same thing applies to deer here, that is why we call them " antlered" or " antlerless" . Now, to get back to your question, I have had many experienced hunters and game officials tell me the very same thing about snow shortened beards. Just normal feeding activity can do the same thing if the beards are long enough from the start, by dragging the ground, hanging up on sticks and weeds, ect.