I have seen one in two decades hunting . Haven' t seen her yet this year . I think the likekyhood of seeing more increases as the turkey population grows.

ya' ll need to come to florida.......i know where one hangs out.....her beard is about 5 in. and she walks with a limpo.....she almost got hunted ......but i resisted temptation......we were talking about this the other day withthe biologist and he agreed there are more and more bearded hens popping up......i saw 2 this season alone, none last year though.....

Here in Pa. they are not real rare,If someone could post a picture for me I' ll e-mail them a picture of a bearded hen I took this past fall.She had a 6 3/4" beard.

I am brand new to turkey hunting. I am learning every day. I read this thread because it seemed interesting.

What do you mean by Grand Slam?

The Grand Slam is taking all four species of U.S. turkeys (eastern, osceola, rio and merriam). The world slam would also include the gould from Mexico (which is also in the U.S. in some places now).

I have saw a couple. Both last season. The first was in San Angelo, TX. The second was in SW Virginia. The VA bird probably had a 7" beard (real thin) with a monstorous gobbler hot on her heels.

Ye we can shoot them, our tags just say Turkey on them. WE use the same tag in the fall(with a special draw permit). So in the spring season the rules state: Any turkey with a visible beard. I think this is how the State determines that it' s a male? I don' t know, trust me Washington State Game Dept,isn' t full of the brightest people around.

I did some checking in the Tx Parks and Wildlife booklet, and during the spring season you can harvest bearded hens in (SOME) Counties but not all of them. At least thats the way I interpreted the wording. I do know for sure thou that it would not be a legal Bird in LA.

I saw one this very morning with a nice beared. There were about 14 hens and 6 gobblers in a flock. I' m in Southeast Indiana. I watched them out in a field with my binoculars. They put on quite a show. The season opens on Wednesday.
I' m anxious to get out there with something besides binoculars.

I hunt just across the big creek from Bogobble and bearded hens over there are not uncommon. I' ve been turkey hunting since ' 92 and have seen 4 bearded hens.The stats i' ve read say about 1/10 bearded hens.