Question 2 in my offseason turkey education -

In Texas, we have eastern and Rio Grande turkeys. I am told their ranges overlap quite a bit. how do you tell' em apart? The tags are different so had I killed a tom, I' m not sure which tag I would have used.

I went to the NWTF website and there wasn' t sufficient information for clear identification.

Please, no " this one is generally bigger" . Can' t use that unless they are both standing in front of me.

Thanks in advance

The most obvious will be Rio Grande' s will have a lighter, blonde to beige trim on their fans and tail feathers and an Eastern will have a chestnut to dark brown trim. Maybe another forum member can post one of each for you.

Catch them strutting and there is no way you' ll mix them up.

Rio' s also have a bit longer legs, but w/ an overlap I' m sure crossbreeding is a factor, this year I bagged a jake which I thought was a Rio living in Merriam' s country, turned out not to be just a lillte different plummage. I think the Merriams and the Rio are hard to tell apart but like I said w/ cross breeding you' ll start see mix in characteristics. Just my 2 cents

There are certain counties in Texas that are considered Eastern counties. You use the tag in those areas. The difference is as stated above, but can' t be relied on all the time. I have seen Rio' s white like Merriam' s and with fans no different than Easterns in areas where there is no chance they were hybrids. Colors vary at times in the wild.