I had a pretty good year, I took two gobblers, one was 22 3/4, and the other was 22lbs 1oz.......one first gobbler was taken in the eastern part of VA, the first week of the season....the second was taken here in SW VA, the 3rd week....both had big beards, and spurs were within 1/16" .....I' m figuring that they were both 3 year olds.......here' s my question.......I kept both tail fans and was looking at them and the one that I took in the eastern part of Va, his tail fan feathers are about 3-4 inches SHORTER than the mountain bird I took.......any opinions on why? Both had nice full fans........and were near the same age.....could that be genetics or anything like that?

I would think probably genics,maybe not,I really don' t know either.
I did see one on a tv show the other day,his tail fan was just over his back,they looked very very short,maybe 1/3 the size of a normal bird?????

good question.and by the way,congrats.sounds like you had a good season.

Good question, I' ve seen this with the Western Sub-spiece' s Merriams/RioGrands but have not noticed it with the eastern Sub. I would wonder if back in the restocking Programs in the one area was taken maybe more from ,close to the western States, maybe Genetics has a little hybred in it. Just a thought...BT

This is a good question Fullback!I' ve seen it many times and I do believe it has to do with the genetic make-up of the bird!Age,food supply,area,and specie all play into this somewhat but some of the physical characteristics can be detected by the passing down of there own genes!For instance,a couple of flocks of birds I hunt the gobblers just dont grow decent spurs!Its common to kill an adult gobbler with no spurs or only 1 out of these particular flocks!In another instance another flock of birds are known for having 3 or 4 bearded hens in it every year for about the last 15 years that I know of!And finally one other flock I know of continues to produce gobblers that have multiple beards!It isn' t like these flocks are new to me,i' ve been hunting them for years and its no question in my mind that each generation keeps passing those particular traits down to there offspring!!!Bob