Identifying female and male turkeys in the spring

To avoid misidentification, use the following features below to accurately determine the turkey’s sex.

A small proportion of female turkeys may have a beard and therefore can be legally harvested. However, their loss reduces the reproductive potential of the turkey population. To avoid misidentification, use the following features below to accurately determine the turkey’s sex.

Tom	Feature	Hen
Red, blue, or white colors has snood (fleshy mass over the beak)	Head	Blue-gray, no snood
Dark, brown-black	Body	Light, rusty brown
Long bristle/filament-like beard	Beard	Usually no beard
Present	Spurs	Usually absent
Gobble, drum	Calls	Yelps, clucks, cuts
Strut with tail fanned and wings dropped	Strut	Do not strut or fan tail
Larger than hen	Size	1⁄2 to 2⁄3 size of tom