# White (not smokey grey) wild turkeys?



## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

My brother and another guy have seen different white birds in Livingston County. Mostly white with a little black on them.

I think that these are domestic birds that escaped from somewhere.

As domestic birds, no closed season so kill them before they breed with wild birds.

Whaddaya think?


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## Adam Waszak (Apr 12, 2004)

Those laws and regs always make me nervous, you still have to explain to the CO what it is that you are doing out there right now with camo and a shotgun filled with turkey loads. But I suppose, call the DNR field office it is worth the time to do so prior to the turkey hunt. if they ok it, buy some peanut oil and get out there!!!!

AW


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

Well, I posed the question on the legal question forum but, I just wondered how prevelant this sort of thing might be.

I know what will prolly happen if one of them is spotted again but was looking for others opinions or experiences...


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## Taxidermist (Jan 3, 2002)

I live in livingston county and have seen many white with brown birds all with wild turkeys. I have also seen smokey greys in the same flocks I dont think they are pen raised birds they are just color phazes like all other animals. I wouldnt shoot anything wild or not unless in season with
the co we have here they play only by the rules(a good thing!)


Good luck hunting!


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## rabbit whacker (Jan 22, 2003)

Probably 10-15 years ago we had some "mixes" running around my parents house. They would go right into the barn and eat the horse grain. There were some that were black (wild looking), black and white, and white (butterball looking). We would see them in the spring and saw them for 3-5 years and then never again.


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## funebonz880 (Feb 17, 2004)

Ya you should call the dnr and take care of the domestic turkeys if thats what they are.


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## wild bill (Apr 20, 2001)

i have 2 that i see every day behind the house. been watching them since they where born and they are wild turkeys.


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## Randy Kidd (Apr 21, 2001)

I live in Livingston county also, and I have been seeing white/gray Turkeys for years on the State Land where I hunt. It may be caused by a domestic gene from somewhere in the past, But these are wild Turkeys now. Take one and tag it during the season.


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## drwink (Oct 15, 2003)

I had to run home at lunch last week as a matter of fact & saw a mostly white hen in a flock, had some brown spots on it. all the other birds were the black variety. This was south of fowlerville, see turkeys there all the time for years.
Wish I had a camera at the time as they were close to the road. Came by again twenty minutes later & had camera but they were back by the woods, only a strutting tom with a few normal hens about a hundred yards from the road but couldn't see white bird anywhere.
Have seen many gray phase birds before but never a white one with brown spots.
Makes sense to me, like Linda Gallegher said, probably a kids 4-H bird mixed with wild bird, they say these should be taken out as genes will hurt wild birds when bred into wild birds. Kind of wierd looking though, wish I got that picture for proof.
I keep the camera with me now.


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

Ok turkey fans, just exactly what is the definition of a "wild turkey"?

I posed the white turkey question on the other forum but have not yet received the DNR take on it.

If domestic deer (not whitetails) escape--they do not fall under game laws as I have been told. I would think that a domestic variety of turkey would fall under the same category, no matter how "wild" looking they appear...

A loose pig does not a wild boar make...


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

There are basic genetic differences between wild turkeys and domestic turkeys, and DNA will tell the tale every time. Short of doing DNA analysis on every bird with white on them, there are basic physical differences-wild turkeys have longer legs, slimmer, trimmer bodies, less feathering on the head and neck, longer necks, smaller heads, smaller snoods and caruncles, smaller, more stream-lined feet, and far less fat on the body. But there are other differences and to me, those are more important-the smarts to survive and breed successfully in the wild, and the smarts to evade a host of predators.

Since all of our domestic turkeys are descended from wild turkeys, to a turkey, a turkey is a turkey...but biologists have always told me that the presence of today's domestic turkey genes in a wild flock downgrades the "wildness" of the flock. 

I have been told that escaped domestic turkeys are not protected by Michigan's wild game laws or seasons-however, they are considered privately owned, and if the owner should claim the bird you shot was his, you could face the law. 

The only way to really prove whether a turkey is wild or not is to have genetic testing done on it at the DNR's Rose Lake Research lab, and you need the cooperation of your local DNR wildlife biologist to have that done.


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

Linda:

Thanks, that is what I thought too....

I have not been able to get the CO position over on the other forum but....


So, if ya did happen to have an extra turkey in your freezer, it would take DNA testing to prove it was a wild bird....

Me thinks my question is answered...


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

But most CO's respond to what they see, and let you and the lawyers and judges work it out later, so I don't think I'd go hunting for white turkeys out of turkey season or without a license, if I were you...and remember, whoever owned that white turkey in the past could legally make you very unhappy if he can prove that was his bird. 

I don't know if turkey producers brand, tag or mark their turkeys, but if you see a turkey out there with anything like that on them that's live on the hoof, call the CO and have him investigate and handle the situation himself. Every CO I've ever known handled it with a shotgun, and a warning to the producer to keep his tame birds locked up-diseases are spread from domestic birds to wild birds, NOT the other way around, as some people think. 

But, given the opportunity, I would target the white turkeys during the season, if I could. Chances are good that you're benefiting your entire flock by helping to eradicate tame genes and the possibility of disease transmission. Real smoky grays or albinos are very, very rare, and as often as folks on this board report seeing them in southern Michigan, I have to think those are domestic genes mixing in from escaped domestic birds, rather than recessant genes.

It will make a very pretty mount, too, I'm sure.


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

Well, I know that nobody will be hunting the one my brother spotted, it was a hen...


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## lwingwatcher (Mar 25, 2001)

Boehr is back and has provided his opinion....check out the hunting/fishing questions forum....


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