A fellow member of my Osceola Hunt Club, located in Hastings, Florida, informed me that he had seen a bearded hen back during deer season. I personally had only seen one other bearded hen during my 37 years on this planet and it was an Eastern turkey located in middle Georgia. So once I heard this, I immediately put some trail cameras on our wildlife feed stations in hopes of getting a photo of her. It did not take long before I got the following pictures of her:
I “Googled” information about bearded hens and I was amazed at how few articles and information I found. Now, it is legal in some states to shoot bearded hens, including Florida. Florida regulations read that it is legal to harvest any gobblers or bearded turkeys. So I wanted to see how rare these occurrences are in the wild. What I found was a big discrepancy of what percentages of hens have beards. Florida biologists claim on the Florida Game and Fish Website that 2 to 4 percent of hens have beards. Now on the NWTF Website, they claim that 10 to 20 percent of hens have beards. Through my personal experience and hunting logic, I would say I believe in the less than 5 percent logic. Anyway you look at it, a bearded hen is a rare occurrence.
I then wanted some video of her and I decided to setup with my camera on the wildlife feed station where I got trail camera pictures of her. After a couple of hours past daylight, she came by and fed at the station for about 5 minutes. You can view the video below. She has a remarkable color about her. Not too black like a gobbler and not as light grey as a normal hen, but more of a darker charcoal grey. Her beard is remarkably thick and long when compared to the research I did on other bearded hens. She also has a vertical marking around her eyes that is very distinguishable. View the video and you will see what I am talking about.
Now for my dilemma, do I shoot this bird and have her mounted? I am torn half and half. Part of me says leave her alone, but then she is also an older bird and probably does not have many years left. The other part wants to preserve her rare beauty and celebrate her life. Opening day of season is March 20th. I will update everyone later in the season.