I know what you're thinking...what is an article about a lady with elevated testosterone levels in a sideshow at the circus doing on a hunting website? While she is thought to be a freak of nature, you will not see this bearded lady in a circus tent. You could however, see her perched on a limb overlooking the family room in my home. The bearded lady I'm referring to is a beautiful Eastern wild turkey hen with a 9 ¼" beard. I harvested this turkey in Bourbon County, Kansas in May of 2002.

Here's the story of how she came to reside at my home in Willard, Missouri. I attended a Women in the Outdoors skills workshop with Donna Naile, a friend and fellow hunter. The Muddy Creek Gobblers chapter of the NWTF at the beautiful Walter Woods conservation area near Joplin, Missouri hosted this event. To closeout a day filled with learning and fellowship, a silent auction was held. One of the items up for bid was a one-day guided turkey hunt for two hunters at Pawnee Wildlife Preserve in Fort Scott, Kansas. Fort Scott is only about two hours from home so Donna and I decided we were going to try to be the high bidders for this auction item. The auctions were coming to a close; the pencil lead was flying, as the gals were fast and furious with their last second bids. The high bidders were announced, and Donna and I were on our way to try our luck with the wild turkeys of Kansas! The owner of Pawnee, Rob Freeman was at the workshop to instruct the turkey hunting class so we talked with him before we headed home and scheduled a date for our hunt.

A few weeks later and we were on our way to Fort Scott. As we drove, we kept an eye on the sky and the dark clouds that were forming. Shortly after we pulled in the drive at the Pawnee Preserve, the clouds opened up and the rain started falling. We just prayed that the rain would subside by the next morning for our hunt. When we arrived Rob and Garin Shaw, one of the guides greeted us; we all jumped into their suburban and went for a tour of the property. We saw several turkeys, including some nice gobblers that we were hoping would come to the calls and our decoys would lure them into shotgun range the next morning. After a night of tossing, turning and dreaming of big long beards the alarm rang. It didn't take very long until Donna and I was ready to try and fill our Kansas turkey tags.

We talked with Rob and Garin about where we would be hunting then we wished each other "good luck" and went to our different locations. Rob and I sat up in the end of an old fencerow under a cedar tree, which served as an ideal hideout for us. Shortly after daylight, we noticed some movement out in the open field. It was a lovesick gobbler strutting like he was the king of the woods and trying to woo this lone hen. The conditions this morning were not what a turkey hunter would hope for, the wind was blowing fiercely and any calling seemed futile. As quickly as the turkeys appeared the seductive hen vanished over a rise in the hill with the hypnotized gobbler close behind. With the winds gusting fiercely at fifteen to thirty miles per hour, it was making it difficult to utilize our decoys. We strategically placed sticks against their tails to try and keep the decoys from spinning like a child's toy top.

Shortly after the disappearing act of the turkey couple, I heard a distinctive noise in the woods, one that I had never heard before. I looked over at Rob in amazement; he just grinned and told me it was a rooster pheasant. This rooster came in to our set-up and he proceeded to put on a quite a display. He strutted, clucked and fed for almost two hours. Just as soon as I thought he was gone, he would let out another string of drums and clucks. Like the turkeys earlier in the morning, the pheasant just disappeared. It seemed like just a few moments had passed when all of a sudden a bossy hen walked down the fencerow and as she got near the end, she noticed the decoys. She let out a string of clucks as though she was scolding a misbehaving child. I glanced over at Rob, my guide and he softly said, "It's a bearded hen!" This was my first encounter with a bearded hen; I gave him a look as if to say, "what should I do?" He shook his head and told me if I wanted her, I could take her. As this bearded wonder made her way behind some brush, I got myself in position. I was now halfway standing up and leaning over Rob, as I looked down at him to see if he was ready. He put his hands over his ears, I glanced back up, the hen reappeared and I lined up my fiber optic sights with her head. BOOM! She was down. We quickly made our way to the downed trophy. This was the first time I had ever seen, let alone shot, a bearded hen. The more I looked at her the more amazed I was. While there had been several bearded hens sighted in this area Rob stated he had never seen one with this long of a beard.

Not long after the sound of my Remington 870 firing, Donna and Garin showed up to see if the commotion had connected with a bird. We asked how their hunt was and they told us they didn't have any luck. We then told them our story and showed them the hen. Rob and I made our way back to the headquarters to take some pictures with my turkey and get her in the freezer. Donna and Garin decided to go back out and try again to entice a long beard within shotgun range.

Unfortunately on this trip, Donna never had the opportunity to connect with a Kansas turkey, but we got to spend some much-needed time in the wonderful outdoors away from the daily grind and we both thoroughly enjoyed our turkey hunt. And now you know why an article entitled "The Bearded Lady" is on a website about hunting.

© May 2007