Rare turkey shot on opening day of the Tennessee season. See the ‘bird of a lifetime’

On opening day of the Tennessee spring turkey hunting season, Cameron Freshour went into the woods of Greene County.

Just a short time later, he had bagged a turkey. But, it wasn’t just any gobbler.

This turkey had seven beards.

“We sat there and hugged and laughed and celebrated with our second (turkey) of the day. But to our surprise, there was something different about this bird. He had more than one beard. We started examining him and said, ‘Oh he has two beards, oh wait actually three, no four.’ He ended up having seven beards in total,” Freshour told WJHL.

“Multiple bearded turkeys are uncommon, with estimates suggesting less than 10 (percent) of gobblers have more than one beard,” the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said in an April 19 Facebook post.

Freshour’s turkey weighed 18.5 pounds and had more than “46 total inches of beard,” the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said.

The agency said that although it doesn’t keep records of turkey beard length, the National Wildlife Turkey Federation has a crowdsourced database that does.

According to the database, the most beards on a turkey is 13, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said.

Freshour told WJHL that the experience was a “pinch-me” moment. He said he works as a taxidermist in east Tennessee and will mount the bird himself to commemorate the hunt.

“Bird of a lifetime!” one commenter said on the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency post.

“What a bird! Congratulations young man! Great way to spend your time! Enjoy that meat! And displaying those beards! You’ll tell this story to your grandkids!” another said.

“Opening day in Tennessee was one to remember for 2023,” Freshour told WJHL.

The Tennessee spring turkey hunting season runs from April 15 to May 28.

Greene County is about 250 miles east of Nashville.

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