First trad turkey and something is wrong

[mooseman1967]

Well I finally got my first trad turkey tonight. I watched them come out of a corn field about a 100 yards from me and work their way to my stand (I was mainly deer hunting) They have done this many times while I was on stand and I usually get busted before they get to me or while I draw the bow, but this time things worked out and I was able to get to full draw. The arrow hit perfectly and she only went 5 foot and was done in 10 seconds. Since there was still an hour of daylight and she wasn't going anywhere I stayed on stand till dark in hopes that a deer would come by. I then picked her up in the dark and took her back to the truck which when I put a light on her found out something wasn't right. I had carried her out by the neck so I didn't see the legs untill I put her in the back of the truck. As you can see by the picture I didn't know what to do next, I was even kinda affraid to even touch her anymore. I'm trying to get ahold of a game warden right now to see what I should do. I don't think I'll cut into this one until I get some answers. What would you do?

[ishiwannabe]

Yeah I would be a bit leary of that until I knew what it was....

Congrats on a tough animal with the bow, nonetheless.

[Guru]

Congrats!!

Yeah, I'd wait to hear from the game warden before I did anything with it...

[mooseman1967]

Forgot to mention the gear, I was shooting a John Holzrichter longbow 54# at my draw using a ceder arrow with a Ben Pearson Deadhead. Total arrow weight 585 grains. Don't think I'm gonna hear from a CO till morning.

[Coonbait]

Dang, never seen anything like that before. I'd wait and see what the warden thought, then burn it!! Congrats on a great shot though, turkeys are tough to draw on.
GLENN

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Congrats on the Kill. Might want to talk with a wildlife biologist.  Cal the DNR or DEC or whatever local office you have out there.

[mooseman1967]

She was in the middle of the pack and didn't appear to walk funny and I couldn't even see her legs from my treestand but boy what a surprise that was.

[Chris Surtees]

Congrats on the bird and I would take everyone's advice about getting her checked out.

[Big Riser]

I would'nt eat those mushrooms!!!!!!Congrats DAVE

[EricW]

congrats Dave.

[Brian Krebs]

ew!  Congrats on connecting and collecting    I really would take that bird to a turkey biologist.. and let us know what they think it is.
If its OK to eat the meat; dibs on the white meat  

[whitebuffalo]

Congrats,, but holy cow  

[mooseman1967]

Well looks like a biologist is going to come get the bird this morning.

[freefeet]

I'm gonna guess at some kind of avian papillomavirus.

Where's the vomit smilie when ya need one?

[Oregon Okie]

any word on this thing??

[mooseman1967]

No word yet they have my name, adress, and phone number. When I get something I'll post it up. When the game warden picked up the bird he said "I wouldn't cut into that one either"

[bowhunterfrompast]

Congrats    keep us posted!

[BMOELLER]

Looks like you did her a favor.

[mooseman1967]

Got word back from the game and parks today, they said it is called fungal foot and is usually associated with cuts on the legs. Figured it got caught up in some twine or string at some time. The game warden preserved the legs to take to school progams to show what can happen when fishing line and other trash is not disposed of properly.

[Broken Arrow 1]

Thats pretty interesting. Maybe it will help to show some of the folks how important it really is to leave nothing but your footprints behind!