Plains Turkeys?

[ramtagless]

Hey Turkey Experts -

My wife shot this plains turkey on Saturday. Her first bird and it is a nice big mature tom. We had a herd of 8 hens and 2 toms come into our decoys and I told her to shoot the white one.

The plains turkeys are Rios, but this bird looks a lot like a merriam's.

So - will rio's sometime have the white colors of a merriam's or you think the CO plains birds have some merriam's genes? Is there a significant physical difference between the two sub-species besides coloration?

A few pictures and an interesting map. Thanks...

 

[elkspy1]

looks like a merriam yes they are out east and they do cross we shot one of each con grats to her

 

[nickman]

I don't know chit about turkeys......but I know a stone cold fox when I see one!

Congrats to her and you.