‘That’s very rare. It’s so rare, there’s no exact numbers on it. It’s one in several thousand at least.’
Mississippi Clarion Ledger
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- A Mississippi turkey hunter harvested a rare white turkey on opening day of the season.
- The bird, believed to be leucistic, was spotted on trail cameras during deer season and had been seen on surrounding properties.
- Leucism is a condition that can cause a variation in colors of some animals, making them appear white or pale.
Opening day of Mississippi’s turkey season was March 15 and severe weather was moving into the state. However, at least one Mississippi hunter was prepared to sit through it, and he walked away with a rare, snow-white gobbler.
“That was a blessing from God,” said Glace Rone of Kosciusko. “You don’t see turkeys like that where I’m from.
“I’ve hunted my whole life, and I’ve heard about them, but I’ve never seen one. It’s like hunting a unicorn.”
Rone said the bird showed up in trail camera photos during the 2024-25 deer season and not just on the property that Rone was hunting. Rone said the bird had also been seen on surrounding properties.
“He’d been seen on a 4-mile stretch, so you can imagine how many people were after him,” Rone said. “I hated to kill such a beautiful animal. That’s God’s creation, but several other people were trying to kill him.”Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
And hunters likely weren’t the only ones after the bird. Being white, he lacked the camouflage of normal coloration, making him more susceptible to becoming prey.
“We have bobcats,” Rone said. “We have coyotes. We have hawks. Seeing him is just a miracle.”
And on March 15, the miracle happened.
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Rone was in the woods before daylight. He said it was a pleasant morning, but severe weather was on the way.
“I’d planned to sit through it,” Rone said. “I’d brought snacks and drinks. I’d planned to sit through the storm.”
As determined as he was to bag a gobbler, bagging the white bird seemed like an unrealistic expectation.
“The last picture I had of him was in February,” Rone said. “I never expected in a million years to see this bird again.”
It was a quiet morning. Not only did Rone not see the white gobbler, he didn’t see any others, either. After about two hours of hunting, he decided to move to another ridge.
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Rone set up, did some light calling and scratched in the leaves around him. Within about 3 minutes, he was looking at the white gobbler. It was 50 yards away and coming straight toward Rone.
“I was speechless,” Rone said. “It was unbelievable. He just popped up. It’s something you’d never imagine, or I don’t, anyway.”
When the bird was 30 yards away, Rone pulled the trigger on his 20 gauge shotgun and his Apex Ammunition tungsten shot did the rest.
Again, Rone was in disbelief.
“That doesn’t happen, but it happened,” Rone said. “It happened so fast. I was just thanking God for that opportunity.”
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Rone had beaten the odds. Fortunately, he harvested the bird before the storm hit, too. But what exactly did he harvest?
The feathers on the turkey were white. Its beard, measuring 9 inches, was black. Its legs were pink and the nails and 3/4-inch spurs were white. Rone estimated the bird’s weight to be 17 pounds, which he said is average for the area.
“I’m pretty sure that’s a leucistic bird,” said Caleb Hinton, biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. “That’s very, very unusual.”
Leucism differs from albinism. Leucism is a condition that can cause a slight variation in colors of some animals or extreme differences, such as Rone’s white gobbler. However, in cases of albinism, there is no pigment at all.
One of the tell-tale signs is the black beard.
“That’s an indication it’s leucistic and not a full albino,” Hinton said.
So, how unusual is it?
“That’s very rare,” Hinton said. “It’s so rare, there’s no exact numbers on it. It’s one in several thousand at least.”
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