Chayson Emmons, a 7-year-old from Blue Springs, was worried that he might have shot a white duck during his Saturday turkey hunt.
When Emmons, who had help from his adult hunting guides, got closer to his kill, he noticed mostly white feathers, but the black beard of a gobbler.
The child's first turkey harvest was soon confirmed to be a rare all-white leucistic bird, which had been seen in the Settle's Ford area in recent years.
“All-white leucistic birds are extremely rare, only one or two are reported each year or two,” Missouri Department of Conservation scientist Nick Oakley said in a news release.