A wild tom turkey stands in profile, facing left and placed slightly right of center, with its tail feathers fully fanned in display. Around it, tall dried grasses and small white aster-like blossoms spread across an open meadow, while slender bare-branched trees and low shrubs with rust-red foliage fade into a hazy treeline and pale sky.

The light is soft and diffused, like an overcast or misty early morning, and the background softens in layers of atmosphere. Loose, confident oil brushstrokes keep the turkey painterly rather than photographic, with impressionistic feather strokes, more textured strokes in the grasses and a gentle canvas grain, in the manner of antique naturalist and sporting art.