Spurs, beards, fans oh my! The war has started. The funny thing is that everyone is telling their opinions on what-how-why-where they selected their "best" Tom, and alot of people are missing the big picture. But with this war of words going like "I only hunt for spurs" or the "biggest" beard or "best fan", people forget that you are harvesting a bird. I use "EVERY DAMN PART" that turkey gives me, since that is the least I can do when I harvest a wild turkey. That bird lived long enough for my bow or turkey gun to harvest it and showing respect to the bird while using all parts is what hunting should be exercised like.
Yes, you can identify a certain tom that has or appears to have a 11 inch beard, or looks like a 22 pounder, or its fan is complete and colorful, but its mere a quick visual to help further along the hunting process, thus working towards a goal to enjoy the whole stalk. I think people forget the "whole" experience, and why they are there. Going turkey hunting just to get a nice set of spurs is meaningless to me. Are you going to make a neckless out of them? A booger picker? Back-scratcher? Is that fan you hunt for only going to make a nice lamp decoration? Or is that beard that you only concentrate on hunting for going to be your new fly-swatter??? If people only pick one item or feature when they go hunting, like I said before, they lose the whole shabang with the preparationg, the stalk, the taking, and the rewards. I will repeat myself again, I hunt turkey for the whole bird, not just beacuse it has big spurs!!!!!!!!!!!!!