Personally, I have never been in the practice of passing on longbeards because I didn' t think their beard was long enough or that their spurs were too short. It would take better eyes than I have to judge spurs in the field. Although I will not shoot a jake in the spring, I won' t pass a chance at anything that looks like a 2 yr. old bird with a decent beard. I believe too many things can go wrong while turkey hunting.....if you get a shot at a mature bird, you better take it......it may be your only chance of the season!