Beards arent good at telling anything except that it is " possibly" a Tom (some hens have beards too). The problem with a beard is that it is verry brittle, it breaks easy, durring freezing, stepping on it when strutting, fighting, ect. So there is no real way to tell age by the beard.

If I cant see the beard real well at a long distance, to tell if it is an adult or a juvinial, I will look at his tail (in strut) to see if the middle tail feathers (usually 2-4)are longer than the rest of the tail feathers, if they are, the bird is a young one,at least here in Wis. with these birds.

I dont know about the spures, if they are over an inch, SHOOT!!