They can have their beards "busted" off. A buddy of mine shot a tom about 3 years ago that had spurs nearly 2" long, but only had a beard that was 2 1/2" long. The beard had a lot of thickness to it, so we just guessed that it got busted off sometime or another. That bird had the longest spurs that I have ever seen. He had it mounted, course, I would've too.