Originally Posted by
Pygmy
Generally the strutter is the dominant bird...
The dominant gobbler is not necessarrily the biggest bird or the best trophy... Some gobblers are just tougher or more aggressive than others... The Boss Gobbler is the toughest, meanest, butt-kicking-est bird, and the turkeys have all of that stuff figured out prior to hunting season...
I concur completely.
Infact, as the season gets later, the sub-dominant birds are usually much bigger (weight wise) than the dominant birds.
I have heard (and frankly am willing to agree) that often dominance in turkeys is established at the poult stage... much as it is in dogs in the puppy pack. It would explain why you have some 2 year old birds that think they rule the woods and strut and gobble their fool heads off and want to fight everything that is even remotely resembles another tom.
The second largest bird I've ever killed was a satelite bird... only clucked... and when another bird gobbled he actually flinched and never said another peep. Went over 20#s with 1.5" hooks and a foot of beard. So, as with people... just because their are big doesn't mean their bad.... and there are plenty of little ones that have mighty big attitudes.