DOES ANYNE KNOW, FOR SURE, HOW TO TELL HOW OLD A TURKEY IS? How long does the average turkey live, if you dont point a 12 ga at them?

A 5 yr. old turkey is ancient but possible. It seems to me the easiest way is by looking at the spurs. A jake will just have a bump. a 2 yr. old about 1/2 to 3/4" long, a 3 yr. old an inch or so, and pointed. 4 yr. old 1 1/4' - 1 1/2" and usually needle sharp. 5 yr. old, longer than that.

thanks for the help!

spurs have always been the rule.although theres no real way. the spurs depend on the land. rocky soil country,a 3 yr. old may have worn off 1/2" to 3/4". where as a 2 yr. old in Fl. with sand may have 1 1/2" hooks. the beards wear off with dragging them and fires.
maybe a biologist may tell by the bones. can't say.

BSTNFREEK, alot of people may not agree with me on this but I personally believe you cannot accurately age a turkey past 2 years old. I have read several books by several different people on this subject and almost all of them say you can judge one to either 3 or 4 years old by spur length. The reason I believe what i believe is this, I spoke with a biologist from the NWTF about 3 months and asked him the same question, "What is the age you can accurately judge the age of a turkey?". This is what he told me, He said he believed you can accurately judge one up to 2 years old but after that its anyones guess. the reason he said this was because #1 all species grow at different rates and, just like deer, their size depends not only on where there located but what they eat, and probably most importantly in reason #2 in which he (the biologist) said that 3-4 years ago he and another biologist were doing some field research in MS. He said they banded two 1 year old jakes during a summer that were still with there mother. He said the next spring one of the birds (which by then they were 2 year olds) was killed by being hit by a car and the other was taken by a hunter. The 2 year old that was killed by the hunter had a 9 inch beard, 1 1/4" spurs on both sides and weighed 20lbs. This is a 2 year old were talken about. If they didnt know for sure that it was a 2 year old, mosr people would have guessed him to be a 3 or 4 year old. I ask him was their any other way to guess there age beside spur length, maybe by bones or skeletal structure and he said no. So anyway I though that was very interesting, just though you might want to know. Again alot of people may not agree with it, but when you have actual proof, theres really not much more to say.

I might add here.

Hens who have been banded have been confirmed to be 9 years old. Banded Toms have reached 14 years old.

Different subspecies seem to grow spurs faster than others and Merriams rarely exceed 1".

My 91.35 point Rio only had 1" and .875" spurs!!

I wish I could add more.
Turkeys are incredible animals indeed.

Bill

This info is directly out of The National Audubon Society's Encyclopedia of Birds.

what were the other stats??? musta been a fat ol beard dragger!!