i was wondering how fast a turkey' s beard grow?spurs? which is a better determination of age? thanks

..What i have read,is that they will grow 5 inches a year,at most times.........

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!!

Totoe and Don are right on about the beards.

Spurs are a better " age" teller, but when they hit the 1" mark and a little beyond, it' s a toss up about the bird being a 3-4-5 year old!! Depending on which state you hunt, some spur length' s grow longer per age group. This is what I have read about it as well.

There was this boss gobbler in the neighborhood that I once knew who had a five o' clock shadow by three in the afternoon, even though he shaved at flydown time every day. (Sorry for the bad joke--couldn' t resist when I read the subject header.)

Maytom is right about the spurs tellin the age. a jake will have 1/2" or less spur length. a 2 year ole tom will have spurs up to one inch long. spurs longer than an inch, will be at least a 3 year old turkey. my personal belief is a tom with 1 1/8" spurs is a 3 year old. if their longer than 1 1/8" he' s 4 years old maybe older.
that' s my personal opinion.
I look at it like this. a jake (1 year old or younger) that has a 5" beard, can have a 10 or 11" beard or longer in just one more year. that' s why I like to let the jakes walk. unless I' m usin a bow that is.

spurs are a bad indication of age to. alot depends on the food sources the steepness of the ground, and the habitat. if its rocky the spurs will be short and blunt. as far as beards go, the best way to tell if its a 3 year old or older bird is to take a sheet of white paper and lay the beard on top of it. if its got amber tips its a jake or 2 year old.

The bird I got this spring had sharp pointy spurs, and he was from a grassy, pasture filled part of the island. The one I got the previous year had spurs that were just as long, blunt in the tip, but about 25% larger in diameter. He came out a very rocky area. (the rocks tore the heck outa my boots that year).

Ran into this and learned a few things about aging so I thought I would share. To age a turkey you have to put a few factors together in order to come up with a true age. I use spur length and beard length/look like this article below.

http://www.wildturkeyzone.com/articles/aging.htm