What is..the BIGGEST bird you have ever seen?
04-08-2010, 01:09 PM
#11
Spike
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 14
Thanks for sharing!
04-08-2010, 03:57 PM
#14
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 2,186
27 lb, 6 oz. Eastern with a super thick 14" beard and curled spurs almost 2 1/4 inches. Killed near Midway, Al. in 2004 by Justin Jones. Justin was 14 at the time. He and his dad had been chasing birds all morning, and had stopped for a mid morning break. It was about 10:00 a.m. Justin and his dad were sitting on the top of a ridge under the shade of a lone pine tree. Bird came in quiet.
04-08-2010, 04:51 PM
#15
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Ontario
Posts: 646
Ok so I have never witnessed this Tom but I am after him this year.
I shot a 26.5lbs Tom last year and if the old boy that also hunts the farm is telling the truth this one is a whopper.
He shot a 28lber last year but the big one got away and his front toe of his track measured 8".
Ya ya I know bulls.....t but if it is true this would put him in the 30+ range and for me I am going to think it is true because so far he hasn't lead me wrong to this point.
So here is the game plan, here in Ont we got two tags so the first beard I see gets it and the rest of the season old Mr 30 is in my sights!
Dam if I got him I think I might hang up the gun!!!
Relax, "NOT" lol
Keep ya posted lads
Treebeard
I shot a 26.5lbs Tom last year and if the old boy that also hunts the farm is telling the truth this one is a whopper.
He shot a 28lber last year but the big one got away and his front toe of his track measured 8".
Ya ya I know bulls.....t but if it is true this would put him in the 30+ range and for me I am going to think it is true because so far he hasn't lead me wrong to this point.
So here is the game plan, here in Ont we got two tags so the first beard I see gets it and the rest of the season old Mr 30 is in my sights!
Dam if I got him I think I might hang up the gun!!!
Relax, "NOT" lol
Keep ya posted lads
Treebeard
04-09-2010, 02:49 PM
#19
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Where the ducks don't come no more
Posts: 4,420
We had a turkey that we hunted for 5 springs back when I was in high school and college. We simply called him 'Big Bird'.
Honestly, I think that he was half domestic, because he wasn't that typical gobbler jet black... he was brown colored... like the bird on the Wild Turkey bourbon bottle.... looking more like a Road Runner ala Looney Tunes than a real eastern VA turkey.
The first time we saw him (dad and I were together) we thought it was a deer. It was brown, with a slender profile, little bit of white around the edges... it looked like the back end of a deer feeding in the field. When it took off running and then took flight... we were both dumbfounded.
We never heard him gobble. Not that we know of. We never saw him strut or show any interest at all in other hens. Infact, we saw two year old toms strut and breed hens right in front of him. All of this lead more to our belief that he was either an escaped bird or half domestic or some such.
As to exactly how big he was.... we never found out. We got within 60 yards of him once, but that was in the days before we shot hevi-shot and super tight chokes... anything beyond 40 yards was 100% out of the question. Even now... I don't think I'd want to take him out like that. Hell I honestly liked having him there. If I knew for sure he was gone... then that sheer magic and possibility of finally getting him would be gone.... sort of like letting a really big fish go rather than kreeling it.... you know next time you go back that its still there.
We could only estimate his weight, but based on his towering frame (he was far and away larger than even a BIG turkey in full strutt.... and I shot a 21# bird that I watched strut next to him when that gobbler went the wrong way), I'd say if he wasn't at least 26#s I'd kiss your ass. He was every bit of 4' tall when standing up straight.
Honestly, I think that he was half domestic, because he wasn't that typical gobbler jet black... he was brown colored... like the bird on the Wild Turkey bourbon bottle.... looking more like a Road Runner ala Looney Tunes than a real eastern VA turkey.
The first time we saw him (dad and I were together) we thought it was a deer. It was brown, with a slender profile, little bit of white around the edges... it looked like the back end of a deer feeding in the field. When it took off running and then took flight... we were both dumbfounded.
We never heard him gobble. Not that we know of. We never saw him strut or show any interest at all in other hens. Infact, we saw two year old toms strut and breed hens right in front of him. All of this lead more to our belief that he was either an escaped bird or half domestic or some such.
As to exactly how big he was.... we never found out. We got within 60 yards of him once, but that was in the days before we shot hevi-shot and super tight chokes... anything beyond 40 yards was 100% out of the question. Even now... I don't think I'd want to take him out like that. Hell I honestly liked having him there. If I knew for sure he was gone... then that sheer magic and possibility of finally getting him would be gone.... sort of like letting a really big fish go rather than kreeling it.... you know next time you go back that its still there.
We could only estimate his weight, but based on his towering frame (he was far and away larger than even a BIG turkey in full strutt.... and I shot a 21# bird that I watched strut next to him when that gobbler went the wrong way), I'd say if he wasn't at least 26#s I'd kiss your ass. He was every bit of 4' tall when standing up straight.
04-11-2010, 07:10 AM
#20
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Platteville, Wisconsin
Posts: 3,203
i was on my way to my aunts house for easter this year and i was driving the back roads there and seen a couple birds strutting and the one was walking across the pasture and the beard was dragging on the ground. it had to been atleast 14 inches long. i've never seen a beard that long before
