swampbuster

Great turkey! Any turkey that you harvest and are happy with is a good bird

EFH

There always growing "the same beard" Spurs are just a better indicator of age because they are more consistent between age and length. Beards can be broke or worn a little from turkey life or get beard rot, or worse....you can aim a little low and lose half of it! Oops! Haha!!

Sheridan

I only shoot Toms.

..........but once you put one in the frig, go after long beards from then on - IMO

superstrutter

Just a couple of things. A three year old bird may not even have inch long spurs. I know spurs are an indicator of age, but it's not a guarantee. I've killed 3 yr. olds with inch long spurs or less. I've also killed a couple of jakes with a full fan. They were definately jakes. Both had about 3 inch beards with nubs for spurs and weighed around 14 pounds. As for what is a good bird, that would be any bird you call in. I'll take a 2yr. old just as quick as I will an older bird and be perfectly happy. Most of the birds I take on my property are 3 yr. olds, but if a 2 yr. old comes by, he is not getting a pass. Jakes will get a pass from me.

triglet

Great question. This will be my first year hunting turkeys so thanks everyone for the advice and shared knowledge!

Phil from Maine

While I surely am no turkey expert that is for sure. I concider any turkey shot that is legal is surely a good turkey. I shot my first two turkeys this past spring and the fall before that my first turkey every and with my bow.. That one was a hen as the law here only allows you to shoot a fall turkey if you do not fill your first turkey tag..( spring/fall tag ) The fall bird can be any sex while the spring bird must be a bearded bird. I have seen numerous jakes with out any beards showing at all. Sometimes I will see four or five of these strutting with hens at once but no beards. I have also seen one last spring with his tail feathers all busted up and with three hens.. So I am not 100% sure on the rule of the bigger toms for as far as what exactly is going on that way.. I shot a decent tom last spring all by itself? That was my first spring bird and saw a couple of more decent toms all by themselves as well? So I am not sure if it was because the toms have already bred with the hens and was looking for more hens or what was going on.

My second bird was shot during our last week of the season. A bearded jake. Which I am guessing was at least a 2 year old as it had 1/2 inch spurs and my tom was prolly a 3 year old with 1 inch spurs. I am not sure though. I also think what they are eating will make up for some of the size different. Here in my area there really is not a lot of farms so they tend to eat from the fields and nuts in the fall from the woods.. During the winter months I am guessing mostly buds from the trees. So a big bird in this area is bound to be some what smaller than down state where there is more farmland. So I think that the size is can vary based on this factor as well.. But again any bird taken legally is a good bird no matter where you are hunting..

JW

here is some good info



JW

Phil from Maine

Thanks For the info JW

Gamblinman

Interesting info..according to that, I've kiiled a bunch of birds that I had thought were 2 yr. olds that are 3 and older.

Gman

superstrutter

Phil, a jake is always a 1 year old gobbler. They usually have beards from 1 inch to 5 inches. I killed one that had a 6 inch beard. That is unusually long for a jake. Their spurs are normally under 1/2 an inch, usually just nubs. A 2 year old bird is probably going to have 3/4 inch spurs with a beard anywhere from 6 to 10 inches.