Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips

When you guys Turkey hunting will you try and pass on a Turkey you believe to be 2 years old and wait and pray at 3 plus Turkey comes around?

I just feel Turkey hunting isn't easy, and take that first legal bird that comes in.

What are your thought?

No, it's turkey hunting, not deer hunting


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That's why I ask. I do it with deer hunting. But do guys do it with Turkey to?  I mean you can't judge Spur length from 35 yards away lol

Negative.  First legal bird.  First legal deer.

I wasn't too far from blasting a 1 year old turkey this year, since the season was so bad... but no, I've never once looked at spurs before I shot. 

I have been turkey hunting for 48 years and while I appreciate the old ones, I will take a two year old and say to myself "Goodun".  Now if I am engaged with a particular gobbler, I will pass on a perceived two year old in the process.  I don't hardly find myself in that situation anymore due to the massive increase in the numbers seeking the birds and the methods employed by the masses.  Ban reaping and decoys.

if i'm in need of meat i'll take anything. jakes definitely eat better

if i've had close calls with an "experienced" bird i will give it a go at him for a while

deer hunting? brown it's down. i think i had 7 deer tags last year.

The myth of a two year old vs. a three year old is exactly that a myth, beard/spur length have nothing to do with it as some "two year olds" had 1 1/2" spurs and some "three year old" turkeys can have 3/4" spurs.  A jake is pretty obvious (short, thin beard), especially if they strut and you can see the fan.  Although some mature birds can have short beards due to a variety of issues.  If you want a mature bird, shoot one that has a beard at least 7-8" or longer.   

If a gobbler with at least a 6 inch beard comes within range of me I'm shooting. Jakes are not legal here.

A full fan gets the hammer regardless of beard or spur length for me.

I shoot anything legal.

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Yep it has a full fan he's fair game

I cringed when I saw the thread but love the responses.  I have listened to a couple windbags talk about how they only shoot 3 year olds...who doesn't like curved hooks...but unless you are measuring the bills on your mallards and spurs on your pheasants, you can leave trophy hunting to other pursuits.  Agree that a legal full fan is a great trophy, and all turkeys eat good depending on legality and season.

Quote from: hootgobbleyelpgobble on May 05, 2021, 01:12:36 PM
A full fan gets the hammer regardless of beard or spur length for me.

X2

Sometimes I'll suspect it's a little older jake. If they don't show a full fan they get a pass. I don't go by age nor measurements. I go by maturity and difficulty. A full fledged 2yo is usually plenty difficult for me.

One of my favorite things about turkey hunting is it's naturally more pure to me, you really don't know what you have until you've committed to the harvest. The hunt is formed around the experience and then maybe you get a long spurred bird or multiple beards to boot, but often you just have a loud mouth 2yr old. Even size is hard to tell, ive seen lots of 20lb+ 2yr olds with 10in paint brushes.


I have passed birds because there was no excitement to the hunt. Usually it's late season and they kind of just peck past no gobbling, no strutting, head isn't even a vibrant color and it just didn't feel like much of a turkey hunt.

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Jakes get a pass, Gobblers beware!

Longbeard = shot.  No jakes.

I'd like to meet the hunter who thinks they can consistently identity a 2 year old from a 3 year old, or older BEFORE the shot. Yes sometimes the way they act you can make a pretty good guess, but I have had older gobblers I've shot in late season act like love sick 2 year olds. A longbeard is all it takes for me to pull the trigger

Full fan, full gobble...if I can hold it together and get off a shot I'm shooting at him.

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How is the age known without killing the bird? Look at the spurs and then decide? That is utterly insane.

Full fan mean full shot to the face.

Quote from: Bedge7767 on May 05, 2021, 02:07:27 PM

Quote from: hootgobbleyelpgobble on May 05, 2021, 01:12:36 PM
A full fan gets the hammer regardless of beard or spur length for me.

X2

X3

How could you possibly tell?


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ANY mature (>2 yr old) turkey called in and killed the way I hunt(no blind, no corn, no deke) where I hunt (SW corner of Mississippi) is a trophy. So no, not checking spur length before I shoot.

Nope

Long beard (at least 7-8") is what gets me to pull the trigger.  I'd hate to shoot a bearded hen and I don't shoot jakes.  I had one Jake hang around me for 30 or more minutes at 15-20 yards 2 days last week and if anything it aggravates me.  I don't like scaring any turkeys if I can help it so I generally sit motionless until he leaves.  It's like I'm being pinned down. 


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Show me a man who claims he can consistently tell a 2 year old from a 3 and up and I'll show you a man who gives himself to much credit. 

 I respect honesty. Therefore, I will be that. I question some of the other responses. Not all, no way, but some.

It depends on the season I have had. The work schedule I am on, the amount of days I can hunt. I HAVE shot plenty of jakes in the face. I will guarantee that if I live long enough I will shoot more in the face!

Don't get me wrong, I don't go out and shoot the first Jake that strolls by. I like a long beard, I like big spurs, I like flopping a turkey! It depends on a couple factors whether I pull the trigger.

I don't let an adult Tom walk, especially these days, when there aren't near as many of them as there used to be!  And like WVFlopper, I am not above shooting a jake if the mood strikes me. 

I new of one man who very well dose this. The guy was a customer of mine at my old job so we talked frequently when he would stop by. I always found it hard to not bust out laughing when he would tell me about his described antics of only shooting 4 year old long spurd gobblers. Further stateing that two year olds where easy and no challenge.

This man had a turkey one year that apparently was being a very difficult gobbler to kill. He finally shot that turkey apparently and was astounded it was a sure enough a two year old.


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Any mature gobbler (2 yo or more) is a trophy.

Quote from: fadetoblack188 on May 05, 2021, 10:24:25 AM
When you guys Turkey hunting will you try and pass on a Turkey you believe to be 2 years old and wait and pray at 3 plus Turkey comes around?

I just feel Turkey hunting isn't easy, and take that first legal bird that comes in.

What are your thought?

A lot of good info on this board to shorten your learning curve in this game. At this point in your turkey hunting career the least of your concerns should be the size of the spurs/beard your bird sports. Read up, ask away and hunt smarter not harder.

I am new to the game. I don't know. I am just a deer hunter gone Turkey hunter now.  I shot my first bird Tuesday morning .

Quote from: Bedge7767 on May 05, 2021, 02:07:27 PM

Quote from: hootgobbleyelpgobble on May 05, 2021, 01:12:36 PM
A full fan gets the hammer regardless of beard or spur length for me.

X2

Ditto

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My first bird Tuesday morning

Full fan or long beard, and I shoot.

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

Good god, please don't bring trophy hunting into turkey hunting. Full fans get shot. Maybe even a jake under the right circumstances

A full fan and a good ethical shot. No jakes.

   2 year old Gobblers make even a newbie a " worldbeater"!
    Swat him-- that 2 year old is a Trophy.

Full fan for me, in almost all cases.   I have shot a jake that gobbled hard, ran off a mature bird and strutted his way in to me. I don't know, the devil made me do it-I was shocked when he turned sideways and had a 4" beard.  I passed three slam dunk jakes this year, one was strutting like a maniac with four hens around him.  I shot him-with my iPhone video camera!  lol 

I had all intentions of shooting a jake in the fall with my m/l but he never offered a clean shot. I passed on the boss hen. 

I have had shot opportunities on bearded hen twice and did not shoot either time. 

I'm shooting the first full fan longbeard that offers me a shot. I don't shoot jakes or bearded hens. I've had a few opportunities at bearded hens and I just can't kill a egg layer, plus they don't have spurs, I like spurs

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What classifies a full fan? Is my bird a full fan?

Quote from: fadetoblack188 on May 05, 2021, 09:00:55 PM
What classifies a full fan? Is my bird a full fan?

Yes, yours is full.  Jakes will have longer center feathers.

Quote from: fadetoblack188 on May 05, 2021, 09:00:55 PM
What classifies a full fan? Is my bird a full fan?

Yes yours is a full fan. jakes will have longer feathers in the center of the fan compared to the outside. They molt from the center out.

Quote from: fadetoblack188 on May 05, 2021, 09:00:55 PM
What classifies a full fan? Is my bird a full fan?

Yeah, it has a full fan. For me I go by the beard and fan. I don't shoot jakes and couldn't tell you the difference between a 2 yr old bird and a 5 year old bird.

Shoot dumb 2 yea olds are my specialty! If it wasn't for those I would never get a Turkey hahah

I'm an equal opportunity gobbler hunter, all gobblers qualify for the taking.


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Full fan and BAMM!

Dr. Chamberlain has pretty much laid out out the facts regarding age determination. If he has a full fan he's an adult and beard length and spur length are not determining factors.  Any bird with a full fan is a trophy in my opinion and usually proves a worthy opponent. Jakes get a pass and in my opinion should be illegal. It's much more fun to hunt a long beard and I would rather end the season holding my tags than shoot the juveniles.

Full fan he is getting his wig split!!????

When turkeys were plentiful we would "trophy hunt" birds with large spurs because it was way too easy.

I don't shoot jakes, never have. If I take a new hunter that has never killed a bird, I will let them shoot a jake if they want to, on most properties, but only as a first bird. If they've killed a turkey before it's longbeards only. Most choose a longbeard only approach anyway after I talk about it.

I have always had the same thoughts as most of you. Full fan, long beard, shoot it. I have a distant cousin who is part of a very nice managed hunt club property, small membership with thousands of acres, that manages for and has a strong turkey population. I don't talk to him often, but we talked once in the spring during turkey season and I asked how it was going for him. He replied that it was going well, that he had 8 longbeards in range that morning, but hadn't pulled the trigger because none of them were big enough. I was blown away and was trying to understand, you mean 8 came in at once? Nope, ones and twos, different set ups, but he checked them out with binocs and none of them were large enough to shoot. He said you only get 2 tags in the state, and we only allow you to shoot one on the club, so we wait and pick a monster, and let the rest grow. Blew my mind to have hunting like that. But it is done.

A few years ago I went with a buddy on his dad's farm. He doesn't get out much, a couple days most years, and only when I can go in recent years. There were two birds using his low field, a large tom and a smaller "two year old" tom, both coming off the neighbors woods into his field. At daybreak we heard them both gobbling. A little while later we heard a shot by the dominant gobbling birds roost. He gone. A bit later the smaller bird came in. I told him to shoot it. He said no. I said come on man, that's a mature gobbler, and if you don't shoot it the neighbor probably will. He said that he has killed enough turkeys, that he wants to kill nice turkeys now, and killing small turkeys isn't going to grow big turkeys. So we let him walk. Blew my mind, because this isn't somewhere that is large enough or managed in a way to "let them grow". But it is like deer, if you kill it, it gets no bigger. If you let it walk, maybe?

This year I had a bird take an hour an fifteen minutes to close from 200 yards to 40. Gobbling and strutting the whole time, but not "brave" and not sure of himself. I had so long to watch him that I snuck my binoculars out when he had his fan between me and him and checked him out. It was a two year old. I truly considered just getting up and walking him out. I considered letting him come in, then leave. Every part of me wanted to be the better man and let him grow. Then I rationalized that I got up at 2 am and drove two hours and hiked in there way before daybreak. I said heck, I came to shoot a gobbler, and so I did. Next year. Next year I'm gonna start letting them grow.  :anim_25:

In the spring I'll take a jake once in a while if it was a good game. In the fall I shoot whatever comes in after the break. I'm not depriving my dog of a mouthful of feathers just so I can say I only shoot longbeards.

I would pass on a jake most of time and cannot on a gobbler especially where i hunt. I see less hunters every year and the turkey seem to be following the same pattern. However, I encounter way too many coyotes each year.

I work a lot and get limited time to hunt. Also, my daughter is with me a large percent of the time. We shoot legal birds. We call the smaller ones turkey nuggets. All the kids love turkey nuggets and want me to kill enough to last the year.

I always try and kill full fan/longbeards. However sometimes accidents happen. I had one fool me this year and he paid the price. Weighed 17 lbs, 10 ounces and had a full gobble. What I saw of his fan said he was mature. He wasn't though.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210506/0124eb24b5d93f9db3906c4223d93fc4.jpg)

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I won't be passing on any 2 year olds. I still for the life of me have no idea what the difference is until I get my hands on them. Even than it's tough to tell the difference. A 3 year old or better will sometimes act the same as a younger bird. When you hunt these easterns in PA they can all make on like they are older birds. So any willing to poke their head up will get a load of tss in the noggin.

I don't "card" my birds.  Full fan, full gobble, has a beard, BOOM.

I shot one with a 5" beard that had 1 3/8" spurs.  Beard rot and snow damage can make you second guess a birds age.  Drop the hammer.

Opportunities are few where I hunt. He will hit the dirt.

There is nothing that makes me want to end a conversation with another turkey than a guy that wants to bring " trophy hunting " into turkey hunting. Enjoy the hunt.  I do my best to only shoot long bearded full fan birds. I've screwed that a few times ????. Absolutely love hunting a gobbling bird ! 

The science says the only thing you can know for sure anatomically is jakes or mature birds. If it ain't a jake, I'm killing it.


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Haven't shot a jake in about 30 years.  My choice.........don't care what yours is.

But in 4+ decades of killing these things, I've yet to figure out a way to see a turkey's spurs at 40 yards in the rainy woods at 6:25 AM (yesterday)...........or at 33 yards in 6-8 inch tall grass at 6:18 AM (this past Saturday)............or in a zillion other situations over the years.

Full fan and visible beard (shot some older birds with 3-4 inch snapped off beards before) and he's eligible.

Quote from: catman529 on May 05, 2021, 10:32:37 AM
No, it's turkey hunting, not deer hunting


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Says it all.

Full fan is an adult bird and gets it.

Quote from: guesswho on May 05, 2021, 04:56:16 PM
Show me a man who claims he can consistently tell a 2 year old from a 3 and up and I'll show you a man who gives himself to much credit.

This!!!! ^^^^
Absolutely!!! :icon_thumright:

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Yesterday I could have tagged out. My choice. I'm hunting a certain bird. Yesterday a full fan mature tom walked within 5 yards of me and could see his spurs, 3/4? He was the boss that day in the field because he kept 3 other full fan birds at a distance guarding his hens. I almost pulled the trigger but I held. It's only day 7 of the season here and I just want to keep hunting because I love the game. Bird population down here so if I eat the second tag, so what. It was one of my best turkey hunting days in the woods so far of my life and all on the video to remember...I thank God for such a great hunt.

Quote from: tracker#1 on May 07, 2021, 08:47:25 AM
Yesterday I could have tagged out. My choice. I'm hunting a certain bird. Yesterday a full fan mature tom walked within 5 yards of me and could see his spurs, 3/4? He was the boss that day in the field because he kept 3 other full fan birds at a distance guarding his hens. I almost pulled the trigger but I held. It's only day 7 of the season here and I just want to keep hunting because I love the game. Bird population down here so if I eat the second tag, so what. It was one of my best turkey hunting days in the woods so far of my life and all on the video to remember...I thank God for such a great hunt.

Four full fan strutters in a field, and your population is down?    Must be nice.   Around here your lucky to find one strutter in four fields now. 

Guesswho,  I have several places to hunt, mostly public. Those spots are overhunted with hunters walking up to me asking if I "heard anything". The one-piece I was on is private land and has been managed for years for 1 bird limit only. In WNY the population has been dropping for years with no clear answers from DEC wildlife officials and yes, it is "nice" and I am blessed to have a spot that's managed and not overhunted...

Gobble at me and show me a full fan and some lead is coming your way!

To be sure, I first shoot the bird.  And then I cut off a leg and count the rings to see if he's at least 2 years old.  If not, I stitch the leg back on, pick any shot left in his body, revive him using CPR, and return him to the wild.

God bless John Wayne / aged whiskey/ and 2 year old gobblers !!!

I hunt Long beards. A two year old fits that bill and I'm thankful for them. I don't shoot jakes by personal choice nor do I allow jakes shot on land that I manage unless it's a first bird. I have been fooled by super jakes (early hatched gobblers from the year before) with full roll gobbles and at the same time I'm certain I have given gobblers with beard rot a pass thinking they were jakes.
If it's a legal bird taken legally I don't have a problem with what others prefer. If you can age and let a two year old walk, more power to you. In over 40 years of chasing these wonderful creatures, I can only recall a handful of circumstances where I was able to see a gobblers spurs when called up. Of these, most occurred while I was working the bird for another shooter. If I'm on the gun I'm not looking at spurs.
For me a mature gobbler is a trophy. I'm also referring to spring turkey hunting, my state doesn't offer a fall season.

I've never been able to judge the age of a gobbler before I shot it.  If more than one comes in, my criteria are take the biggest, take the best beard or take the one that appears to be dominate, in that order of selection.  Sometimes none of those criteria matter and you take the one that gives you the shot.  I try to lay off jakes and let them grow up but that's not ironclad.  On an out of state trip, if a jake makes the hunt successful he may get shot. :toothy12:

But I say, and truly believe, they are all trophies.