Yesterday I shot a 2 year old with 9 1/2" beard and 3/4" spurs. He weighed 13.7 pounds on two different scales. That's the lightest adult gobbler I've ever gotten. One year in my home state I shot 2 birds ( both two year olds) in the 14 pound range. What's the lightest you guys have shot? Not talking Jakes here.
Shot a late season NY bird years ago with 11 inch beard, 1 inch spurs that weighed just over 14 pounds. Strange bird.....
A couple just shy of 14 pounds, and a handful between 14 and 15. Funny thing is they were all sporting nice legware and seemed to be the man in their area. All had ATTITUDE!
I've shot several that weighed 14 lbs, both of them seemed to be the boss in that area. Both had long beards and spurs . These were Easterns but this year I got an Osceola that couldn't have weighed over 12 pounds. It had a full fan solid beard and spurs but then I first laid my hands on it I thought something was wrong with the breast, like there wasn't any meat on it, it was tiny. I wish i would of weighed it but I didn't. The dark meat never did get tinder in a crock pot, I cooked it as long as I usually do and then longer. It was pretty hard to eat. The white meat was ok, what little there was of it.
13 # 6 oz is the lightest one I've ever killed and put on scales. He had some really good Spurs as well. I killed another gobbler years ago that was very small. I didn't weigh him so I can't say for sure but I doubt he would have been over 12 pounds. Mature gobbler. Some are just smaller than others.
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First public bird I ever killed only weighed 13lbs. His beard was merely 9" strands I'm talking like 10 hairs very very thin probably the thinnest beard I have and it wasn't broken off up top. 1&1/8 spurs . And the largest fan of any turkey I've killed. I do not think he was 2 years old , I believe he was an older bird . Obviously at least 3 but I think 4 or 5 personally. Huge head to just no weight to him what so ever and it was the second week of the season. He lived in a tough environment with little to eat and very hilly terrain. I don't know if that had anything to do with it . I've killed another 2 year old Osceola and he weighed 13lbs buy the guy whose place I was on said 13-15 was average weight for 2 year olds off that property. With older birds pushing 16-18 but never any 20lb birds. Just exclusive to that specific area I know folks who've killed 20lb Osceolas. In my neck of the woods 20lbs is a heavy bird.
I have killed a handful in that clocked in under 15 pounds and a pile in the 16-17 pound range. As a matter of fact I can only think of a half dozen or so that I killed up here in the mountains that were 19 pounds or better. Where I typically hunt it is only timber,clearcuts and old mine strips. No agriculture and few mast trees. Now in other areas down off the mountain it is a different story.
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Lightest tom I've personally killed was 17.5. Lightest one I've seen was a hair over 17. Both pretty light for Missouri farm country. We tend to have some fatties around here though. I remember when I first started turkey hunting we still had check stations, and there were guys bummed when their bird "only" weighed 20 lbs :TooFunny:
16.xx for me. Solid 3 year old in the 2nd week of PA's season.
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I've killed a few late in the season that weighed around that number. They use up most of there fat reserves from breeding, and not eating much during the spring. I think it's more common than we think.
Overall lightest mature gobbler = 14.25lb Osceola from south FL. Likely a 2 year old, 3/4" spurs and running with several other gobblers.
Lightest bird in my home state (Mississippi) was 14.5lbs. Killed him the last week of the season. Needle sharp 1 1/8" spurs. I've killed several 15-16lb birds in MS in the south half of the state.
This spring = 15.125lb bird from Rhode Island. One spur broke, the other 1.125". He had a distinct, higher pitched, "weaker" gobble. At times I thought he may be a jake. His bone structure was small, but had a big tail fan.
Last week I shot one around the 16-18 pound mark that was in the running for the lightest mature bird I've seen. Fully mature with a 9 3/4" beard, but the Canadian winter along with the month of mating competition he'd had had taken its toll. By contrast though, I killed a bird the week previously and about 200 yards away, and he was well over 20 pounds.
My smallest one came from a swamp in the lowcountry of SC. 15#'s 9.5" beard and 1.5" spurs. He had very large feet and was what I call a hermit gobbler staying far away from other birds and areas used by them. He was so small and dark, I thought I had messed up and shot a hen somehow til I saw those spurs.
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Lightest weight mature gobbler for me was 15.5 pounds. I can't remember for sure but it was either the second or third week of the 2003 season here in Pennsylvania.
I think 14
14.5lbs Osceola
15lbs south MS
We've killed 250 to 300 in TN, lightest was this year at 16.5lbs.
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Shot one this morning...doubt he was 15 lbs, no scale though, I burned more calories in the 4 days I hunted him than he will provide by a long shot!
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Killed a Rio in western OK several years ago...I couldn't help but think as I pulled the trigger that he was little! Full fan, 1" spurs and 12.5 lbs. Smallest ever.
Years ago, I shot a 15lb Eastern in NY with a 12.125" beard. Go figure.
I've taken 2 ok what we call mossy heads down here . 12 lbs , long pencil beards and needle sharp spurs .
Shrill sounding gobbling .
My last black hills tom was 13 pounds, he had the longest beard and spurs of all the merriam's that I've killed.
17 pounds was my lightest Wisconsin tom, only one I've ever killed here, that was under 20 pounds.
Called one in for a buddy of mine, 9" beard, 7/8" spurs 13lb in pa.
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I've never been much of a "weigher" but I killed one around 2001 that I was surprised how light it was. It weighed a shade over 17#.
I've shot a 13 pounder, young bird with a 9 inch beard and half inch spurs.