Had a chance at my first fall tom. He has a 7" beard and 3/4" suprs - was he a jake this past spring? I'm not sure how fast the beard/spurs will grow. Seems like a lot of growth over the summer from nubbin' spurs to 3/4" long.
Gotta love turkey hunting - fall or spring! Completly different ballgame, but great in its own way.
Looks like a tom to me. 3/4" spurs and a 7" beard tell me he was a tom that survived the spring.
Congrats on a fine, fine bird!
Congrats on a beautiful bird.
nice bird congrats
Congrats on a great Fall Tom! :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
Congrats. Looks like a Tom to me.
I'd bet on a 2.5 year old bird, too. Nice work!
more than likely last springs jake,congrats.
Quote from: timb on October 27, 2012, 08:28:37 PM
more than likely last springs jake,congrats.
Yep I agree.
Congrats on the turkey bird.
Congrats!!
I would say that's what you shot...we call the tweeners in the northeast... they are late hatches from two season ago... for some reason we get lots of them in Ohio...they have full fans, a 5-6 inch beard in the spring but spurs that are around 1/2 or slightly bigger so with the extra 5-6 months of growth I'd say what you described would be the measurements I'd expect for a tweener. Either way it's a beautiful bird and hopefully it'll make some fine eatin'...
Congrats on your fall bird! I'd bet on last spring's jake, too. You wouldn't believe how fast the beards and spurs grow. We had some jakes banded close to where I hunt. They had nubbins when they were banded, then two were killed the next spring with 1.25" spurs and over 10" beards. Game wardens attributed most of that to incredible genetics but gives you a good idea of how fast they grow.
Awesome to be able to get one in the fall. Well done!
At least 1.5 .Maybe older. :you_rock: :you_rock: :you_rock:
Congrats on the gobbler!!
Congrats!
Great hunt and great bird. Congrats...if you want to know if your bird is a super jake,jake an a half,ect. Look at the tip of the beard.If it is redish looking the bird is most likely under two.Takin in fare chase they are all trophyies to me.
Seems like last year's Jake to me. Usually in our area at this time of year they have that 6-7" beard. That beard will be 9" or so this Spring. Don't be fooled by the growth pattern ramping up from nubbins in spring to 3/4 of an inch by now or the beard doing the same. I am NOT a biologist by any means. But it seems from my observations that in the first year turkeys do most of their body growth. Then in their second year toms do most of the spur and beard growth. Then it slows down as they get older they just fill out a little bit in body, spur and beard growth.
At the same time, 3/4 inch spurs right now could be a 2 1/2 year old bird. This is especially true if it was on rocky terrain that wore the spurs down (PA mountains where I grew up). Beard could have gotten frozen and broken off at some point too.
So your best bet is to find one of his friends and ask them how old he was. Any survivors?
Congrats on the fall bird
definitely a tom
:icon_thumright:
Quote from: maustypsu on November 01, 2012, 02:11:08 PM
Seems like last year's Jake to me. Usually in our area at this time of year they have that 6-7" beard. That beard will be 9" or so this Spring. Don't be fooled by the growth pattern ramping up from nubbins in spring to 3/4 of an inch by now or the beard doing the same. I am NOT a biologist by any means. But it seems from my observations that in the first year turkeys do most of their body growth. Then in their second year toms do most of the spur and beard growth. Then it slows down as they get older they just fill out a little bit in body, spur and beard growth.
At the same time, 3/4 inch spurs right now could be a 2 1/2 year old bird. This is especially true if it was on rocky terrain that wore the spurs down (PA mountains where I grew up). Beard could have gotten frozen and broken off at some point too.
So your best bet is to find one of his friends and ask them how old he was. Any survivors?
He had 2 other buddies with him, but when he went down, they commenced to pummeling the poor boy. I assume he wasn't well liked by his peers, so I don't know that they would have been honest about his age anyways!
Quote from: opster246 on November 06, 2012, 05:22:37 PM
Quote from: maustypsu on November 01, 2012, 02:11:08 PM
Seems like last year's Jake to me. Usually in our area at this time of year they have that 6-7" beard. That beard will be 9" or so this Spring. Don't be fooled by the growth pattern ramping up from nubbins in spring to 3/4 of an inch by now or the beard doing the same. I am NOT a biologist by any means. But it seems from my observations that in the first year turkeys do most of their body growth. Then in their second year toms do most of the spur and beard growth. Then it slows down as they get older they just fill out a little bit in body, spur and beard growth.
At the same time, 3/4 inch spurs right now could be a 2 1/2 year old bird. This is especially true if it was on rocky terrain that wore the spurs down (PA mountains where I grew up). Beard could have gotten frozen and broken off at some point too.
So your best bet is to find one of his friends and ask them how old he was. Any survivors?
He had 2 other buddies with him, but when he went down, they commenced to pummeling the poor boy. I assume he wasn't well liked by his peers, so I don't know that they would have been honest about his age anyways!
:TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny: