Just wondering if anyone in the old gobbler community has come across an Jake like this one. This is the first time I've ever seen it. I was a great more. I went out this morning and set up a blind, chairs, and a couple dsd decoys. I walked back to the truck and gave my fiancé a piggyback ride out to the blind since she is unable to walk thanks to a drunk driver. I called in a couple Jakes and she shot one. when i had her spread the fan for a picture I noticed its full fan. Anybody seen this before?
I killed one like that many years ago. The middle tail feathers were ALMOST the same length. I call them "Super Jakes". I believe they are males that are born very early the prior year and are more mature than most other jakes. Nice bird. Congratulations to your fiance'.
Congrats on your bird! Must be an early born super jake and the bird will taste great.
Great job, nice bird..i saw a nice jake this past week without any kind of a beard...
Congrats to the fiancé with a unique thunder chicken
Congrats to her!
Senior Jake / Junior Tom.... Lots-o-fun! :icon_thumright:
If it has a full fan then it is not a jake
Sent from the Strut Zone
Killed one like that several years back. Full fan, 4-5 inch beard, no spurs and weighed 11 pounds. It was definitely a jake.
Quote from: wvmntnhick on May 08, 2016, 04:25:13 AM
Killed one like that several years back. Full fan, 4-5 inch beard, no spurs and weighed 11 pounds. It was definitely a jake.
Not with full fan, it has molted.
:icon_thumright:
All adult turkeys go through one complete molt every summer. Year old jakes and hens go through several molts their first year. Spring jakes have longer central tail feathers because they're going into their final molt to become an adult. Those central tail feathers on the bird in the pic appears to be molting it's couple central tail feathers which would indicate it's actually a late hatched bird as opposed to an early hatched bird. So, in other words, the more long centrals a jake has the older he is. Naturally when those centrals are emerging their going to be a bit shorter. That's what it appears to be to me.
Quote from: Turkey-Man on May 08, 2016, 07:32:35 AM
All adult turkeys go through one complete molt every summer. Year old jakes and hens go through several molts their first year. Spring jakes have longer central tail feathers because they're going into their final molt to become an adult. Those central tail feathers on the bird in the pic appears to be molting it's couple central tail feathers which would indicate it's actually a late hatched bird as opposed to an early hatched bird. So, in other words, the more long centrals a jake has the older he is. Naturally when those centrals are emerging their going to be a bit shorter. That's what it appears to be to me.
Good information. What would you say about this bird?
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160508/6b0f812fb5ebcf3941de6c912a60270f.jpg)
(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160508/b085faa59f2687541022eaa820280632.jpg)
Quote from: davisd9 on May 08, 2016, 07:17:49 AM
Quote from: wvmntnhick on May 08, 2016, 04:25:13 AM
Killed one like that several years back. Full fan, 4-5 inch beard, no spurs and weighed 11 pounds. It was definitely a jake.
Not with full fan, it has molted.
Then it had some serious genetic issues or was bulimic. I just have a difficult time choking down the concept that the bird was anything other than a Jake based on his stats. Not arguing, just saying.
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Quote from: wvmntnhick on May 25, 2016, 10:29:25 PM
Quote from: davisd9 on May 08, 2016, 07:17:49 AM
Quote from: wvmntnhick on May 08, 2016, 04:25:13 AM
Killed one like that several years back. Full fan, 4-5 inch beard, no spurs and weighed 11 pounds. It was definitely a jake.
Not with full fan, it has molted.
Then it had some serious genetic issues or was bulimic. I just have a difficult time choking down the concept that the bird was anything other than a Jake based on his stats. Not arguing, just saying.
Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk
Are you certain the fan was full? There have been times that a fan looked full until you looked at it closer and saw that the feathers were not all even. Got a picture of it fanned out?
If it was a complete full fan then you may want to drink some water with it to help get it down.
Sent from the Strut Zone
I've got a photo somewhere in an album but no clue where at the moment. I'll look for it when I get home assuming I remember to do so.
could it be a jake that hadn't molted any of his fan yet? You said his fan is much smaller than a normal toms so could he have all his juvenile tail fan feathers.
I agree, looking at the pic its clear that the middle three feathers are a hair shorter than the rest. Super jake, maybe, but I would say jake based on that. What was the beard and spur length? Just curious. I killed a mature bird the next to last Sat. in 2002 that weighed a whopping 13lbs 12ozs., had a 9" beard and little 3/4" spurs. I kept the tailfan and when compared to other mature birds, it was more the size of a mature hens. I took it as he was just the runt of the litter, and maybe he did some breeding and burned off a few pounds as the season progressed but he was not big by any means.
Regardless of the jake or mature turkey discussion - CONGRATULATIONS to both of you!
Congratulations to your fiancé on a great hunt - one I'm sure both of you will always remember!
Congratulations to you for doing whatever it takes to make sure she is right there beside you, enjoying the experience and making memories. My hat is off to YOU!
It is a jake that had an unusual molt. It is rare but it does happen. Multiple factors indicate this bird was a jake, size, weight, beard length, spurs. Best to look at all of the clues present when trying to determine age as opposed to relying solely on any 1 factor.