What's considered a trophy bird???

[S.C.C]

[HogBiologist]

my trophy is the hunt, the memories, the story.  the size of the bird is a bonus.  to me all birds are trophies.

[saltysenior]

my trophy is the hunt, the memories, the story.  the size of the bird is a bonus.  to me all birds are trophies.

x2

in the late 60s,the mounting of a fish caught on a charter boat would bring extra money to the crew....one of the more aggressive captains started to use the term ''trophy'' to describe someones catch during his sales pitch...this worked pretty well for him and in time every crew on the dock started doing the same......but in about a decade's time it started to backfire ,because people would only mount an outstanding catch and not the average fish that was mounted before ''trophies'' were invented...

[Scout24]

If I was looking to mount an exceptional bird it would start and end with big spurs (1 1/4"+) which would indicate a wise old warrior. Our turkey biologist once told me the heaviest birds are often 2 year olds that have  found a winter handout like birdfeeders or manure piles, and ice and snow will break beards, but spurs don't lie. The best trophy I've ever seen I guided my fishing buddy to, using my gun and camo on his first ever turkey hunt. It only weighed 16 pds and had a 10 1/2" beard but it's spurs were 1 1/2" and 1 5/8". He'd have been happy shooting a jake but it was a State Record for awhile and the biologist said it was 6 or 7 years old. Wisely, he had it mounted.