Passing on 2 year Turkey?

[Mossberg90MN]

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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[Gooserbat]

Full fan and BAMM!

[Bennett]

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.

[Wigsplitter]

Full fan he is getting his wig split!!?

[nativeks]

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

[Blackduck]

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. 

[Fallturkey86]

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.

[Dr Juice]

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.

[Remington700]

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.

[Happy]

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.

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[yelpy]

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.

[West Augusta]

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.

[grayfox]

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

[Hersh]

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 ! 

[ChesterCopperpot]

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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