Can you age a turkey by it's spur length?

[CowHunter71]

If you can't guestimate a Gobbler by his spurs, you have not been Turkey Hunting very long, despite what that kook Chamberlain says

I have seen you post the same drivel on another site...apparently you don't do much reading or pay attention to plenty of information out there on banded birds several years old with 1" spurs; thanks for posting but would think your 6th post on this site might have been better served to contribute something instead of defame someone that is simply stating biological fact.  First thing I do is look at the spurs, but I don't need any validation of a turkey's age to respect every individual bird.

I'll just assume you have not killed many Gobblers and are not capable of making a very educated guess.

[Treerooster]

Who cares


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I do.

Me too.

I like learning about turkeys, all their attributes and habits. Gobblers and hens.

I read the journal article on that study of the banded birds. There was any there 7 year old and several other 6 year olds too, like 5 or 6 of them. Makes me wonder if there aren't more of these older turkeys than we think.

[Crghss]

For some reason I never really paid a lot of attention to spurs on the turkey I harvested. There where a few times when my family or I would notice a set of large spurs, larger then 1.5 I'm guessing. Wasn't really a thing.

I always thought I could gauge a turkeys age until they where over 4 yrs old. After that all bets are off, seems maybe spurs would have given me the answer.

[Sir-diealot]

Hear is a chart used to gauge the age of a turkey, this is the most used method I have read in biology books on turkey. https://ohiodnr.gov/static/documents/wildlife/hunting-trapping/wild%20turkey%20aging%20and%20sexing%20guide.pdf

I've never shot a mature gobbler with a beard under 9".
I've shot candy corn spur gobblers with beards over 10"
I've shot 1.25" spur gobblers with beards less than 10"

Some of that chart is factual, but some of it is just filler with no substance.

When I shared the chart I did not realize there was a second chart under it, I was referring to the use of the wings to age in most books I have read.

[GobbleNut]

I think folks that hunt the same area every year can get where they can identity jakes (obviously), two-year-olds (regularly), and perhaps three-year-olds with some level of accuracy.  After that, it is pretty much a w.a.g., I think.  In these parts, I have a tendency to think a gobbler with sharp-pointed and somewhat curved spurs is probably an older gobbler (4+), but I would never bet my life on it!  I ain't that confident!