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

[DMTJAGER]

My friend on Tuesday second day of IL's turkey season shot a Tom with 1.875" and 2" spurs.
Was wondering if anyone knows if spur length can determine the approximate age of a Tom.

[roberthyman14]

No you can not.   Not even a guess.  Only thing aging a turkey is Jake or mature bird, looking at wings.  No actual age can be figured or guessed

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[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

[DMTJAGER]

Thanks for the reply's. I never bothered concerning myself with aging a turkey beyond if he was a Jake or a Tom.

Just was interested to know if my friend shot a really old tom.
Between he and I hunting three different states together we have killed a very very large number of turkey's especially considering I have 11 seasons where I killed three Toms while hunting two states alone and we have dozens of spurs in the 1.25-1.5" range and only a few at 1.625" and now my friend has a set that are 1.875" and 2".

These spurs reminded me of a velociraptor.

Again thanks.

[Tail Feathers]

I can assure you it wasn't a jake.
I think it's likely that spurs like that would only be found on a pretty mature bird, despite what others above wrote.  It's a trophy for sure, be that a three year old or a six year old bird.

[RutnNStrutn]

It depends on the terrain the gobbler lives in. Rocky, hilly, rough or mountainous terrain is not conducive to growing long spurs. So while you can guesstimate age on spur length on some gobblers, it's certainly not an exact science. Logic also dictates that genetics and nutrition are factors as well.

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[ChesterCopperpot]

I don't think you can age turkeys by any physical feature and where I live isn't conducive to spur length so it probably wouldn't matter if you could. They rub them off and bust them up. Rocky country. I killed what I think was probably an older bird last year and he had long curved spurs but they were rounded off like pencil erasers. I'm sure they'd have been another 1/4" or 3/8" in length. All that to say, who cares how old he was. That's just flat cool to see the gaffs on one get that long! He'd have been hell in a knife fight! Would love to see pictures if he has any.


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[GobbleGitr]

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.

[TauntoHawk]

Cut the spurs in half and count the rings

In seriousness I think turkeys are far less reliable to age via eye test than deer and we know deer get difficult to reliably age.

I think there's Jake's, 2+, and he ain't young and your friend's bird falls into he ain't young category

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[davisd9]

Spur cannot be used for aging turkeys. Does not matter where they live or anything.

[Zobo]

"He ain't young" I like that aging classification. I'm using that one from now on Tauntohawk. I think I'm officially in that category. I shot one like that several years ago, we just called him Grampus.

[PharmHunter]

My friend on Tuesday second day of IL's turkey season shot a Tom with 1.875" and 2" spurs.
Was wondering if anyone knows if spur length can determine the approximate age of a Tom.

Forget this age discussion...Can we please see pics of this dinosaur? 

[Marc]

To age a turkey properly...  You cut off his head and count the rings.

I know of no way to accurately age a turkey...  But:

*I know a full tail-fan generally means at least a second year bird...
*While 1st-year birds have short birds, there seems to be little difference in beard length after the second year (due to wearing on the ground)
*2nd year birds generally have fairly short/rounded spurs, long-beards, and full fans.
*Older birds have longer and generally more pointed spurs.
*Habitat and diet can both play a role in spur length (rocky country where I hunt, tends to chip their spurs).

[Number17]

I think with spurs you can generally determine Jake, 2 year old, 3 and older.

Longbeards with amber tips tend to be found on those candy corn spurred 2 year olds, while those beards jet black at the tips seem to be worn by the same birds with 1"+ spurs.

A few years ago I read a study that said fan width in Easterns tended to increase with age. Measured across the bottom fan feathers from tip to tip, if the fan measured 30" you had at least a 4 year old bird. Beyond that measurement they didn't have enough data.
Since then most longbeards I've killed have had fans in the 28"-29" range, but a handful have been 30"-31" and they were always on the birds with the biggest spurs and blackest beards. Except one that had 1 7/16" spurs, black tip beard, and a 28.5" fan.

So I believe if you take a bird with all 3 factors together, you can assume you have an older bird, but you'll never be able to accurately tell the age beyond 3 years old.

[Treerooster]

Spur length is not a reliable way to age a turkey. Here is an example. These 3 birds are all from the same study and same area/habitat.

1st pic the tom had 1 1/4" spurs. Banded as a jake and was 3 years old.

2nd pic the tom had 1 1/8" spurs. Banded as a jake and was 6 years old.

3rd pic the tom had 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" spurs. Banded as a jake and was 7 years old. I believe the growth of this tom's one spur was affected by the band sitting on top of it. Most bands are resting on the turkey's foot, this one must have slipped above the spur somehow and got stuck up there. You can see the spur on the banded foot is a bit deformed as comparing it to the other one.

An interesting note was the 1st and 2nd picture birds were banded on the same day at the same trapping. They were in the same winter flock. Not only that, those two birds were killed within 100 yards of each other. One was killed 3 years later.