1.5" spurs?

[turkeyfool]

I don't really have a great story that goes along with it to be honest. I knocked on this farm last year on May 30th (one day to go in the season). Drove up on Friday and got there around 430. This guy was strutting with 4,5 hens. There was another gobbler that looked to be fooling around with 3 jakes. I found it odd that he was essentially acting like a jake. Watched them all pitch up into a corner of a field, slept in the truck at the field because other hunters were watching these same birds. Got up at 410 and walked over to the field corner, sat down. Broke a stick to clear a shooting lane at around 430/440 and he hammered right behind me in the dark. Just sat down/didn't call. They eventually pitched into the field and the subordinate gobbler started strutting. When this big guy saw him pop into strut, he ran out of the woods right at the subordinate bird. I was afraid that I was going to not get a shot because a hen had just putted behind me in the tree line. I took a 60 yard shot with a 20 gauge (not proud of it, but I did it) and was lucky enough to take him 


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[guesswho]

Outside curve. 

And spur length does have something to do with age.   You can't pin point their age but you can eliminate jakes, two year olds and probably three year olds from the equation if you have a 1 1/2" spur.  I'd say the majority of 1 1/2" spurred turkeys are 4 years of age minimum.  I'm sure they're are a few exceptions

This is incorrect per turkey biologist like CHamberlin that have seen way more turkeys then me. No/Short spurs doesnt even mean its for sure a jake, the Drurys just shot one with full fan/full beard and it had little jake bumps for spurs.  Spur length has zero correlation to age even though folks really want it to!

What you just posted above is incorrect per Guesswho.  Read what I posted again.  I never mentioned short spurs not showing up on older birds, happens pretty regular.   I stand by what I said.   If you have a bird with 1 1/2" spurs, then you can eliminate Jakes, two and the majority of three year olds from the equation.   I'm pretty sure your biologist Chamberlin would agree with my statement.   Look at Tasmaniacs photos, you can eliminate Jakes, 2, and 3 year olds from the age estimates on that gobbler. I think you just misread what I posted. 

[guesswho]

Oh, and Turkeyfool, congrats on a heck of a bird.   Might be a while before you top that one.

[ChesterCopperpot]

I don't really have a great story that goes along with it to be honest. I knocked on this farm last year on May 30th (one day to go in the season). Drove up on Friday and got there around 430. This guy was strutting with 4,5 hens. There was another gobbler that looked to be fooling around with 3 jakes. I found it odd that he was essentially acting like a jake. Watched them all pitch up into a corner of a field, slept in the truck at the field because other hunters were watching these same birds. Got up at 410 and walked over to the field corner, sat down. Broke a stick to clear a shooting lane at around 430/440 and he hammered right behind me in the dark. Just sat down/didn't call. They eventually pitched into the field and the subordinate gobbler started strutting. When this big guy saw him pop into strut, he ran out of the woods right at the subordinate bird. I was afraid that I was going to not get a shot because a hen had just putted behind me in the tree line. I took a 60 yard shot with a 20 gauge (not proud of it, but I did it) and was lucky enough to take him 


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Heck of a bird any way you put it. You might kill some as nice as that one again but you won't kill very many any better. Enjoy it. And if you show them to anybody who comes with the, "Well, actually..." with regards to age and spurs just slap one of them hooks in his beady little eye and say, "Now does that feel like a jake to you, Jack?!?"


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[Turkeyman]

Re:spurs my longest was 1 5/8". Now...as far as age, difficult to say. It would be easy if, say once after 1" for all 3 YO birds they gained 1/8" for every year thereafter but ain't so. Example: a banded MO bird years ago was killed and recorded. He was 7 YO and had 1 1/8" spurs. So how old is a bird with 1 1/2" spurs? He could be anywhere from 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...you get my point.

[turkeyfool]

Oh I could care less about age, beard, and even spurs in most cases. I just thought it was pretty cool that they hit 1.5". I also noticed that were way more dense than other big spurs I've got in the past. May up here treats me way better than April down south


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[tal]

 A trophy bird. We all enjoy a large bird with rope/paintbrush beards but to me spurs are the tale of the tape. As already said spurs are not a definitive determination of age BUT... A 2 year old is not going to have 1 1/2" spurs (argue genetics all you want) and a 5 year old (unless he does live in the worst rocky soil ground in the country) is not going to have 1", with injury or genetics added to the mix.

[Tail Feathers]

I've killed some turkeys and never got one with 1.5" spurs.  Got pretty close but not 1.5".  My oldest grandson killed an Eastern here at home with genuine 1.5" spurs.  Only ones I ever seen as far as I know.

[mountainhunter1]

I've been doing this for 45 years and never put a tag a bird with 1 1/2'' spurs
1 7/16'' is my best

Sounds like you have had a mirror image of my success. Killed a lot of birds and never have laid hands on an eastern bird with 1 1/2 inch spurs. I do hunt rocky mtn terrain, and that may have had something to do with it, but still - in way over three decades never a bird with spurs that long.

[mountainhunter1]

I don't really have a great story that goes along with it to be honest. I knocked on this farm last year on May 30th (one day to go in the season). Drove up on Friday and got there around 430. This guy was strutting with 4,5 hens. There was another gobbler that looked to be fooling around with 3 jakes. I found it odd that he was essentially acting like a jake. Watched them all pitch up into a corner of a field, slept in the truck at the field because other hunters were watching these same birds. Got up at 410 and walked over to the field corner, sat down. Broke a stick to clear a shooting lane at around 430/440 and he hammered right behind me in the dark. Just sat down/didn't call. They eventually pitched into the field and the subordinate gobbler started strutting. When this big guy saw him pop into strut, he ran out of the woods right at the subordinate bird. I was afraid that I was going to not get a shot because a hen had just putted behind me in the tree line. I took a 60 yard shot with a 20 gauge (not proud of it, but I did it) and was lucky enough to take him 


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Great bird - Congrats turkeyfool.

[Happy]

I seldom see anything over 7/8" or 1" here in the Appalachian mountains so anything over that is noteworthy in my world. As soon as I get out of the mountains then I start seeing bigger spurs. I think age, and location as well as genetics factor in, but I would say 1.5 spurs are definitely trophy class and I would say definitely older than 2 and even probably 3 years. Unless the gobbler was on roids.

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[mountainhunter1]

I seldom see anything over 7/8" or 1" here in the Appalachian mountains so anything over that is noteworthy in my world. As soon as I get out of the mountains then I start seeing bigger spurs. I think age, and location as well as genetics factor in, but I would say 1.5 spurs are definitely trophy class and I would say definitely older than 2 and even probably 3 years. Unless the gobbler was on roids.

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A friend of mine killed a bonafide 1.5 inch spurred bird in the North Georgia Mountains last week, and he has not killed a ton of birds and even though I tried to tell him, not too sure he realized just what he had with a bird with spurs like that. That said, I agree with you as your comments are pretty much what I see on mtn birds. I occasionally will kill a bird with 1 1/8 spurs, but it must be those rocks on the ridges because most are usually just about an inch on a good looking mature mtn birds we harvest.

[Zobo]

Nice one, congrats!

[bear hunter]

Killed a lot of turkeys hunting in rough rocky places in the mountains an inch and a quarter is my best.

[Jstocks]

You may kill 4yo+ birds with nubs or short spurs, but you sure as heck aren't going to kill a jake, a 2yo, or a 3yo with 1.5in spurs.

1.25 to 1.5in spurs were common back in the mid 90s on my farms (very few turkey hunters back then).  Now 1.5in spurs are quite rare.  I've only killed 2 with over 1.5in spurs in the past 6 years.  But most folks claiming to have 1.5in spurs are really stretching the tape.

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This is a very fair assessment of the situation.

Outside curve. It's pretty obvious where the base is in my opinion. Start at the ridge where the spur comes out the leg, measure the outside curve with a soft tape or even a string. No leg in the measurement.

Very few spurs truly meet the 1.5" length.