Trophy Hunting

[Zobo]

Long beards and spurs are nice, but turkeys don't really fit into the trophy hunting category, thank God. It's more about the experience, manner of taking and especially calling. We closely interact with turkeys in the field. Turkeys can develop a personality in the hunter's mind through what some refer to as "a game" that is played back and forth. This aspect, interaction, is unique and very different than other forms of hunting. It is the main appeal for most seasoned turkey hunters. This experience is the turkey hunter's trophy.

[Delmar ODonnell]

With turkey hunting, hunt for the experience, never for just a dead turkey or the length of his beard or spurs. Particularly on private land, I'd pass on a gobbler that just happend to silently walk by, because I know that he could provide me with an experience of a lifetime tomorrow.

Ropes and daggers are cool, but I'll take a beardless, spurless gobbler that gobbles and drums just out of sight over a "trophy" that I came upon by happenstance any day of the week.

[GobbleNut]

Trophy hunting turkeys, as Forrest Gump said, is like "a box of chocolates".  Most often, you don't really know what you get until you have bit into them,...or like in turkey hunting, you don't know what you shot until you walk up and take a look.  Of course, there are exceptions to that when hunting under certain conditions, but for a lot of us, those conditions are rare and are not at all constant.

Again, a lot of us turkey hunters judge trophy characteristics based on a gobbler's spurs, which generally correlate to age, but often cannot be seen on a bird "on the hoof".   Not only that, but like trophy hunting big game, genetics very often come into play. Because of that complication, we often make judgements based on a turkeys behavior, either in how he acts around other turkeys, or in how difficult he turns out to be in coming to our calls.  I have found both of those factors to be pretty "iffy".

I have killed gobblers that I would have sworn were old, dominant warriors, based on their behavior, only to find out they were two-year-olds.  I have also passed on gobblers that I thought were two-year-olds only to have another person in our group kill those birds and come to find out they actually fit into the old warrior category with exceptional spurs even though they exhibited behavior and characteristics (beard thickness/length) that would suggest a submissive two-year-old bird.

I suppose the analogy I would make in comparing 'trophy hunting" for turkeys is like judging a big game animal without being able to see its antlers/horns.  You might think you got a big'un only to walk up and find out "it weren't".  Ground shrinkage is a bi*ch!   

[Greg Massey]

Regardless of the beards or spurs, i will take the experience and hunt. What is a trophy? In my opinion a trophy is in the eyes of the one pulling the trigger. A person's age, health / handicap can all play a part in what decisions he makes in hunting / killing his gobbler. So what is a trophy, that's for you to decide not myself or someone else to decide... IMO....

[soILstrutter]

One of my favorite parts of turkey hunting is that "trophy hunting" doesn't really have much of a place in my version of it. You enjoy the hunt and then if you're lucky enough to take a tom, you get to check out his beard and spurs. There's no "deer shaming" that is ever so present in the whitetail hunting world. In the birds I have killed, I have never once thought, "man I don't think his beard is long enough" or "I hope his spurs are at least an inch" before I pulled the trigger. A tom is a tom is a tom. If he's giving up his life in this "game", he is certainly worthy of trophy status no matter what his stats are.

[Greg Massey]

Trophy hunting turkeys, as Forrest Gump said, is like "a box of chocolates".  Most often, you don't really know what you get until you have bit into them,...or like in turkey hunting, you don't know what you shot until you walk up and take a look.  Of course, there are exceptions to that when hunting under certain conditions, but for a lot of us, those conditions are rare and are not at all constant.

Again, a lot of us turkey hunters judge trophy characteristics based on a gobbler's spurs, which generally correlate to age, but often cannot be seen on a bird "on the hoof".   Not only that, but like trophy hunting big game, genetics very often come into play. Because of that complication, we often make judgements based on a turkeys behavior, either in how he acts around other turkeys, or in how difficult he turns out to be in coming to our calls.  I have found both of those factors to be pretty "iffy".

I have killed gobblers that I would have sworn were old, dominant warriors, based on their behavior, only to find out they were two-year-olds.  I have also passed on gobblers that I thought were two-year-olds only to have another person in our group kill those birds and come to find out they actually fit into the old warrior category with exceptional spurs even though they exhibited behavior and characteristics (beard thickness/length) that would suggest a submissive two-year-old bird.

I suppose the analogy I would make in comparing 'trophy hunting" for turkeys is like judging a big game animal without being able to see its antlers/horns.  You might think you got a big'un only to walk up and find out "it weren't".  Ground shrinkage is a bi*ch!   

Amen ...I leave it up to the individual to decide what he or she defines as a trophy ... The trophy could be all about the hunt/experience ...IMO

[Mossyguy]

The last couple seasons I have passed on a few birds. I passed on a group of 3 two years ago because when they showed up it had come a downpour and they looked like wet rats. Wet turkeys aren't appealing to me so I let them go. I've also passed on some 2 year olds knowing that there were bigger birds in the area. Now sometimes this method has backfired as sometimes the birds I let go I don't ever see again. But that's the chance you take.

To me the best experience is everything up to the point before I pull the trigger. Don't get me wrong-I like to watch one flop-but it's not as important as it was when I was younger. I feel a bit of sadness because I know this is one bird I won't have the chance to hunt again.

[jumiss]

In Mississippi, it's against our Game & Fish laws to kill a gobbler with a beard under 6 inches. That protects a lot of younger birds and helps our flocks increase.

[hawgsalot]

I just passed up 2 Gobblers yesterday morning. I had 2 cone into my calls and they had 8 inch or so beard, at less than 10 steps. I just didn't want to shoot either one of those so I passed.  I am hunting a Bronze/Copper colored Longbeard that is in the same bottom. I have killed plenty in the 9-12+ inch beards. Hope these will survive this season.

Have a good one and May God bless, Bo

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Interesting, I'm hunting a old gobbler we call big brown, he's hen colored and tough as nails to get in range.  Last year I passed 3 longbeards trying to get him down.  Never seen a tom that color in all my years of chasing these things all over the country.

[harleytom]

In Mississippi, it's against our Game & Fish laws to kill a gobbler with a beard under 6 inches. That protects a lot of younger birds and helps our flocks increase.

Many people hunting in MS miss the qualifier of 1 adult gobbler or 1 gobbler w/ at least a 6 inch beard. The actual regulations are below. Common mistake.




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[TauntoHawk]

The non trophy aspect of turkeys is one of my favorite parts. The hunt quality is based on pre trigger pull, I've never told a turkey story and been asked "yeah but what'd he score" or "he needed another year to grow those spurs out to full potential". Gobbling, drumming, strutting the game itself is what matters

I have passed on gobblers that didnt gobble or strut usually only if it's when I'm on my last tag of the season and I want to save it for a bird that's hot rather than one that walked by me and would end my season.

I'd also ask what metric even makes a turkey a trophy, his beard, spurs, weight? All 3? Multiple beards is just a genetic abnormality and has nothing to do with his maturity but people sure love seeing them on birds they shot

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[WV Flopper]

 I once read that a turkeys beard would grow an average of 5" a year. In my thought process, that would mean a 3 year old turkey would have a 15" beard. A four year old....20" beard.

I have only heard of one beard 15" inches "Or So". And it was a gag on a friend of mine that is so gullible its not funny. Very obvious in pic it was two beards.

Point being, trophy status of a turkey to me is left up to the hunter. I have had some awesome hunts that ended with a Jake. I have no issue with shooting a Jake at all. If it makes the hunter happy and is legal, no problem with me.

No spikes for you, fine by me. Spike for me, fine by me. Enjoy your hunt.

[Sir-diealot]

I do not shoot jakes but other than that it depends I guess. Last year I went after one turkey only and had a lot of fun with that, I passed up at least 10 shots on turkey longbeards and one jake but did not get a clean shot on him. If I see him again this year it will be the same, I really like his color. The one in the back, so pretty, never seen one that color before. Sorry for bad photo, just wanted to show the color off.

[Matt76cmich]

I'm 41 and I've been hunting deer since I was 13 and turkey since I was 20. I have only really gotten "serious" about hunting within the last 10 years or so.  I kinda the same about both deer and turkey; I'll let the yearlings and Jake's walk, but if a 2.5+yo gets my heart pumping I'm probably gonna let it fly lol.

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[Cut N Run]

Jake's are safe in my world, always will be.

A lot depends on where and when I'm hunting as to if an adult gobbler gets a pass or not.  We had one obviously smaller gobbler around the lease a few years ago.  He had a distinct crook in his beard a couple inches from the tip, so we knew which bird we were looking at whenever he showed up. He also had a death wish, as all 3 of us called him in at least twice each. A young guest ended up taking him out.

On smaller properties where gobblers are likely to cross several properties, if he's got a full fan and a decent beard, he's going down.

I killed one 20 years ago on the last day of the season that had a full fan and a stubby beard from beard rot.  I still had a tag left and he came to within 11 yards.  I had been holding out for one of the older birds, but he played the game right and I was happy to tag out.

Jim