Turkey aging

[mikejd]

This is from a conversation in another post but it really has me thinking. WNYbowhunter shot an 8 yr old banded turkey in NY. When he called it in they said in 2007 the bird was 3 yrs old and had 1 1/4" spurs. when he just killed the bird in 2012 he had 1 3/8 spurs.

so all of the theory of spur length is the best way of aging is out the window for me. Maybe we have been killing 6 yr olds who knows.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

It's certainly an interesting topic that seems to be influenced by geographic and genetic variables.

I'm really to the conclusion that anything after 2 years old is really a crap shoot ( and in some situations even a 3 year old could easily fall into the sub 1" spur length).

One characteristic I have seen consistently exhibited amongst all older birds is thicker circumference at the base of their spurs.

[guesswho]

Yep, anything beyond a two year old is a guess for most of us.

Then you have a few who can age them in the field and let two year old's walk.  

[TRKYHTR]

I agree after 2 years old it's not real accurate. I killed a gobbler that I knew was at least 6 years old and he had 1 1/4" spurs. Genetics has the biggest part of those long spurred turkeys. Just like in deer you need genetics and age to get the big ones.

TRKYHTR

[ccleroy]

Yep, genetics play a big role in long spurred turkeys.....

[WNY Bowhunter]

According to the lady who was leading the study at Penn State...this gobbler had 30 mm spurs (1 3/16") when banded in February of 2007. Based on this, she said that he was PROBABLY 3 years old when captured/banded in '07, thus making him 8 years old when harvested this spring (5 years later). There were over 3000 toms/jakes banded from 2006-2009 in NY, PA and OH.  The one that I killed on 5/12 (N2281) is now the oldest reported bird in the banding study!!! I killed the other one (N2280) in 2008 on the same farm.  They had traveled a mile and a half from where they were banded. Both birds were captured at the same time and both hit the ground less than 100 yds from one another.  To shoot them 4 years apart blows my mind...!!!

The 2012 banded bird:





The 2008 banded bird:



For those that are interested, here's a little background info pertaining to the banding study:

In 2009, DEC completed a 4-year wild turkey banding project designed to estimate harvest and survival rates of male wild turkeys ("gobblers") in New York. This study is being done in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, researchers from Pennsylvania State University, and the National Wild Turkey Federation. The objectives of this work are to: (1) Estimate harvest rates of male wild turkeys during the spring season; (2) Estimate annual survival rates of male wild turkeys; (3) Estimate non-hunting mortality rates of male wild turkeys; (4) Estimate hunter reporting rates of harvested wild turkeys; (5) Use the estimated harvest rates and independent harvest estimates to calculate a population estimate for male wild turkeys in each state; and (6) Investigate landscape factors (e.g., percent forest cover, patchiness of forested areas, human population density, etc.) related to harvest rates. We designed this study as a band-recovery study so that data could be collected from all management units in all 3 states during the 2006-2009 spring hunting seasons. Also, we evaluated the retention of butt-end leg bands.

[WNY Bowhunter]

I believe that spur length on a turkey is based on genetic factors just as it is with antler size in deer.  Some just have more potential to grow to "trophy status" than others do...

He had a broken spur and a beard that was 2/3 "frozen off", but this gobbler is the best trophy of my hunting career.  How can you not respect an animal that has been through so much in it's lifetime? I can only imagine how many gobbles have left his beak since hatching in the spring of 2004.  This dude made it through 7 years of intensive hunting pressure, I am very humbled to be the lucky hunter that finally took him down.

Just think, without the leg band I would have considered him to be a nice 3-4 year old bird when in reality he was twice that age.  

[Andy S.]

Good sound biological evidence with hard data to support it. What was the ladies name at Penn State that was leading this research effort? I'd like to look her up and read any papers or reports she and her team have published thus far. Good stuff WNY Bowhunter, thanks for sharing.

[WNY Bowhunter]

I can't remember her name.  She's supposed to be sending me a paper with all of the info/data about these two gobblers.

Here's a couple of links...

http://live.psu.edu/story/45808

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/48808.html

[Andy S.]

Thanks for the links and congrats on your kills. The NY link has a link to the complete report.

[HogBiologist]

For record purposes we usually just list it as Jake or Adult.  We had a bird that by all "measurements" would have been 3.  In reality it was a known aged bird.  Banded as a jake, killed at 9 yrs old.

[WNY Bowhunter]

Yeah, that's how she put it...both birds were adults when banded.  She guessed that N2281 was 3 years old in 2007.

[bigredneck61088]

Interesting for sure.... makes you wonder doesn't it??

[Turkeyman]

Any turkey enthusiast or biologist who knows enough only puts three age groups on a gobbler. One year old, two years old and mature adults, that's it. And even then, a mistake can be made about the two-year old vs. the mature adult. I remember years ago when MO was doing their trap and transfer program they released a tagged jake in Canaan Co. It was harvested six years later and brought into the (at that time) mandatory check station. It had a 9 1/8" beard, 1 1/8" spurs and weighed 19 lbs. Most guys would guess it at three, perhaps four, but certainly not seven years old.

Take those exceptionally long-spurred gobblers, 2 in. and over. You can bet that they didn't have "mere" 1 in. spurs at three nor, say, 1 1/8 in. or so at four years old. Heck, by four years old they were probably already over 1 1/2 or 1 5/8 inches. Who knows, they may have only been four or five when killed! Age with most of them but certainly genetics with many, also.

[Will Shaver]

In the Pa. Game news it talks about the banded study and they were getting 5 year old Gobblers with 8 inch beards and 3/4 in spurs and  some of the Gobblers were bigger. I guess you can't guess a birds age by the beard and spurs, was a surprise to me. Now I see why that bird I got a couple of years ago was so tough.