Beards and Spurs

[crappieangler]

Other than doing a fan mount, what do you guys do with your beards and spurs?  Does anyone label them so you can keep track of each one to remember what season and where you killed your bird (for those of you who hunt out of state).  I guess I'm looking for a good way to keep track of the different birds I've taken and would be kind of neat to compare from year to year, state to state (assuming I keep hunting in different states every year).  I think I can keep most of them seperated in my mind right now, but in another year or two I definitely will probably not be able to keep them distinguished.  Plus you can only do so many fan mounts, I've started giving mine away to a guy who makes arrows with the feathers.

Anyone have any suggestions or things they like to do with them?

[davisd9]

I keep all my tail feathers, spurs, and beards.  I clean the meat off of the feathers and then put the spurs and beard ends in borax for a week.  After that I put them in a big ziplock bag with all the important information on them from the kill.   Then I file them away.

I do this cause I figure one day I may not be able to get out and it is a way for me to relive the hunt and not forget each bird.  I also have what I call a harvest album which is a photo album with all my kills and the information from the hunt.  I write down the bird's measurements, what call I used, what the bird did, the distance of the shot, the type shell, and which gun I killed it with.  If someone was with me than I make sure their name is written beside it.

[albrubacker]

I like that! Great idea.

I do this cause I figure one day I may not be able to get out and it is a way for me to relive the hunt and not forget each bird.  I also have what I call a harvest album which is a photo album with all my kills and the information from the hunt.  I write down the bird's measurements, what call I used, what the bird did, the distance of the shot, the type shell, and which gun I killed it with.  If someone was with me than I make sure their name is written beside it.

[deerhunt1988]

I have the hulls labeled with bird #, place, time, distance, bird specs, etc.

[TRKYHTR]

This is what I have been doing for a few years. I also write on the brass the stats of the hunt. I tried to pair up the spurs with the beard but after I've moved it several times they have moved but most are correct.

TRKYHTR

[Hooksfan]

That string with the beards, spurs and beads is pretty cool.  I have no idea which spurs go with which beards.  I wish I would have saved the spurs through my whole hunting career, and I wish I knew how many beards my ex-wife sold in a garage sale.
Here's a pic of the man cave and a some strings of spurs that I have kept.

[barry]

Here's some of mine glued into pieces of deer antler. Yes I shot some jakes in my first few years in a chair.
Did the shell brass thing for years but the brass will tarnish over time.
The one in the middle with the engraved turkey track was made from an antler burr, this was my first bird with a crossbow so I wanted something different to set it apart from the others.
My last 6 years of beards are still in a box.

[SKFOOTER]

I keep my legs and beards in  NWTF trunks that I purchased at a NWTF banquet auction.  The leg trunk is full and the beard trunk is getting there.

[drenalinld]

I wish I had kept all of mine. I killed some great birds before I figured out the spurs were my preferred trophy! I threw many away with carcasses and dogs got in a five gallon bucket of several years worth of gobbler legs from multiple states. Now I could kick myself.

Great looking displays guys!

[GSLAM95]

Nice displays from everyone, here are some pictures of what I have done with some of mine..  barry we have all shot some Jakes over the years, nothing to be ashamed of at all and they grill up just as good if not better..

[mudhen]

I string them up for now, might work on a display some day, fans I give away to folks who need them for crafts, arrows, projects, etc.



mudhen

[barry]

GSLAM, Impressive string of hooks you got there
You too Mudhen

[Nolehoe]

I'm thinking you gods have way better places and a lot more time to hunt them than I do!!???

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[Hooksfan]

I'm thinking you gods have way better places and a lot more time to hunt them than I do!!???

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That may be the case for some, but I would be willing to bet that there are some bona fide turkey killers on the site.  I enjoy seeing what others have compiled over a lifetime of hunting and it also keeps me grounded in knowing that there are always folks out there that I could still learn a lot from.
As far as the time factor, where there is a will there is a way.  I hold down a full time teaching job and managed to hunt every morning but two of the Missouri Season several springs ago--mostly taking other folks and mostly before school.  I don't have sole access on any of the properties I hunt, including some public places, but I try to hunt a minimum of three states a year--All on a school teacher salary and within the parameters of taking four personal days a year.
Also, you have to realize some of these folks have been turkey hunting for 30 plus years. 

[davisd9]

Front of my harvest album:



A page from the album (some of this year's birds):