Jake or tom?

[JMalin]

Bagged a Rio in Mason county this weekend.  Initially thought it was a Jake looking at the bird through my binoculars, but was surprised when he displayed a full tail fan when he came strutting up to my decoy.  I wasn't going to take him until he put on that display.  Super jake?  Developmentally challenged two year old?

His fan, hastily pinned down with none of the meat trimming/prep work started yet (you can see borax on the board from the last fan I dried).



His jake spurs.



Beard right around 7 inches and thin.




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[GobbleNut]

That's a hard one to call without some reservation, but I would say that is an early-molt, one-year-old bird.  I can't imagine that is a two-year-old with spurs like that,...but, hey, genetics can sometimes have weird results

[tomstopper]

For me this is hard to say. Could be either or but I would go with a young gobbler that may just have poor genes in regards to his spur length (I have killed a couple gobblers with 7in or bigger beards that have small or no spurs). It also appears that his beard is longer than 7in from the pic (I would say that the beard is around 8in to 8 1/4in)

[longbeard11]

Tom for sure! I've seen lol beards with no spurs at all. Full fan, long beard, that's a Tom

[MDSTRUTNRUT]

Have seen a full fan jake and actually shot one but their beards were in the 5-6 " range.   Have taken a jake that only had 1 short tail feather so I called them a DOMINANT or SUPER jake  LOL!   I would say jake but no bygologist here.

[stinkpickle]

I'd say tom.  He's old enough. 

[turkey buster]

That's a tom. I killed one once with a full fan and 10in beard with no spurs

[masters75]

Good to see that you changed you're handle on tbh AxisWhisperer. That's a super jake

[davisd9]

No such thing as a super Jake, probably a later born tom


Sent from the Strut Zone

[Marc]

That would be a shooter for me, and I would designate it as a tom....

I rarely get to see the spurs before I shoot (as the grass is very tall), but a full beard and a full fan, I'd flop that bird if he came in...

Seems to me that there are more situations that would inhibit spur growth than would increase tail fan and beard growth to such a degree...

[laker]

I know in KY they consider a bird to be mature/tom if it has a 6" beard no matter the spur size. I say it was a tom. Congrats

[Gobble!]

tom with bad genes

[Marc]

I know in KY they consider a bird to be mature/tom if it has a 6" beard no matter the spur size. I say it was a tom. Congrats

Interesting discussion.  Some biologist somewhere told me that the tail fan is the best indicator of age...  Uneven fan is a jake, and even fan is probably 2 years or older...  There are all kinds of situations that can cause spurs or the beard to break off...  Very unusual to have that tail fan even after only one year (from what he told me).

I killed a bird with an 8 inch beard, and was disappointed to realize his tail fan was uneven...  I would call him a jake.

Killed a bird a couple years ago with a full tail fan and a 6" beard...  I would call him a tom...

[GED6531]

I think the fan is the most accurate and most consistent way to for sure tell if it is a jake or tom. I would say this is a tom. That one would definitely have me second guessing as well though.

[SteelerFan]

YES...