Age of Bird

[zelmo1]

Strutter of 3 longbeards, 16 pounds, 9" beard and 1 7/32" spurs. Whats your guess

[TauntoHawk]

How heavy were the spurs? Were they scared up at all, how about Toenail wear?

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[stinkpickle]

3 or older

[Bowguy]

Subspecies and terrain would matter. What kinda bird?

[davisd9]

No way to know


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[RED NECK]

as old as he's gonna get.

[zelmo1]

as old as he's gonna get.

.      Winner here, lol. He was an eastern in field/woods. Toenails were worn a bit and not a lot of scarring on spurs/ legs. Weird, I shot a smaller Tom in the same field a few years ago that had 1" spurs and a 12" beard. Good genetics except for size

[1iagobblergetter]

I called a Gobbler in for my Brother awhile back 16pds. Over a 12inch Beard and a great set of hooks. Had everything going for it except for Iowa his body was small. When looking at his spurs we noticed all 3 toes on the one foot were half missing.

[GobbleNut]

Okay,...I'll play.  ....If I was to have to pick a number out of the hat based on the information given, I would go with four.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it...

Now, if I knew the genetics of the area and had seen enough gobblers from there, and had the bird in hand to inspect more closely, I would probably be able to make a more educated guess. 

[zelmo1]

Most 2 year olds around here are 19-20 pounds, 8-9" beards and 3/4ish spurs

[GobbleNut]

Most 2 year olds around here are 19-20 pounds, 8-9" beards and 3/4ish spurs

That is similar to our Merriams here in New Mexico.  Here, I would consider a gobbler with 1 1/4" spurs that are relatively sharp, possibly with a slight curve, and with polished, black or ivory tips to be at least five or six years old.  Of course, that is just speculation based on my observations here.  Without a birth certificate, anything beyond three is a W.A.G. 

[outdoorsmen]

I think ageing a bird is a crap shoot. Beyond a jake who can really tell and how? My average is about 22lbs. Heaviest eas 27 and none had more then 1.25" spurs and average 10" beards. Easterns in southern illinois. 

[THattaway]

You hear all sorts of stories online but most DNRs and wildlife agencies agree a turkey with spurs over 1" is a 3 year old at least, 1.25" is 4+. I assume age based on spur length present as in "he is at least this old" and if the spurs appear broomed off then he "could be older than I think". Rocky soils and turkeys that have to scratch more to survive seem to cause more wear on spurs. Have had plenty argue those points but never convinced me any differently. Beards on field turkeys (less scratching for food) seem to be longer on average than woods turkeys, at least all across the state I live in where I've hunted mountains to lowcountry.

[GobbleNut]

One thing that rarely gets mentioned that I believe is a factor in age determination is the beard sheath,...not the beard length, but the actual thickness/size of the sheath itself.  Just from personal observation, to me there seems to be a correlation between age and beard sheath size,...the older the bird, the larger the base of the sheath, as a general rule. 

[THattaway]

GobbleNut,
That is an interesting thought. I've never paid attention to that but will do so in the future. I will say it's always seemed to me that turkeys from the mountains here in SC seem to generally have wider/thicker beards overall than in the rest of the state where I've hunted regardless of other age indicators, feathers, spurs etc. Whatever happened to the guy on here who requested all the measurements on the tail fan feathers and was doing some sort of study? I was one of those who PM'd him data on what I killed a season or two.