Turkey Beards and Turkey Age

[Turkeytider]

I know that apparently it`s not easy to determine turkey ages. Some turkeys have thick, "paint brush " beards. Some have longer, thinner beards. Some have something in between. I`m wondering if there`s any correlation at all to the age of the bird (?). Anybody know any of the scientific thinking on this?

[catman529]

No it's just a feather that keeps growing and wears off on the end from dragging the ground. I've killed 2 year olds with paintbrush and older toms with skinny beards. I've also killed 2 year olds with skinny beards and older birds with paintbrush beards.


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[Divenut2]

How do you know if a bird is a 2 year old? Just curious as I too often wondered how one goes about determining a birds age.

Thanks

[catman529]

How do you know if a bird is a 2 year old? Just curious as I too often wondered how one goes about determining a birds age.

Thanks

Spurs usually right around 3/4" to 7/8" and not completely sharp yet. For easterns anyway. After that it becomes just a guess. Generally the spurs get longer with age, but it can vary from what I've heard about birds that were banded as jakes and killed a few years later.


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[deerpoo22]

Yep beard means nothing. My brother shot a 4 year old last year 1 1/2 spurs and had a dinky scraggly 7 in beard.

[Divenut2]

Thanks Catman

[Happy]

Other than the amber tinted ends of a two year olds beard there is really no way to positively ID age. I am really starting to believe spurs aren't a good indication either. Round here I have killed plenty of birds with 3/4" spurs but no amber in the beard. I think its partially genetics and partially terrain as far as spurs go.

[Turkeytider]

Yep beard means nothing. My brother shot a 4 year old last year 1 1/2 spurs and had a dinky scraggly 7 in beard.

Not saying that he wasn`t at all, but how would one determine that he was 4 years old?

[deerpoo22]

Yep beard means nothing. My brother shot a 4 year old last year 1 1/2 spurs and had a dinky scraggly 7 in beard.

Not saying that he wasn`t at all, but how would one determine that he was 4 years old?

PA game comssion biologist is amongst our hunting group and that was his best guess lol

[bbcoach]

After the first year, JAKE, it's ALL a guess.  OH I forgot, TV personalities are the AUTHORITY, just like the internet. 

[grayfox]

Other than the amber tinted ends of a two year olds beard there is really no way to positively ID age. I am really starting to believe spurs aren't a good indication either. Round here I have killed plenty of birds with 3/4" spurs but no amber in the beard. I think its partially genetics and partially terrain as far as spurs go.

My belief as well.

[GobbleNut]

I believe genetics play a major role in all things turkey.  Having said that, I also believe there are some indicators of age in regional turkey populations that, over time, a hunter can identify and make an "educated guess" as to the age of a bird they kill.

Obviously, jakes and two-year-olds are pretty easily identifiable in most all populations.  Older birds are less exacting, but I still think someone who hunts a particular area for a while can look at birds from that area and make a reasonable guess as to a ballpark age of a bird.

Having hunted gobblers here in New Mexico for over fifty years now, I think I can reasonably estimate a gobblers age up to about five years. That is, I think I can tell a three-year-old pretty accurately,...and also a four-year-old with some accuracy. Once our birds reach five, however, it is pure speculation.  Those assessments are mainly based on spur development,...not length, but the sharpness, curvature, and tip coloration.  However, I also believe there is some correlation with beard sheath basal size with age in our birds.   

Now, I wouldn't bet my life that my assessment is correct on anything over three, for sure, but since nobody can really tell for sure without having a banded bird in hand, I can act like I know what I am talking about when asked how old I think a bird is.   

[roverboy]

After the first year, JAKE, it's ALL a guess.  OH I forgot, TV personalities are the AUTHORITY, just like the internet.

TV personalities and the internet KNOWS ALL. The rule of thumb that everybody goes by is

2 year old - around 3/8-3/4" spurs.

3 yr. old- around 7/8"- 1" spurs

4+ yr. old- 1 1/4" or more

But, theres no way really to know. I read an article of a study in Missouri, where 2 gobblers were killed the same season and  had leg bands. Both were dated 7 years before the kills. Both had 1" spurs.

[Marc]

Every time I read a post were someone says to have killed a 3 year-old or 4 year-old bird I always wonder how the aging is done?  When someone says that they are hunting a 3-4 year old bird (that they did not get) I really wonder how the aging is done?

I killed one bird this season with an 11" beard, one spur that was chipped, and one rounded (neither with discoloration), both about 3/4".  Very large base to the spurs, but the rounded spur was very rounded.

I killed a heavier bird with a thicker paintbrush beard at just over 10" with 1" spurs.  Once again, one was chipped off at the end, and the other was rounded, with no whitening on either spur...

Talking to other hunters, it is not too common to kill a bird in our area with over 1" spurs...  The areas we hunt are rocky and either steep or rolling oaks scattered with rock outcroppings.  This year, twice I saw birds jump on rocks to challenge each other, so it is easy to see how spurs would chip.

Once a spur chips off, I assume it rounds off (just based on killing a few birds with one rounded and one chipped spur)?  I would assume you do not get the whitening effect after a spur chips?  I also wonder how long it takes for a chip to appear rounded, or to be rounded by wear after being chipped?