I know it's possible to determine jakes from 3+ year old toms from the tailfeathers, stubby beard, and spurs but what about determining age class between older toms? One thing I have noticed where I hunt in Nebraska is older toms often have 20ish tail feathers. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm pretty sure another way is to count flight feathers. From what I've seen beards and spurs are often tough to determine age because they often get worn down. I started a post similar to this last year and had a number of follow ups that a tom is a tom is a tom. A tom with 2" spurs, 3 beards that are 12" eacb, and 25 tailfeathers would likely be considered B&C? KS actually has a listing for recognizing exceptional birds so maybe I'm not too terribly off in ga-ga land? After harvesting lots of birds the past few years I'm challenging myself to pass up a few toms in hopes of harvesting what I consider are great birds.
I don't think there's a definite way to know. There was a post on here last month that showed the spurs, beards, etc of banded birds. There was no correlation to age. I think what the state is doing is representing birds with certain qualities, which are independent of age.
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In my experience - wild turkeys can be aged in 3 categories, generally. Juvenile (jake), 2 yr old, and 3+
(http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b421/32SteelerFan/age_zpschtigzh9.jpg) (http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/32SteelerFan/media/age_zpschtigzh9.jpg.html)
Source: http://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/turkey.html
Unless you use really good binos, and have the patience of a Saint to examine spur length prior to shooting, AND you can eyeball what a 1"+ spur looks like at a distance - there really is no sure-fire way to age a bird "on the foot" (other than tail feathers and beard length).
I've never heard of the number of feathers even being a factor... shape? yes - number? no. But that's just me.
Quote from: SteelerFan on April 08, 2016, 10:01:56 AM
In my experience - wild turkeys can be aged in 3 categories, generally. Juvenile (jake), 2 yr old, and 3+
(http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/b421/32SteelerFan/age_zpschtigzh9.jpg) (http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/32SteelerFan/media/age_zpschtigzh9.jpg.html)
Source: http://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/turkey.html
Unless you use really good binos, and have the patience of a Saint to examine spur length prior to shooting, AND you can eyeball what a 1"+ spur looks like at a distance - there really is no sure-fire way to age a bird "on the foot" (other than tail feathers and beard length).
I've never heard of the number of feathers even being a factor... shape? yes - number? no. But that's just me.
I think that's as accurate as we can get.
If he has a 9+" beard and mature tail fan, he is taking a truck ride with me if he will accommodate. I like speculating on age, but only with a ground check. Any legal, mature gobbler is a trophy to me and I love the way they taste. If given the choice, I always take the larger bird, or the thicker bearded bird (I have had two different opportunities to pick out of four mature birds, once from 3 and a few more from 2). But if I can't see much difference, I kill the closest one.
Good question though and seems to come up every year. I keep reading and will try to research it more.
I just started my own taxidermy work and have sent several turkey heads to be freeze-dried. One major difference between toms is head size. The larger bodied birds often had the largest heads...and those were also the toms with 20ish tail feathers. Once I saw the larger head size was related to more tail feathers it got me wondering about age? Obviously, similar to humans there are likely older birds with smaller bodies and heads but I'm wondering on average if this may be true. Now that turkey season is upon us I would be interested in hearing if those that harvest toms with large bodies and heads have more tail feathers? Obviously from a taxidermy prospective having more tail feathers, longer spurs/beard, etc may be more attractive on mounts.
Shoot whatever makes you happy whatever you consider a great bird. Trying to determine a 4 or 5 year old tom from a 3 year old is a guessing game. Not sure about the larger heads but it is common for weight to decrease rather than increase between 2 and 3 years of age. Never heard anything about judging age based on number of tailfeathers.
If it's legal and it makes you happy then that's all that matters.