Smallest Longbeard

[Jim K]

Yesterday I shot a 2 year old with 9 1/2" beard and 3/4" spurs. He weighed 13.7 pounds on two different scales. That's the lightest adult gobbler I've ever gotten. One year in my home state I shot 2 birds ( both two year olds) in the 14 pound range. What's the lightest you guys have shot? Not talking Jakes here.

[Tom007]

Shot a late season NY bird years ago with 11 inch beard, 1 inch spurs that weighed just over 14 pounds. Strange bird.....

[guesswho]

A couple just shy of 14 pounds, and a handful between 14 and 15.   Funny thing is they were all sporting nice legware and seemed to be the man in their area.   All had ATTITUDE!

[Southerngobbler]

I've shot several that weighed 14 lbs, both of them seemed to be the boss in that area. Both had long beards and spurs . These were Easterns but this year I got an Osceola that couldn't have weighed over 12 pounds. It had a full fan solid beard and spurs but then I first laid my hands on it I thought something was wrong with the breast, like there wasn't any meat on it, it was tiny. I wish i would of weighed it but I didn't. The dark meat never did get tinder in a crock pot, I cooked it as long as I usually do and then longer. It was pretty hard to eat. The white meat was ok, what little there was of it.

[wbpc]

13 # 6 oz is the lightest one I've ever killed and put on scales. He had some really good Spurs as well. I killed another gobbler years ago that was very small. I didn't weigh him so I can't say for sure but I doubt he would have been over 12 pounds. Mature gobbler. Some are just smaller than others.


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[dzsmith]

First public bird I ever killed only weighed 13lbs. His beard was merely 9" strands I'm talking like 10 hairs very very thin probably the thinnest beard I have and it wasn't broken off up top. 1&1/8 spurs . And the largest fan of any turkey I've killed. I do not think he was 2 years old , I believe he was an older bird . Obviously at least 3 but I think 4 or 5 personally. Huge head to just no weight to him what so ever and it was the second week of the season. He lived in a tough environment with little to eat and very hilly terrain. I don't know if that had anything to do with it . I've killed another 2 year old Osceola and he weighed 13lbs buy the guy whose place I was on said 13-15 was average weight for 2 year olds off that property. With older birds pushing 16-18 but never any 20lb birds. Just exclusive to that specific area I know folks who've killed 20lb Osceolas. In my neck of the woods 20lbs is a heavy bird.

[Happy]

I have killed a handful in that clocked in under 15 pounds and a pile in the 16-17   pound range. As a matter of fact I can only think of a half dozen or so that I killed up here in the mountains that were 19 pounds or better. Where I typically hunt it is only timber,clearcuts and old mine strips. No agriculture and few mast trees. Now in other areas down off the mountain it is a different story.

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[budtripp]

Lightest tom I've personally killed was 17.5. Lightest one I've seen was a hair over 17. Both pretty light for Missouri farm country. We tend to have some fatties around here though. I remember when I first started turkey hunting we still had check stations, and there were guys bummed when their bird "only" weighed 20 lbs 

[WildSpur]

16.xx for me.  Solid 3 year old in the 2nd week of PA's season. 

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[falltoms]

I've killed a few late in the season that weighed around that number. They use up most of there fat reserves from breeding, and not eating much during the spring. I think it's more common than we think.

[deerhunt1988]

Overall lightest mature gobbler = 14.25lb Osceola from south FL. Likely a 2 year old, 3/4" spurs and running with several other gobblers.

Lightest bird in my home state (Mississippi) was 14.5lbs. Killed him the last week of the season. Needle sharp 1 1/8" spurs. I've killed several 15-16lb birds in MS in the south half of the state.

This spring = 15.125lb bird from Rhode Island. One spur broke, the other 1.125". He had a distinct, higher pitched, "weaker" gobble. At times I thought he may be a jake. His bone structure was small, but had a big tail fan.

[Loyalist84]

Last week I shot one around the 16-18 pound mark that was in the running for the lightest mature bird I've seen. Fully mature with a 9 3/4" beard, but the Canadian winter along with the month of mating competition he'd had had taken its toll. By contrast though, I killed a bird the week previously and about 200 yards away, and he was well over 20 pounds.

[Nathan_Wiles]

My smallest one came from a swamp in the lowcountry of SC. 15#'s 9.5" beard and 1.5" spurs. He had very large feet and was what I call a hermit gobbler staying far away from other birds and areas used by them. He was so small and dark, I thought I had messed up and shot a hen somehow til I saw those spurs.

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[WildTigerTrout]

Lightest weight mature gobbler for me was 15.5 pounds.  I can't remember for sure but it was either the second or third week of the 2003 season here in Pennsylvania.

[Gooserbat]

I think 14