Turkey age

[milertyme03]

I am wondering how to age birds - Gobblers and hens.  The obvious ones are jakes, but after that, how do you tell if a gobbler is 2, 3, 4, 5 years old? I am guessing hens are even more difficult to age.  I notice that some hens have a very dark head which makes them look old.  Will older hens fail to nest while others do?  Do vocalizations change with age?  How old will these birds live?  I am wondering if there is a way approximate age without killing one?

[fountain2]

For gobblers, spur measurements are about ad close as you can get for approximate age from what I've read.  Region of the birds will make this difficult at times.  For eastern where I am, I say 3/4-1"..2 yr old, 1 1/16-1 1/8"..3, 1 3/16- 1 1/4"...4.

Those are majorly a wild guess.  Many factors to throw ya wrong there.  I really don't know about the hens.  I always hope they are old enough to breed and make new little turkeys for me to chase another year!

[fountain2]

Also posture/body shape can help you judge as you watch one as well.  Older birds will be "rounder" up front in the chest upright.   Younger ones tend to be slender for the most part.   Its really hard to judge em.  It ain't like deer that's for sure!  If they got a full fan and get to 40...they in trouble!

[mikejd]

I would say if you can get him he's a 2 yr old if you can't he's older.

[fallhnt]

Look at the beard tip.If it's amber in color on the tip he is a 2 yr old.Over 3 is anybody's guess.

[turkey_slayer]

Look at the beard tip.If it's amber in color on the tip he is a 2 yr old.Over 3 is anybody's guess.

Yep that's the first thing I look at after I check the spurs. Some claim to be able to tell by their gobble, I ain't lying  . I just got fooled yesterday by 2 I thought were mature birds and they ended up being jakes.

[shootemintheface]

some say you can count the tail feathers

[hoyt]

If he's got a big ole head on him, he's old.

[Spring_Woods]

After 2 yrs old it's anybodys guess. I don't think a bird could live much past 5 due to predation around these parts.

[mikejd]

Ive seen 2 that I think may have been 10. I still see those 2 from time to time. Usually fallowed by tears.Then the alarm goes off again.

[Tail Feathers]

As stated, spurs can help but in some regions they have almost none and Osceolas tend to grow them long and fast so it's not an exact science.

The amber tip on the beard is a clue, as is size of the bird.  But so many things can cause variations it's hard to say for certain.  I kind of judge based on spur length and the amber on the beard.  Seems to me, the older birds have more hook to their spurs but I don't know if that is a genetic thing or an age thing.

[Mike Honcho]

Two Questions/Observations

1. I shot a big eastern last year...head the size of a ham...weighed 26 lbs plus.   But he only had 5/8" spurs!
I was puzzled by that. 

2. I shot an eastern yesterday that had a very amber beard from the base where it joins the body , down about 6 inches, then the last 4" were the normal black/gray color.  I've never seen one quite like that before.  He was 22 .5 lbs and 1 1/8" spurs.

[Sand Man]

I had a first this year.  I had never seen or heard of this.

I shot a Rio with a 9.5" beard and ZERO spurs.  Full fan, and no amber color on the beard.  I've seen them knock spurs off before, but this wasn't the case.  You could see where the spurs would normally come out and it was the bump about the size of a mosquite bit on your arm.  I've killed jakes with bigger spurs than this turkey.  His running mate had 1 1/8" spurs and about the same size beard.  They both came in together and were about the same size.  Puzzled me.

[Tail Feathers]

Tha half amber beard is probably from a melanin deficiency.

The spurless gobbler is genetic abnormality.  They say the Gould's are getting where many never have spurs at all.

[Sand Man]

The spurless gobbler is genetic abnormality. 

First bird in 10 years of hunting this area that we've ever seen this in.  If it was genetics, I'd think we'd seen it before??