Good or better

[WildTigerTrout]

Any full fan gobbler is a trophy to me.

[silvestris]

If I killed a gobbler who possessed a combination of what I believed to be the longest beard ever, the longest spurs ever and was obviously the heaviest bird ever, I would mentally say to myself, "nice bird", and move on to the next one.  Finding such a bird would only be a matter of fate, not some awe impressing feat.  I hate anything concerning turkey hunting that suggests that the hunting of this great bird is some kind of contest other than the contest between predator and prey.

[Greybeard11]

I agree with the posts above, any bird I am fortunate enough to kill is a trophy. I've killed a few jakes that mean as much as any of the others. If it makes you happy it's a trophy!!

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Any bird with better than 1.25" hooks and an 11"+ beard.

I'm all about fullfans and long beards but anyone who denies the thrill of rolling a bird over and seeing serious hooks is a liar. They are not all created equal....

[cutt down]

I only scored 1 bird in the last few years & that was because he had 5 beards & 1.5" hooks. I was curious!

[Snoodsniper]

All my birds get scored because I do some local contests. Ive had a couple real good years and won some cash but I honestly couldn't tell you what any of them scored. Numbers don't matter much to me.

[mgm1955]

Any trophy to you should be all that matters.

[darn2ten]

Only reason I have ever scored a bird was because of the last however many years I've been on a turkey team. That's only a few out of 20+ years. I've been fortunate to kill some nice birds for the team, but I've killed a few in the past that would have scored better and have no idea what they scored. Have a triple beard bird with 1 3/8" spurs mounted that I've never scored. Really makes no difference to me. If a 2 yr. old plays the game and makes for a memorable hunt I'll shoot him in the face just as fast as I would a 3+ yr old. As I said, score means nothing, but I do like big spurs. Beards don't really give any measure of a bird to me. I've killed 2 yr olds with 10" beards.

[daveco]

Personally, I value any bird I kill, and the quality and difficulty of the hunt dictates the amount of enjoyment in harvest.  Having said that, I do love to kill long spurred birds, as it indicates older birds.  The trouble with trying to age a turkey by spur length, is that birds living in rocky country tend to have their spurs worn more, than birds living in areas of sandy soils, for instance.  But if I kill a bird with 1.5" spurs or better, that represents an older bird, and that is always icing on the cake, for me.

[budtripp]

scores mean absolutely nothing to me. every bird I shoot is a trophy to me , some are just bigger. what makes them trophies to me , is being able to replay hunts in my head. the memories is what drives me in this sport. beards and spurs are the bonus. when I look at those , the memories all come rolling in like it happened yesterday.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. It's about the memories, not some arbitrary numbers.

[chatterbox]

Any bird with better than 1.25" hooks and an 11"+ beard.

I'm all about fullfans and long beards but anyone who denies the thrill of rolling a bird over and seeing serious hooks is a liar. They are not all created equal....

This^^^^^^
I love the full fan, but the first thing I look at are the spurs. I haven't broken 9/16th's yet, but it would be exciting to see some 1"+!

[dejake]

A good bird is any full fan I call to the gun.  A great bird is a bird I identify before the season, hunt him, and kill him

[jblackburn]

Any bird with better than 1.25" hooks and an 11"+ beard.

I'm all about fullfans and long beards but anyone who denies the thrill of rolling a bird over and seeing serious hooks is a liar. They are not all created equal....

This^^^^^^
I love the full fan, but the first thing I look at are the spurs. I haven't broken 9/16th's yet, but it would be exciting to see some 1"+!

I do agree, I posted full fan and that is my true passion, but the first thing I do after killing a full fanned bird is check the spurs.  I have never seen spurs then shot.

[Mike Honcho]

If I score a bird it is just for my own curiosity and kind of fun to keep track of the biggest ones I've taken.  I don't score them unless they weigh a ton, have a huge beard or really long spurs.

My biggest tom scored 80, be cool if I top that someday but no problem if I don't.

My 10 year old grandson shot his first  bird last weekend, an old , old tom and it had 1 1/2" and 1 5/8" hooks , so I scored it for him...71 6/8"...gives him something to rib his older brother (15 yr old)  about who has taken a ton of birds.

[g8rvet]

The bird I score the highest was a bird that I knew was there because I kept finding his tracks and his strut marks.  He never gobbled a single time (at least not that I heard).  I called him in to the shot at 11:30 after hunting since daylight.  Had seen2 jakes and 4 hens all morning and I just knew he would be along.  Strangely sure that morning.  I have no idea what he scored, he was a mature bird over 10" beard, over 1.25 spurs, but can't tell you much more (I still have them, but don't know which are his).  I call him my best bird. 

My nephew's first bird was 11.75 beard, 1 3/8 and 1 3/8 spur.  Was around 60th place in the Florida Eastern Registry.  He went without a bird the next 8 years, but killed one this year.  It was a HUGE bird, massive tail fan, dwarves all the others we have.