What is a "Heavy" bird in your area? (with pics)

[turkeyfoot]

I've killed a couple here in VA in the 22-23 lb range, my biggest and best being the 23 lb one.  He was a stud and now hangs on my wall.  Have seen some push 25 lbs. but that is after an excellent mast crop in the fall.  18-21 is our typical average here in my part of VA (SW), you get out in the tidewater area of the state and it goes up because of all the agriculture they have. 

I'm from SW Va seen about same as what your saying but its one of prettiest places to kill one no matter what the weight

[appalachianassassin]

anything over 20lbs in east tn is a big bird.

[THattaway]

Overall I would consider a 21 lb. tom to be a "heavy" tom.

This is what I've seen as "average" in upstate SC during my 30 years of turkey killing:
Woods birds (Nat. Forest and no agriculture):
17-18 lbs. on poor mast crop years.
19-20 lbs. on good mast crop years.

Field birds:
Usually average 18-21 lbs.

Heaviest woods bird I've killed here was 24 lbs. and have killed a few at 22lbs. Tended to be big boned and built like horses carrying the weight overall. I don't recall which bird it was in the picture below but I can tell you this, I sure remember the 2 mile walk out to the truck. We all laid down and rested a few times on that walk out.



My Son killed a 25 lb. tom here two seasons ago that obviously must have been spending time on some neighbors bird feeder. That bird had a double handful of yellow fat around his craw and breast.

[beakbuster10]

21+ is a big bird in central va


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[Clovis67]

Awesome smile on that young mans face! Way to go Dad for taking your children hunting.Nice hooks on that bird too.

[kdsberman]

I'm from mid-Michigan and i went many years not being able to get one that was over 20#, then one year I managed a 21#.  Then 2 years ago...a 28.1#!  So from my experience, id say big in my area is anything 22#+.

[Flounder]

Killed one here in SE NC that went 24lbs. I would say my average over 20 years has been 16 to 18lbs. That bird was a fat 3 year old with a 11.5 beard and 15" spurs. He was a well fed bird that come off the edge of a Carolina Bay.

[lonnie sneed jr.]

Southern WV is where I live. Some guys around here say they kill them every year 25 to 28#. But my dad and myself along with my uncle kill a lot of gobblers, and most of what we kill around here are 18 to 22# and once in a blue moon we will kill a 23 # to 25#gobbler. But the avg. is 18-21 lbs. in Southern WV and Western VA

[jarbo03]

I would say 25# is a big bird here in NE KS, have taken quite a few that size with the biggest a hair under 28#.  Where I hunt Rios in western KS,  the biggest has been 22#, with most averaging 18-20#.

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[Yoder409]

In my corner of west-central PA, longbeards average 18-20 lbs provided winter was not overly hard.

In my 36 seasons I have shot one 24 pounder and one 23 pounder.  So anything over 20 is a hoss.

[turkey_slayer]

Depends on the hard mast that fall and the area.. No acorns and mature birds will be 15-18. Good mast and 18-20. Killed a few over 23. Never heard of a 24lber ever being killed in my area. One area we killed a pile of birds out of and never got one to go 19lbs. Bout all the birds I've killed in east Tennessee are in the 21lb range.


State record was killed a few miles from my house and it was 23.75 I believe

[Copper1]

Northern Indiana where I live a big bird is 25 lbs or so.  My biggest before last year was 25.5 that I got a few years back. Last season I blew that away with a huge gobbler that went 28.0 even and had a 12 inch beard.   An average bird is 20-22lbs here.

[Hook hanger]

In the past 30 years in central Missouri I see most birds averaging 21-24 pounds. Heavy birds I have killed or seen weighed are 25-28 pounds in my area.

[Vaturkeyhntr]

My best bird here in VA was 24lbs.  I've seen a bunch of 21-23lb birds killed in the area we hunt.  This past season had some of the biggest weights due to the large amount of acorns and crop fields we have around us.  Opening day we doubled with a 23 1/2lb bird and a 23 1/4lb bird.  My dad killed his biggest at 24.7lbs this past spring also.  A friend killed one next to the last day that still weighed 23lbs.

[Cut N Run]

I've killed more gobblers over 20 pounds than under 20 in the central piedmont area of N.C.. My best gobbler (so far) weighed 24 pounds and was killed on Opening Day of '07.  It won the heaviest gobbler in the local sports shop's big gobbler contest that Spring. 

Jim