Age this turkey

[Skbrown]

I'm having trouble aging this turkey. Spur length puts it as 2 year old at 3/4" but they are wafer thin and sharp like a knife.

[Skbrown]

Another pic

[spaightlabs]

1 year old or older.

Truth.

[Skbrown]

Gobbler had 10 and 1/8" beard with no noticeable amber color. As well as well worn primary wing feathers. Just never seen one with spurs so thin and blade shaped

[guesswho]

Was he a lite weight turkey?

[Skbrown]

Unfortunately didn't get an exact weight. My buddy guessed around 20 lbs but not sure. He acted like a old wise bird took us forever to kill him. And he was definitely the boss, had all the hens and did all the strutting. He came in full strut spittin and drummin. Maybe bad genetics?

[davisd9]

Spur length means nothing and since you said there was no Amber in the beard then he was at least 3. Could be an older bird but no way to know other than he was 3 or older. Congratulations!


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[Blong]

There is absolutely no evidence that supports aging beyond 2. Nubs are jakes and anything with a point on it may be 2,3,4+. It's genetic. I believe some 5  year olds sport 1" spurs and some 1.5", there is just no way to know.

[Skbrown]

Yea, everything on the google search swears by the spur length, but this one really threw me for a loop. My buddies dad looked at the spurs and said he's never in 30+ years of huntin em seen spurs shaped like that.

[davisd9]

There is absolutely no evidence that supports aging beyond 2. Nubs are jakes and anything with a point on it may be 2,3,4+. It's genetic. I believe some 5  year olds sport 1" spurs and some 1.5", there is just no way to know.

Good post! Age, genetics, and nutrition play into spur length!


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[guesswho]

The reason I asked is because I've killed a couple with Spurs like that and both had 11"+ beards and weighed around 14-15 pounds.  But both had hens and the respect of the other longbeard that was with each of them.  The other gobblers would strut behind their back but as soon as the lite weight turned any, the other would drop out of strut and wouldn't look at them.   I don't know for sure but I'd bet both of them were old warriors.   

If I had to take a guess on yours I'd lean toward an older bird at least 3 and wouldn't be surprised if he was North of that.

[Skbrown]

Thanks for the replies guys! And that's exactly how this bird was.

[Greg Massey]

Birds that are 3 have older and longer spurs, will weight less 16- 20 pounds...2 year old birds with 3/4 - 1 inch spurs weight more in most cases....

[Skbrown]

Yea that's what most everything I've read says. But I did see posts of tagged known age birds with much shorter spurs than what they're "supposed" to have

[davisd9]

Tagging studies have proven age does not determine spur length.


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