age

[mpkzoo]

what is the best way to age a bird?? spurs, weight, beard....etc.??

[Dev]

Spurs are the best way. The beard will wear away and weight varies too much. Everyone I know of goes by the spurs.

[big bubba t]

Drivers license or other photo id :)

[Grant]

Someone posted some info on this last year. If I remember corretly, the spurs can't always give an accurate age of a bird either.

[mpkzoo]

ya but it's so hard to get em to stop and check

[skin_dog1]

spurs won't always give an exact age, but its the best way to get close. I like to go with an 1/8 inch rule. usually a 2 1/2 y/o will have up to 7/8 blunt spurs, 3 1/2 to will have 1-1 1/4" sharp spurs,1 1/8- 1 3/8 sharp spur is a 4 1/2, anything over 1 3/8 is a hawg, and who cares how old he is!!!! Ofcourse, lots of birds bust spurs and may have one or both busted. I don't know of any other way to age a turkey.

[mpkzoo]

thanks for the info

[SixPack07]

All I have heard is spurs. Beard and weight don't really mean much.

[COJOMAY]

Spurs are not an accurate system of measurement, especially in the West where rocky conditions wear down spurs. As far as I know there is no accurate way to age a turkey unless it can be done by atopsy after it's dead.

[SixPack07]

I know deer can be aged by their teeth being cut into, and they have rings kind of like trees, so you know how old they are. I wonder if anyone has ever cut the spurs to see if they have rings or anything like that on a turkey?

[Hammer]

my father killed one 2 falls ago with a 13.5 inch beard and spurs that measured 1.5 inches and 1 5/8ths inches. He was old and decrepit, however, and weighed just under 17 pounds. I'm not sure if dad killed him or if the gunshot scared him to death!

[SixPack07]

lol, the last one I shot had only about a 9 inch beard, but his spurs were 1 3/8" and 1 1/2" long, but he was only 22.5 pounds I think, and his feathers were really wore down from drumming. Just looked like a real old bird. But I haven't seen a lot up close either, so who knows.

[turk2di]

One things for sure. Your dead turkey is as old as he's ever gonna get;)

[buckfever]

spurs won't always give an exact age, but its the best way to get close. I like to go with an 1/8 inch rule. usually a 2 1/2 y/o will have up to 7/8 blunt spurs, 3 1/2 to will have 1-1 1/4" sharp spurs,1 1/8- 1 3/8 sharp spur is a 4 1/2, anything over 1 3/8 is a hawg, and who cares how old he is!!!! Ofcourse, lots of birds bust spurs and may have one or both busted. I don't know of any other way to age a turkey.

I agree that spurs are the best guesstimators, but I also look for body size, beard thickness (not length), and strutting wear and tear on the wings (and even the tail). Older birds will often break their beards off over time, so beard length is not always a good age estimator in my opinion, especially on birds with marginal 8-9" beards (although if it's 12" or longer, you can pretty much bet it's a mature bird). I've passed on several smallish birds (17-20 lbs) w/ decent 8" beards simply b/c I thought they were 2 yr old birds. I couldn't see spurs so I passed. If I get the bird close enough, I'll look for spur length. A lot of times, you can see the longer spurs on an older bird at close range even if he's moving around. If I can see the spurs sticking out, I generally figure its a 3 yr old or older bird and will try to harvest it.

[SixPack07]

Yeah, beards will get wore from dragging, but I've also heard that they get frozen with snow and that can break them off too. I thought turkeys shed their feathers once a year, so the only thing you can really tell from feather wear is how much they have been strutting and drumming that year, which may tell you if they are the dominant bird in the area.

[Gobblergetter2.1]

Sometimes you can tell if the bird is an older bird by the size of his head. Ive seen some birds with heads the size of softballs, and some with heads the size of a hen's. Spurs are the best way for me i can tell the age of a bird. How would you tell the age of a hen?? Just by the weight of her?? Ive heard somewhere that you can tell the age of a gobbler by his tail fan. I know a jakes middle 4-5 tail feathers are longer, but ive heard that an older bird will have a wide tail fan. Any of you heard this?

[ez]

you need to measure the snood right after you kill him..................ez