I have come to the conclusion that their is no sure fire way to age a bird atleast that I can come up with. I honestly think spur length is all genetics. What do yall think ?

Kinda like deer just check their teeth. Ha!

I think it has a great deal to do with terrain. A 2 year old in rocky terrain is still going to be blunt 1/2" to 3/4" while a 3+ in rocks may be shorter than a bird that lives in sand it will still be sharp even if not the 1" plus that is the norm. I also think size of the head and beard are a good backup to spurs, but spurs are the biggest indicator to me. A big ole fat head and a thick beard is getting shot over any other bird standing there. I'm not very selective though, if it has a turkey feather on it and don't appear to be a jake...... He gone!

had a state Biologist try to tell me that a turkey will grow 1/4 in on his spur every year I called bs. but who knows just find it interesting. I agree yek terrain plays a role in length.

Interesting I have killed a gobbler before with a 10 inch beard and no spurs .

I have killed several in Marengo co and also Merriams with no spurs. THAT pisses me off!

I Killed one in Marengo with no spurs too,i dont think you can go by the beard,the biggest beard I've ever killed was a two year old,11 3/4" and thick,bird had short nubby spurs,I think it has a lot to do with genetics,most of the birds we kill have short spurs but they may be sharp as needles or may be crooked,I usually go by the length and if they are sharp or not,just the way I try to guess how old they are

Based on research (I know... some of y'all don't go for that "sciency" stuff) These measurements are typical of known age gobblers in spring:

less than 1/2 inches is jake
1/2 - 1" blunt is 2 yr old
1 - 1.25" pointy is 3 yr old
over 1.25" sharps s 4 yr old

In a 50 bird study of know aged wild turkeys in Missouri, these were the average spur lengths
jake - .25"
2 yr old - .87"
3 yr old - 1.01"
4 yr olds - 1.08"
5 and older - 1.25"

Spur length and sharpness does have a lot to do with terrain and soils as well as subspecies. There is a lot of variance even in the same population and I have killed legitimate jakes with 3/4 " spurs and weighing nearly 18 lbs, adult gobblers with no spurs and a beard weighing 15 lbs, also no beard and spurs. I can handle one with spurs and no beard but a beard and no spurs is a definite foul on the play. I agree with Yeks observation that head size and cap thickness seems to increase with age - body size most defiantly does NOT - the oldest birds I have killed were smaller.

Beard length is more a function of leg length, beard thickness, and abrasiveness of the vegetation the gobbler feeds in. They get to about 10" in their 2nd year and wear off from there. Beard thickness has no function relative to age - it has x number of beard filaments when it is born and no more and no less as it gets older.

My $.02

Spurs are the best indicator.

But another thing I've noticed is that the two years olds that I've killed have an amber tip/end on the beard. All of the birds that I've killed over 3 do not have the amber ends on the beard. Y'all check out some of the birds you've killed over the years and let me know what y'all have.

I killed one with 9 1/2" thick beard an no spurs also, didn't know wats up with that

Yep jakes and 2 year olds will have amber tips from initial beard growth. After 2 they will have drug off all the amber ends.

When I had my son's 1 and only turkey mounted, the taxidermist said the bird was at least 5 maybe 6 years old. I asked him what he was basing that on and he said the size of the feet and the amount of crutchens he had on his neck. I might be pronouncing that wrong, heck I'm not even sure that's what it's called but I'm referring to the red bubbly skin that appears to be dripping down the front of a gobblers neck. The bird my son shot had so much of it on his neck. I agree with yekrut about spur length too. I'm no expert but will definitely ask a few turkey hunters I know who are quite knowledgeable about them and see what they have to say.

good job Gobbler! I agree with that and it is a good general reference for the OP.

not trying to start an argument but gobbler by your numbers ive killed several full fanned jakes with 8-9inch beards. what would you call a 3/4 inch spur that really sharp ? would it be a 2 or 3 year old ?

I think jakes and 2 year olds are the only ones you can put a definately age on. If a longbeard has amber tips on his beard, then he is a 2 year old. I think everything else just has to be an educated guess.

1, there are not MY numbers, just reporting what folks who had known aged birds reported (if I had some know aged kills older than a jake I would report them also). 2, as noted there is variability. If it is a full fan, it is a gobbler older than 2. If it has a 8-9 " beard it probably is a 2 year old. 3, Also, both of the sets of these numbers note that 3/4" spurs belong to a 2 yr olds. I have only seen one jake with 3/4" spurs but would suspect there was, somewhere, another jake like it. I would also suspect that there have been quite a number of 3 yr old and older with 3/4" spurs and shorter, many sharp, so it is anyones best guess. The statistics say that 3/4" would normally be 2 yrs old.

So by your description, a full fan indicates NOT a jake, 8-9" beard also indicates NOT a jake, 3/4" spurs indicate a 2 yr old and sharps indicate the possibility of older. You, however, may tell the story however you like



This is what sucks about wildlife stats. Very few rules hold true all of the time - it isn't Physics. I regularly see beards from older birds with what most folks call beard rot. It is usually a lack of Melanin in the birds diet for a period of time that "sets" an amber layer of growing beard that is weaker and, therefore, breaks off at some point. Could be 8" on a 5 yr old or 3 " on a 2 yr old. So. like you said, you look at all the facts then "take an educated guess" You weigh the fan, spurs, beards, head, cap, (I have never heard the caruncles until today), etc and you should be close!

Last year i killed a turkey that weighed a little over 21#, had an 11" beard, and 1-1/4" spurs, they had no hook to them, and wasn't sharp. This was on sandy,rocky soil. How old do you think he was?

Ive always said beard and weight have zero to do with it. I have killed a few jakes that way 16lbs, but adult gobblers that I would say were 3-4 + years old that only weigh 14lbs. Those small gobblers are what I call "Indian birds" and some of you have called them "Mossy heads." I have always thought it was just a different genetic strain of wild turkey, and probably the original wild turkey. The amber tips are not significant in aging either, although the jakes do have them. I have killed many 2 year olds with out amber tips. Not sure what it is, I always thought where it was part of growing, or beard blight, which I have killed a few also.
To me, typical jakes have a 2-5" beard that is "stiff" and sticks straight out, do not have full fans, have "nubs" for spurs, usually about 1/2" or less, their legs and feet are almost black, and their primary wing feathers are different.
2 year olds have a full fan, primary wing feathers are developed, have about 3/4" dull spurs, and a beard anywhere from 8-10"s, which the beard has nothing to do with it.
3 year old, spurs are about a 1+" long, with a little curve and failry sharp.
4 year old, 1-1/4" spurs with some good hook and sharp
5 year old the birds that are seldom killed with 1-1/2" spurs and hook like a game cock, and sharp as a tack.

This is what I go by on the norm, and nothing else will change my opinion on it. I do know in mountainous rocky terrain will be different than the swampy or sandy areas.

Using your criteria, my bird was 4 y/o. IMO, weight has a direct correlation with avaiable food. In years with good acorn crops, they'll be heavier, no acorns, they wont weigh as much. Lighter weights in years of droughts, just like with deer.

Yes blumsden, I believe the 1-1/4" spurs would be a 4 year old, maybe older if you killed it in the mountainous Jacksonville, AL area.

I think weight also has to do with food such as acorns in the fall. The biggest bird I killed weighed 26lbs, but was a 3 year old. I killed him on a big holstiem replacement heifer farm, where he pretty much got to eat left over cattle feed.

But also, some turkeys are just downright small in body size, the different genetic strain I talk of. I killed a gobbler once where average weight is big, 21-22 lbs, but when I ran through the woods to him flopping as I got close my heart sank because it was the size of a hen, and I thought I had shot a hen by accident. He wasn't a hen, just a small gobbler, weighed 16lbs, had about a 9" beard and 1" spurs. I aged him at three, which beard and spur wize he was average all around, but he was just little bodied. Little bitty legs, head, wings, tail, body, everything.