Sounds like some people don't know the difference in a 2yo and a jake.

They'll eat the same

If a turkey shows up in front of my gun barrel toting a beard and ain't a hen, he is getting shot, whether or not he gobbles or struts. I called a pair of turkeys up last Saturday. My son shot the strutter with a 9" beard. I shot the other one that never strutted and looked like he had a 3 - 4" beard. Upon closer inspection he had about 4 strands that were 7" long and the rest of his beard was about 4" long. He also had 7/8" spurs. Didn't neither one of them gobble once they came in to the kill zone.

I've shot my fair share of them over the years and I'm sure it will happen again. Beard rot will save a bunch of birds lives if hat is all you are looking at. I don't descrimate to much unless it's obvious it is a jake. I've killed several with no Spurs and a rope and several with no beard and some sho nuff hooks. We had a bird on the club last year that I kicked myself for not shooting that had zero beard....... Like pulled out and gone beard that when caught on trail cam had some gaffs 1.5" or better on him. I only saw him once during season at point blank range and wasn't ready for him.

But to answer the original question, a super jake by my definition is simply a gobbling jake. A jake with a full roll gobble, not much of a break or rasp in it.

He will usually have the 3" pecker sticking out. Anything beyond 6 or so inches is probably gonna have 3/4" spurs and is a 2yo. It's not a super jake.

I've also don't know if I've ever seen a jake with a full fan, and that's my rule. If he has a full fan he's game, and even then I let some 2yos go.

Shooting jakes just because he can strut and gobble is still shooting jakes. Up to you.

Yek that zero beard thing is crazy. I wonder if it had completely rotted off? Shoot him and let's find out.

I'll look back and see if I have any pics of him..... Not even a stub. His head was huge is what had us lookin at his legs

no beard whatsoever on this one. and some odd barring in his wings

I let an old gobbler walk by me several years ago that I was sure was a Jake. He was hammering it on the limb and me and my dad were on opposite sides of him. He flew down and came right in to me. He came out in the road but never strutted. I could see the little beard sticking out so I'm thinking ole sad daddy is behind him. He fools around for a few minutes when my dad starts calling. He heads straight for him. I'm still waiting for the big one to come out when BOOM, dad shoots. I wait around for a few minutes then walk around there. I'm thinking he done shot the damn Jake. I walk up and sure enough, beard ain't 3" long. I ask him WTH??? He said roll him over. He's got almost 1.5" spurs and I let him walk off. He came close enough to my dad that he could see the spurs so he shot his arse. He probably didn't weigh 16 lbs either.

I don't shoot jakes normally, but if gobbles, struts, he may get a foot on the neck.

What do you look for to tell the difference between a 2 year old and a 3+ year old before pulling the trigger?

Look at the coverts on the wings if they don't fan out. Jake coverts are much shorter than gobblers and are pretty easy to pick out. I killed a few jakes when I was young, but don't care to do so anymore. I would much rather give them a chance to get a year older. To each their own but, I would rather let them be full grown.

I will kill the next male turkey that steps within 50 yards of me.

I am pissed off at some turkeys right now!

Hammertime

Jake or no jake...

I have been fooled twice in the past 15 years. One had a 7" beard and one had a 9" beard. Both had strong gobbles and I didn't realize either were Jakes until I cleaned them and cut off their fans. All the center feathers were full length, but the outer couple of feathers on each side were short. Gobbler says that's a sure sign of a Jake and trumps everything else. They both had pointed spurs and both weighed over 16 lbs.

Those 2 would be what I'd call a super Jake. Its one you can't tell is a Jake until he is dead. I've seen poults in April before; I'd suspect those turkeys were from a similar early hatch.

What about this one? Full fan, gobbling and drumming his butt off! 4" beard and 1/2" nub spurs.

That is an interesting bird! All I can do is repeat what others have told me; I haven't actually followed turkeys around for a living the way that some have. Gobbler has done that kind of stuff and has the degrees and experience that I believe him on such matters, and he says the full fan trumps all. It is certainly possible for a mature gobbler to have a short beard, and I have killed at least one mature gobbler with a beard about that long. He had a full fan and a strong gobble, but his spurs were at least pointed.

Lovett Williams found a few cases of jakes in FL that had a "full" fan, but they were full because they had never grown any of the long feathers and all were still short. Your turkey looks like a genuine full fan.

The yellow in the beard looks more like a melanin deficiency causing it to break off, versus a jake beard that is usually amber colored on the end. I would SWAG that he is a late born 2 year old Hank. Do you remember what his covert wing feathers looked like?

Look at the difference in a jake covert feathers(row of feathers on the top of the black and white wing feathers) vs a gobblers. Pretty easy to tell the difference, and the same goes for jenny's vs adult hens.

You can't use SWAG, that's my word.