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.


All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.