This is interesting but I'm trying to figure out why I should care how old a turkey is.

Thanks for the information. I will keep it in mind when I kill the next one.

Same principle as aging a deer. Usually the older they are they are harder to kill and have bigger spurs.

I agree that it doesn't really matter - a longbeard is a longbeard. It's all about the quality of the hunt he provides.

So why try to age one? Because we can, I guess. I like to learn all I can about my opponent. It's also kinda fun to look at a turkey someone had killed after "hunting him for 3 years" and seeing that it's a 2 yr old bird.

What stumps me out of all of this amber talk is a bird with 1 1/8" - 1 1/4" spurs with amber in its beard. It just doesn't add up to everything I've learned about birds over the years on aging.

Yekrut, I've never seen a bird with spurs over an inch that had amber. You saying you have?

It would blow a hole in the idea if you do.

Preacher I've killed several with 1"+ sharp spurs that had amber in its beard. Turkeys that anybody would say were 3+ yrs old. I'm just not convinced the amber beard theory is right all the time.

2 in the last week, coonhunter killed one in tx and another member here killed one as well. Both 1 1/8"+

I'm not trying to be a smart aleck here - that's a term my Grandma used because she was too polite to use the other version.
I've learned there really aren't any rules for turkeys that don't have exceptions. I don't think a few amber hairs proves he his just 2, but I do think they will be hard to find in a turkey over 2. I wouldn't be surprised to find there are exceptions, but the rule works for every one of these.



How about somebody post some pics of a gobbler with long spurs and amber in his beard? Please try to take it in bright sunlight. It would also help if you could put one beside it that is all black on the end so we can compare them.

I don't know how scientific the theory is, but it was taught to me by a biologist. We all know those guys can be wrong. . And obviously, I can too. Still, I think the amber method of aging turkeys is more accurate than the tooth method of aging deer. We've all seen how some of the most prominent deer biologists in the state can't agree on that. So y'all post some pics and let's see how we do.

I will this afternoon pcp from the one I killed in Texas.

How about posting some easy ones too? If there is any interest in it, I can post some that are filled with amber and obviously 2, and some others with pretty much none that are obviously older. But even an older turkey can have a few amber ends; I think you have to look at a good many and get some experience for it to work.

Has the ever been a scientific study that tried to determine a certain % of amber tips to definitely age one?

I think it is discussed in a Lovett Williams book.

Only articles I have read, just state that amber ends indicate a 2 year old. The bird I killed in Texas threw me for a loop when I looked at it after I got home, had 1 1/8 and 1 3/16" spurs. All the 2 year olds I have seen have been pretty much all amber in the tips. My guess is 3 yr+ birds may have a few streaks if they have some melanin deficiency.

Left is a 2 yr old, middle is 3+, right is the texas bird

I killed one that has a little amber in his beard. he was 19lbs 2oz, 10 1/2" beard, 1 1/8" & 1 1/4" spurs.

just checked another one and it has a little amber on the tips as well. He was 19lbs 15oz, 11 1/4" beard and both spurs were 1 1/4".

Well, there are my 2 examples from this year

Thanks for the pics. The TX bird has a lot more amber than any I've seen that was obviously older. I took a sure-fire light and looked at some of mine carefully. Some of the obvious older ones have a few amber ends, but they don't compare with the obvious 2 yr olds like the one above. Out of all the ones I got on that string there is only one that I feel is questionable. I would post the pic but I am almost to my GA turkey camp. The season continues.

I've had some quality hunts trying to get a lone jake to come in....

And I would have killed him if he'd not been so tough...

And I've killed jakes that I was very thankful for. I once passed on 3 gift jakes the last day of the season out of state while carrying a particular gun (Rem 1100 .410), and then went 0-9 on hunts with that gun (while I was about 50% with other guns during the same time frame) till I finally consulted with the jinx breaking experts here, followed that sage advice, and then broke the jinx with that gun when 3 jakes came in the next trip out. I wasn't about to exacerbate the jinx by letting 3 jakes walk again.

Then I sold it to make sure the jinx was gone forever.

Very interesting On the Texas gobblers, I have one mounted that had 1.5" spurs, 10" beard and still has some amber in his beard...

It may be a nutrition thing out west that leads to not enough melanin.

Just thinking out loud, but could it be from a bird that once had beard rot and it's grown back? I know that may not always be the case on every one, but is that possible for some? Maybe the bird that had beard rot early in its life?