how do you determine a good turkey, beard, spur, or overall weight?

[Steven9253]

how do you determine a good turkey, beard, spur, or overall weight?

[MLH]

I am delighted with any turkey with meat on its bones.

[muber46]

The beard length is the most common way to determine the size of a Turkey. Weight is also a factor, I think any Turkey over 20 pounds is big. You can also look at the spurs and measure each spur. All are important and the breast meat is the best to eat.

[jbird]

I'd say all 3. Depends on the turkey though. If your hunting in my neck of the woods, 10" is a good beard, 20+ lbs. is a good weight, and 1" or better is a good spur. Some places w/lots of rocky/hilly country produce turkeys that have nubs for spurs.

[buckhunter]

I like my bow kill birds over my gun kills regardless of size. Other than that I think the weight more accurately describes a mature bird.

[VT Outdoorsman]

Haven't killed one yet, but its definitely the combination of the three for me.

[wallofsam]

I generally try for a bird with a 10"+ beard, there are so many birds around here (I'm furtunate I know) that we can afford to let the jakes get big, and be patient for a good tom. I have yet to score a bird with my bow, that's my plan come April 20th here in MI.

[bear hunter]

all 3 but up in n. michigan most of us go by beard

[alpettibone]

jbird had a good note, it depends where you are hunting. In western kansas there aren't a whole lot of turkeys so beard length is a big deal. However, in eastern Kansas where there are a bunch of birds weight, spur length, and beard length are big factors.

[Beekeeper]

For us older turkey hunters it is spur lenght hands down, beards seldom get much over 11 inches due to wear and tear. A corn fed tom can get very heavy but age gives him spur lenght! Big, long, hooked and sharp spurs will belong to the older boys. We call them a limb hanger down here in the south. A bird which will hang by his spurs from a tree limb.

[rezavoirdog]

Any Turkey, a Jake or Tom is a Trophy taken with a Bow...

[lukem]

Quality of hunt and taste of bird

[huskerguy]

I say its all of the above. But it also means more to me on how hard of a hunt the bird gave me.

[timothyfaw]

a overall weight.

[DanInArkinsaw]

I have killed Toms with 9.5", 10" and 10.75" beards. One of them weighed right at 24 lbs. None of them had spurs much over an inch. I consider them all trophies. In my opinion its all about the show they put on when they're coming in. Any bird that gobbles and struts is a trophy.