I spoke with some folks at Auburn a while back that are doing a large study where they banded known-age birds and followed (tracked) them over time. Of course, some were harvested. The interesting thing is that there was no real pattern between spur length and age. Fast forward to a study conducted by UGA, check @wildturkeydoc on instagram for more info, but they are basically seeing the same thing. Example, this bird was banded as a jake, and in less than 2 years old, he had 1.25" spurs on both sides. This is just one example of many showing that spur length is not an accurate way to age wild turkeys.



Now before you disagree just because "you know better" and whatever else, these are two independent studies that have shown the same conclusion. That usually has pretty good explanatory power, or at least the power to say what we thought we knew isn't necessarily true. The great thing about science is, whether you believe it or not, it's still true!

I came to that conclusion many years ago. There is also record of unknown age gobblers having shorter spurs at time of harvest than time of capture. Not sure if they broke, wore off, etc, but an adult turkey is an adult turkey in my book. Too many variables.

Not really. Scientifically you can make the data say whatever you want it to say.

As to your post, that's very interesting. I'm not a biologists, but seems logical to think that many factors such as habitat, food sources and nutritional values, etc. would all play into growth, body weight, spur and beard length.

I killed one with 7/8” spurs years ago that I knew was at least 3 plus...had camera pics of him and he had a distinct beard...was a pure giant bird and smart as a whip...after that, i just say if they are sharp and hooking he’s prolly 3 plus years but can’t really tell

Listen to the Meateater podcast Gobbling Your Ass Off. I listened to it just last night and it was some pretty good info. I started scanning through until I found where the meat of the conversation started and if I recall it was around 1 hour into the podcast.

I mean, you are sort of correct, but that's where peer review comes in. Trust me, after going through many reviews of things I've published, no stone is left unturned!

Full fan=death to me....if i cant see that, im lookin for a stump of a beard...if he got a longish beard an a good gobble...he die

Same here. The experience and chess match is what I live for. If he has a full fan and beard, he gone! A nice set of spurs is just icing on the cake!

It,s kind of like a 170in buck, more than likely he 5 or 6 years old or more, same with a turkey with 1 1/2 spurs or more, he probably at leat 5 or 6 years old

Never killed a Jake. But if he's been gobbling like an old man and finally pops out from over the rise he's probably getting shot at.

Scoring turkeys like deer is nonsense in my book. I care very little about that stuff. Lots of two year old turkeys I have seen had paintbrush beards 10+ in. Same goes for weight. I would be lying through my teeth if I told you I didn't appreciate one with long spurs, though.

Generally I think most would agree that once a turkey is 3 years old it is very difficult to age by spur length,

I agree with all of that, except the part I fixed.

That's completely contrary to what the data show.

Wouldn't spur length depend a lot on terrain...asking for a friend......

That could certainly play a role if you are out west. I think it would bias a study towards short (broken off) spurs correlating to older birds, or no correlation between older and younger birds. Down here in Alabama and Georgia, our hills don't have that effect, overall.

I listened to this today and there is a lot of good information in there. He says they have data to show that pushing season dates back could help with reproduction. IF the data is there to prove this then I would be in support. I love hunting these birds and want the population to be stable or growing for the future.
Our state needs to make decision based on good data and then do a good job of communicating that with the public before making any changes to the rules.

Limestone hills in Northeast Alabama absolutely have an effect on spur length. MOF it's pretty rare to see one that runs the limestone ridges with razor sharp tips . I killed one this year that had one blunt one about 7/8" long, other one broken off to about 3/8 to 1/2". Another had a pair of 1" , but were blunt and not sharp at all.

Yes, notice I said "overall". I am not speaking in absolutes here. That would be biasing the data in the other direction. Spur length would be confounded by a rocky environment to where all birds (young and old) had smaller spurs. The point would still be true that spur length is unreliable as an age predictor for wild turkeys.

I’ve posted some of that data from other states before and got sent home packing because nobody liked it. Several states have pushed seasons back by as few as 5-7 days and the reproductive response was measurable in a good way. Heck even in AL Colbert County is a prime example of that success. Every time the season was pushed earlier into March it was closed a few seasons later. When it opens in April there seems to be a good balance of sustainability.

There’s no turkeys in Colbert co anymore. They all left for Fayette co.

Send a few more. Preferably only the ones that gobble.