But at the rate I’m going it might be a good investment https://mobile.craigslist.org/grd/d/eastern-wild-turkey-chicks/6564197251.html

I'd take a dozen. But they probably wouldn't make it through the first month in the wild.

It's not legal but if it was I would try it out. Probly order me some Merriam's and Rios to. Lol

Don’t do it, this is why people are killing 23-25 lb birds. The funny thing is, people brag on it. It is why when you kill a turkey now, he has big feet like a tame turkey. I know there are some older turkey hunters on here and maybe they will chime in. 40 yrs ago when you killed a mature turkey, he weighed about 16-18 pounds max and had small purple feet and legs. Know they are big and pink. There is a reason for this. People have turned out tame turkeys and wild turkeys have bred with tame turkeys in peoples yard that have had them running loose. I hate to tell Y’all but when You kill a 24 lb with bid pink feet, he is domesticated and inbred. We killed 3 yr olds back in the day that weighed 13-14 lbs and they were healthy and had small purple, not pink feet and legs. There are still a very few places that have what I call the true turkeys. 5-6 yrs ago there were some in the hills of Monroe county north of Monroeville,Al. Some people called them the old ridge runners. Hell now a Jake weighs more than an old gobbler used to weigh. Old man Claude Strother said when he started hunting an old gobbler weighed 12 lbs and they just get bigger every few years

we used to hunt eastern Wilcox Co and killed a lot of mature birds that weighed 14-15 pounds near Oak Hill. Killed one at 13 pounds. Not skinny, just small.

Claude Strother, now there is a name from the old days. I saw Louise Strother at Roy Bonners funeral in Camden last year, she is a VERY distant cousin.

Good folks, we just leased 2700 acres from Claude last week. Saw Louise at Hunters Run in Camden Saturday night.

My family's land is in the northwest corner of Monroe County. To this day an average mature gobbler weighs about 17 lbs. My father said he killed plenty mature birds when he was a young man that didn't weigh but 13 or 14 lbs. He said if you walked up on one in the woods and spooked it there was none of this running start to get off the ground stuff. He said they would leave the ground like a quail. LOL!

Interesting post, Tem. I've heard variations of that idea all my life. My dad was convinced that our turkeys had tame blood mixed in back in the 60s. The first attempt to reintroduce turkeys to our area of Perry county in the 50s was with pen raised wild turkeys. One of the big landowners tried really hard to establish them, but they didn't survive. Wild turkeys that had been trapped were then stocked in the next county and they gradually made their way to us. But any time he saw one with a red head, my dad thought he was part tame. He saw a smoky gray hen once and killed it, thinking she was tame. I don't know if any of his ideas were right or not; probably not.

I had a good friend in Coosa county who was convinced that the turkeys on the west side of the county were genetically different from most others. There is no doubt they were smaller, and it wasn't unusual to kill a 14 pound mature gobbler. But there is also no doubt they had a lot less to eat on that poor soil. I have never been able to find out if turkeys were ever completely eliminated from Coosa county, but many say they weren't and that those turkeys are genetically different than others.

I don't know if it's true or not, but I agree that claims of 30 pound wild birds in AL are suspect. I doubt that a turkey who is half tame can survive in the wild, but it's still a bad idea to try to introduce them.

My dad hunts in a club near Forrest Home and most of the gobblers in the kill book are between 14 and 17 lb.

Some of the weight is probably from everyone feeding the hell out of them. To me the feet and legs are the give away. Tame turkeys have always had big pink feet and legs and that is mostly what you have now. Not sure exactly, but 15-20 yrs ago, you never seen that at all. You have to admit, there is something to it. Going from 15 lb birds to 25 lb birds. Damn near doubling in weight and size of feet. You have to think about this also, back 15-20 even 25 yrs ago, they were even farming a whole lot more back then. People back in the day didn’t cut hardwoods and now they cut the hell out of them. So that being said there was more to eat back then than know. That’s just my opinion. Talk to the old timers and you will get educated. It’s all prospect, but there is something to it. If I call up a 40 pounder, I’ll kill him and be proud that I got him.

A 20lber around here is a big turkey,most are in the 15-18lb range

Not legal and most of the time not accurate. People get popped on Craigslist buying "Easterns", when all they are buying is run of the mill tame Bronze turkeys. You can buy turkey chicks from any poultry breeder and have them shipped to your front door. You can literally buy Osceolas, Merriams, Rio's, and Easterns. The only problem is that no breeder will ship Easterns to any of the southern states due to the legality issue and people raising them and turning them loose. Almost all of them have a disclaimer at the bottom of the page that reads: Will not ship to AL, GA, LA, MS, etc etc.....

If someone turns you in the state will come and take them.


I know that post was made in jest but I thought I would answer the question.

We've always had what I considered two strains. One that maxed out at about 14# and one that maxed at about 18 or so. Monroe county. Very few birds over 20#.

I've been thinking about buying some turkey so that i can turn them out right before season. Sorta like quail hunters do. That way I'll have a better chance of killing one. Them wild turkeys are to hard to kill.

I killed one in Greene Co that weighed 12 1/2 pounds, 9" beard, and 1" spurs.

My pawpaw told me when he was little people's tame turkeys ran loose all the time. Gotta be some tame blood somewhere.

Killed several birds in North Baldwin county. If you kill one 18 lbs is a nice bird. I've hunted over in Covington and killed some that weighed about 22 lbs. Some places just seem to have bigger birds.

Who cares how much a turkey weighs??

I don't know for sure that I've ever actually weighed one that I killed

just me, but I have weighed every one I have killed.

I weigh them, and measure their beard and spurs. I'm naturally curious

I don't even measure beards or spurs anymore unless they look 1.5"+ or 12" +.

Who cares if a turkey has some domestic blood in them? If they are born in the wild, raised in the wild, looks wild, act wild, & gobble good... I certainly dont care.

This stems from a small handful of guys who whine about how many 20+ lb turkeys are entered into the turkey contest every season.

Me too, it's just curiosity about the birds I'm hunting. I find it interesting when one varies significantly from others, but long spurs or beards, or heavy weights, don't make one turkey"better" than another one.

I remain skeptical that there is any significant amount of tame turkey DNA in wild flocks. I've read some things written by people who should know that the first generation of a tame/wild hybrid has almost no chance of surviving in the wild. The total failure of attempts to start populations from pen raised birds with 100% wild DNA is further evidence that it's unlikely. But I could be wrong

I weigh all my turkeys. Most have weighed 17 or 18#, I did kill one about 20 years ago that weighed 22#. One of our club members killed a gobbler years ago that weighted 14 # 10 inch beard and 1&3/16 spurs. He was so dark you could hardly see his wing bars. I have looked at a lot of dead turkeys and he was the only one like that.