This thread needs some chicken litter spread on it

I suspect you can tell the difference between a younger gobbler and an older bird by sound and behavior. Your younger bird is going to be a 2yo more often than not because that is what exists within a population.

Someone told me them jakes is good eatin’. I dunno about tweeners & soupers.

Chit was spread on this one early and often

Aldeer threads generally end at ten or so posts. This is the bullshoot part for entertainment purposes.

I sometimes imagine that I can tell a gobbling turkey is a jake, but would have to admit that I have been wrong often. There have been times I thought a turkey had a weak gobble and was likely a jake, and then turned out to have a long beard. I actually had it happen this season. I got on a turkey that had a real short gobble, and didn't want to hunt him because of that, but he was the only game in town. He turned out to have a long beard when I finally saw him. I still didn't kill him; he might have had a short gobble but he was no dummy.

I've also gotten on turkeys with a strong gobble that I never even thought might be a jake, only to find out that they were.

But a 2 year old gobbler is capable of shaking the ground with his gobble, as much as a turkey that is older. His feathers are the same as an older bird, he can weigh over 20 pounds and have a thick 12" beard and have spurs that are over an inch. I don't believe anyone can say that a turkey still alive is 2 or 3.

I have thought it possible to age them after killing them. Spurs can give you a clue; not just the length, but the curvature also. I have thought that the amber in the end of the beard was the most definitive way to separate a 2 year old from one that is 3 and up. An older turkey will have beard ends that are all black, while the 2 yr has a lot that are amber. Lovett Williams thought the method worked, but some of the current researchers say that it doesn't. I think the exceptions are likely caused when one gets beard rot and the beard breaks off, but I could be wrong.

I still look at them and try to guess their age, but it's just a curiosity and it is only done after the turkey is dead.

I’ve given up on aging them by beard or spurs, live or dead.
Information from trapping and banding them have done away with that for me.

Years ago we had a gobbler that we thought was as a Jake. Very distinctive gobble that we called him the screamer. Finally killed him and had over 1 inch spurs and 11 inch beard. Figured he’d been shot before and had a damaged vocal cord of some sort.

I have killed what would be classified as 4-5 yr old easiest bird I ver killed and then a 2 yr old the hardest.

I remember some guys on a club that would call in jakes and shoot over their heads and scare the heck out of them. They said they never killed a 2 yr old after that. They were impossible to call in as 2 yr olds.

Yeah, I used to believe I could age them pretty good. I believe now, that i can tell if ones a jake, haha.

Y'all are talking measurements. The only time I know a measurement, other than will it hang on a limb or not, is if I have to check one in. Assessing age with certainty, from simple in the field measurements seems impossible. You may do so with some probability within a reasonable confidence limit, but you'd have to be able to exclude outliers based on other knowledge. I'm not seeing it in terms of science.

You can really get sideways trying to compare what you reckon from observation and experience versus the limited conclusions you can make from scientific study. I spend my professional time measuring and analyzing air pollutants scientifically. I often have to remind people what we actually know from having eliminated possibilities is different from the assumptions they can make from personal observation. The subjective observations are generally what we eventually pare down the data to find. Eventually. In between there is confusion if you try to make one match the other.

Remember how Lovett Williams was trashed over his idea that drumming was from rapidly vibrating tailfeathers? That was the appropriate guess based on what had been seen in other species. It was based on data erroneously applied to the turkey.

For a hunter, guesses must be made based on experience as the hunt progresses. Over time you develop a feel for it and prove it out by success. Talking yourself out of it based on what someone else says or a dubious data set is self-defeating.

I wonder is this tweener thing an indication that nest burning is more of an issue than they think and more than they can find with the studies they do.

I’ve killed a few jakes I would’ve sworn were mature birds as the hunt progressed. A buddy killed one I called in actin all grown up full strut, booming gobble, the works. Problem he was in sage grass we couldn’t see but the top 1/3 of the bird.

Gotta set them measuring sticks out like Ol hevi

I look for beard length. I want to make sure he has a long beard and not a nub. I do this because I have called up Jake’s that have had a booming gobble and long beards that have had weak gobbles. I don’t kill Jake’s but I could care less if he is a 2 year old or a six year old. If that beard is hanging it’s a done deal for me.

Howl = whild Bill

Full fan gobbling bird will get shot. Most of my hunts, I don’t see the beard. I’ve killed several 1”+ spurred birds with less than 4” beards “beard rot”.

I’ve done this over 40 years and I’m still having difficulty figuring out how to walk away from a 2 year old. Keep believing that brother…….if you really do, and I’ll gladly help keep him a 2 year old.

Struck one up one evening after a front passed through. He cut me off and full fan strutted up/peeked over about 30 yds with a stubby 4” beard. I kept looking at his beard but he didn’t act like or sound like a young bird, I smacked him and he was toting a pair of 1 3/8” spurs, weighed 22.5lbs

Y’all know the difference in how they walk. Turkeys are a lot like people, that’s what makes them fun to hunt

Y'all keep typing full fan like every bird you shoot throws it up. Must he some easy birds y'all hunting if they come up waving at you.




Anybody know what yhis thread is about now? Sure ain't where it started.

Carter - shooting over turkeys as jakes is one of the dumbest things i ever heard in hunting - whipping way too good for those guys
I also hear dumbies say before - i could call them in before season now i cant - because u already educated them u big dummy

I wasn’t in that club, those two were killers but didn’t wanna share. I guess you can say karma cause after that they weren’t killing either. LOL