bowsniper Report post Posted May 8, 2009 I don't know much about turkeys, but I always thought that long beards and big spurs went together, and short beards and small spurs went together. So a couple of weeks ago when I arrowed what I thought was a jake, with a thin short beard, I was pretty surprised when he had one inch spurs. But not as surprised as I was last week, when my son, kidbowhunter, arrowed a big gobbler (24 lbs) with a thick 9" beard, that had 1/8" nubs for spurs. Somebody, please educate this confused, displaced coues hunter! Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azpackhorse Report post Posted May 8, 2009 It is possible that your son's bird wore his spurs down if he lived in a rocky/rough country. Was his fan full? Jake's fans will have the middle feathers longer than the rest of the primary feathers. Your bird was more than likely a 2-3 year old bird, also beards can be damaged and shortened. Hope this helps a little. Aging Turkeys can be very difficult but it sounds to me like your son's bird was an older bird that wore his spurs down. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bowsniper Report post Posted May 8, 2009 Thanks for the response. Yeah, both birds had full fans, no shorter feathers. Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted May 9, 2009 Apparently spur length is a much more reliable way to judge turkey age than beard length. And as Brian pointed out, the jakes have center tail feathers that stick up, so your bird was likely 2-3 years old based on 1 inch spurs. here is a link I found helpful when I was searcing for turkey aging info: http://www.wildturkeyzone.com/articles/aging.htm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
