what's a good spur length on a turkey?

[guywhofishes]

I've got them stacked up like fish in a barrel so I might as well be selective and bag myself a trophy.

What's your biggest? (so I can beat it)

And longest beard length?

 

[Mort]

I've got them stacked up like fish in a barrel so I might as well be selective and bag myself a trophy.

What's your biggest? (so I can beat it)

And longest beard length?

Ah dude...don't go there...this can get ugly fast........lol

 

[LBrandt]

:;:stirthepot

 

[guywhofishes]

the fish in a barrel part was a joke

I am curious what a long spur/beard is though.

::boxing::

 

[Big Iron]

10" beard is my personal best. I cant remember what the spur length was.

 

[guywhofishes]

wow - 10” seems like a long beard

 

[dust in the wind]

Mine was just under 10” and spurs were 1 1/8 inch

 

[Duckslayer100]

This is an excerpt from a 2011 article, but you get the gist:

[FONT=&quot]The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) keeps records on this sort of thing for those of us who care, and we do. For hunters who register their birds, it's a way to share trophy statistics about the gobblers we love to hunt. What are the longest registered spurs for each of the four prominent stateside subspecies?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]RIO GRANDE: Three different people have registered Rio spurs that went 2.0000 inches. All three turkeys were killed in Texas.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]MERRIAM'S: The longest registered Merriam's spurs measured 2.2500 inches. Richard G. Brooks shot that gobbler in Meade, South Dakota back on April 1, 1988.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]OSCEOLA: Ironically enough, Patton Perdue shot his record registered Osceola spurs in Osceola, Florida. The total taped at 2.1250 inches on April 13, 2008. In fact, 7 of the top 10 came from this particular Sunshine State location.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]EASTERN: According to the NWTF, the longest registered spurs for an Eastern wild turkey are 2.2500 inches. Two hunters killed gobblers with those measurements. James E. Lewis tagged his on April 22, 1999 in Franklin, Kentucky. Bill Winn took his in Van Buren, Iowa on May 20, 2001.[/FONT]

 

[guywhofishes]

gaaaa!!!!! 2"!!!!

- - - Updated - - -

new record - 2 9/16-inch spurs



http://themaconcountynews.com/record-breaking-turkey-displayed-national-convention/

 

[Enslow]

19 inches!!!

 

[shorthairman]

If you get a bird with 9-10" beard and 1" plus spurs thats pretty darn good in my book. My longest spurs were 1.25" on a 24lb bird, he was old, and must have drug his beard on the ground for so long that he wore some off as it was only 8.5". My son shot a 10"er with just under 1" spurs. I shot a bird with a double beard once, and a friend shot a bearded hen with 6" beard. Good luck!

 

[huntinforfish]

If you get a bird with 9-10" beard and 1" plus spurs thats pretty darn good in my book. My longest spurs were 1.25" on a 24lb bird, he was old, and must have drug his beard on the ground for so long that he wore some off as it was only 8.5". My son shot a 10"er with just under 1" spurs. I shot a bird with a double beard once, and a friend shot a bearded hen with 6" beard. Good luck!

Trans Turkey?

 

[KDM]

I don't really look at beard or spur length. I go after the dominant bird if there is more than one. If there's only one......THAT'S the dominant bird. Heaviest bird I've shot was sans spur on one side and a 3/4 on the other. Weighed 21 lbs and had an 8 inch beard. Walked roughshod over the 4 other toms in the bunch so he got the nod.....and the pattern of #2's. LOL!! Good Luck!!

 

[SDMF]

I wish we could still use rimfire on turkeys...........

 

[Maddog]

From this spring's turkey 26" of beard. Can you beat that?



- - - Updated - - -

My longest spur to date is 1-3/8"

- - - Updated - - -

My heaviest bird to date weighed 26#.

- - - Updated - - -

I take turkey hunting seriously. Ha Ha !!

 

[dust in the wind]

Trans Turkey?

lol - I have seen a couple of bearded ladies out hunting before. I'm talking turkeys here, not the ones at the freak show tents at the fair.

One was within range but I didn't know she had a beard until it was too late for an archery shot.

 

[guywhofishes]

I’ve got one on camera with a bizarre bush hanging out front

so you never know - maybe Grandma Marjo will beat it

 

[Fishmission]

killed a 3 beard years ago. Biggest spur in that 1.25 range. Longest beard-was an 11" from Missouri, heaviest was a 23# My dad killed a 24+ back in the day. We had turkeys galore nearby in the 0zarks where I grew up and allot of private land to roam. Haven't turkey hunted there in a long time. Makes me think I need a spring road trip.

 

[JMF]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37006[/ATTACH]

This is the benchmark for roosters.

 

[pointer]

In my vast experience of turkey hunting, I got lucky and shot a 23 lb 10.5 inch bearded turkey didn't get the spur length, that was years ago the game and fish said it was 3.5 years old, yes it was banded, and you could use a rim fire at the time, biggest of the two I have shot in 20 some years