How old is big turkey?

[mnhunter2]

Just got back from Iowa and we got one tom that weighed 27#, 11.5" beard with spurs that 1 11/16 long, its my biggest bird ever and I was wondering how old a bird this big would be? What would you think he would have weighed if I could have shot him a month earlier?

[Borch]

Congrats on an awsome bird!

My guess would be a 4-5 year old bird.

Those are some serious hooks!

[Wanderer]

All I can think is: What a pig!

Congrats! Full mount to come?

[Scott M]

Gobbler aging gets really difficult after age 2. Spring harvested gobblers can be separated into subadult and adult age classes based on either external spur measurements or plumage characteristics. Beyond age 2 even spur length measurements can be widely variably with a great deal of standard measurement error.

One study showed that in Eastern subspecies an external spur length of <12.4 mm correctly identified all subadult gobblers and 24.5mm into 2 and 3/+ age classes with high error rates.

Growth is just such a highly variable process. Habitat can wear down beards, plumage is even length in primary fan feathers after the first year, and spurs can be highly variable.

Congrats on the giant bird. I'll bet those hooks really had some nice curve to them.

[Hotspotter]

Let's see some pics! I want to see those hooks!

That's an incredible bird. If you haven't considered it, that would be a wonderful bird to mount. Iowa grows 'em big, esp. weight-wise. Every year, they shoot a handful of birds approaching the 30lb mark.

Joel