?? of scoring turkeys

[kanerZ71]

I shot my first tom in spring 08. I didn't know anything about turkey hunting when I went. Only reason I went is because a buddy asked to apply. So I did and our party drew tags. Anyways...I ended up shooting a HUGE bird!! 33 lbs. 9 inch beard and 1.5 inch spurs. When I registered it I asked the kid working if he would weigh just out of curiosity and he said he was too busy. Therefore, I went back to my buddies house to gut it out and we weighed it prior to gutting it using one of his scales. A couple weeks later (after I had it processed) I spoke to a CO and he said I should have called a CO because it was close if not the state record turkey. After researching the NWTF site, I have not found a bird bigger than 30 lbs. Enough of me babbling....How is a turkey scored???? Does it go solely by weight??

[DonBo]

Here it is straight from the NWTF HSOforum.

http://www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/how_to_score.html

It is weight, plus the beard length x 2, plus the total length of both spurs x 10. Add all these together for your score.

33 lbs and 1 1/2" spurs are huge! 9" beard is only average.

The heaviest bird recorded in Minnesota is 29.92 lbs.

There are only 5 listed with spur length over 1 1/2".

[eric29]

That would give u a score of 81 and 4th on the registered list. I hope you didnt use your friends bathroom scale bc i dont think theyd accept that. Are you sure the scale was accurate bc thats a huge weight for a bird with only a nine beard and the scale needs to be a certified so did it have a sticker on it that said it was inspected by so so.

[kanerZ71]

No it wasn't a certified scale. We told the CO how we weighed and he said that would be fine as far as he was concerned for MN. We did use a bathroom scale but the way we did was my buddy stood on it and got his weight then grabbed the bird and got on it. Not the most accurate I know but like I said it was my first time and didn't any knowledge. I would say I'm a bit more educated now!!! I saw a bigger one the day before I got this monster but didn't have a clear shot so I passed on it. Hopefully I can draw a tag for spring and get another one!!!!

Thanks for the responses!!

A score of 81 and 4th on the list is just for MN correct????

[eric29]

Yep ur correct and thats only for a typical bird. I think there are a few atypicals that reach up to about 125 for a score shot in MN. Atypical meaning multiple beards or more than 2 spurs i believe.

[sticknstring]

That's a huge bird. You'll have a hard time shooting one better than that. I hit a butterball a few years back in MN that I know would've approached mid-upper 20's. I'm still sick about it...

Beard length and weight are not correlated. Most beards will not exceed 10-11" as the tips wear off as the bird feeds.

[SPOOKY2]

I shot one up near St. Cloud in 2007 that weighed 26.5 lbs, had a 10.5" beard, 1 3/8" and 1 1/2" spurs. He's looking at me from the top of the entertainment center right now in his full strut mode. My wife hates it! I don't think I'll every shoot a bigger one. Maybe! I think I scored mine at 76.25 which is a good bird in anyones book. The next day a first time hunter shot a bird near the same spot that weighed 28.5 gutted and had a 12.5" beard and 1.5" spurs. She didn't know what she had. She and her husband weighed it at Cub Foods after it was gutted and it weighed that much. That was her first bird! Guts weigh 3 or 4 pounds on a bird that big. She may have had a state record bird. Anyway, don't weigh them on a bathroom scale. Go to a bait store, meat market or supermarket. My neighbor weighed the state record White Crappie out of Coon Lake a few years back. If you want it in the book and certified use a certified scale. I got mine weighed by my taxidermist. Nice bird though!