Judge a gobbler’s age in the field

Hunters judge turkeys by a collection of characteristics, including weight, spur length, beard count and beard length. Every hunter wants to harvest an old, trophy gobbler, but, knowing a tom’s age is a tough task in the field — before and even after the kill. However, a tom’s age can be estimated fairly accurately by following a few general guidelines.

A turkey’s beard and spur length is highly variable and is controlled by age. For the first two years, beards and spurs will grow very vigorously to reach certain levels. When turkeys reach adulthood at two years of age, growth of those appendages slows significantly out to ages three, four or five. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission uses a set of general guidelines for determining the age of turkeys that can be very useful for hunters wanting to tag an old bird during the season.

Jakes are juvenile, 1-year-old male birds that are usually easy to encounter in the woods. They will have beards less than seven inches long, and they will sometimes have a beard that’s barely more than a small tuft of hair. Jakes will have very small spurs that will be buttons less than a half-inch long.

Turkeys that are two years old are considered sub-adults and will have beards between seven and 10 inches long and spurs slightly less than an inch long. The majority of gobblers killed every year are from the 2-year-old class. They do plenty of gobbling and are the most likely to come to calls early in the season.

As turkeys age to three and beyond, the beard length extends to 12 inches, but it will rarely grow beyond 12 or 13 inches because it will touch the ground as they walk, and excess fibers will be rubbed away. Turkeys sometimes grow multiple beards, but it has nothing to do with age.

Turkeys three years and older will have spurs at least 1 ¼ inches long. In some cases, spur length has been documented to be more than two inches, but this has not been correlated to excessive age.

The best way to tell if a gobbler is older than three and into the 4- and 5-year-old category is to look at the tips of their tail and wing feathers, which will be severely worn and ragged from years of strutting.