Turkey weight

I’ve done a little reading on this but it has been a while. Let’s stick to Easterns. What are average weights for tom turkeys? I think it’s a little like whitetail deer in that different regions have different numbers. Example I remember reading that turkeys in more mountainous areas like west Virginia and parts of the Appalachians might be a little leaner. Makes sense to me walking and flying around those mountains all the time. I’ve been hunting maybe 8 years and have gotten 4 turkeys, all of them mature toms of 3+ years judging by their spurs. I remember the one I shot 2 years ago was the dominant bird of this particular farm and had some long wicked spurs, he weighed 21 pounds. I shot one today that was a really nice bird, sharp spurs, and he weighed in at 26 pounds. I’m not sure where he was in the pecking order. I just know that right before I shot him I heard two toms gobble behind my blind about 80-90 yards I’m thinking. After they gobbled the three hens in front of my blind started heading that way and he followed. I got a shot on him about 40 yards away. I always measure spurs and beard, but the main reason I weighed this guy was when I picked him up I thought, oooofff, this is a heavy bird. His beard was 9.5 and spurs right at an inch.

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I’ve seen lots of people talking about spurs and beard length. The Hunting Public talks about it quite a bit. Neither have anything to do with how old the bird is. For example, I know a guy who shot one this spring with 1.75″ spurs, and only a 8″ beard. My bird had 7/8″ spurs and a 10″ beard (I forgot to weight it). Just like deer, some grow faster than others. I’ve also heard that the dominant bird would not weight as much as some of the others as he his spending more time fighting off other birds, etc. Not sure it is true or not. I would guess that a typical/average MN Tom weighs in around 22-23lbs. I think the real answer is, you just never know. Nice bird by the way! Congrats!

I’ve shot 7 toms and 3 jakes in 17 seasons. I’ve always taken a look at the length of the beard and spurs, but as Gerty stated there doesn’t necessarily seem to be much of a correlation between the two. The beard is more of a measuring stick to me than the spurs, as its the legal visual marker to harvest a wild turkey. Sort of like a buck having at least one antler at least 3 inches long or tail feathers on a rooster pheasant. I don’t usually weigh my turkeys, but a tom that is 20+ pounds is sizable bird.

From my experience and birds i’ve harvested the dominant bird tends to be on the light side if breed out. I’ve taken subordinate birds and seem to be heavier if we pulled a double the dominant bird. I will sometimes take the one not strutting.But really nevers matter to me, I never pass a Jake they all taste great to me. Which ever bird shows up first is how i decide :).

This year I took a Jake that was 20lbs. He was tank for a Jake my birds from NE 22 and 21.5 lbs. I’ve taken a few Jakes that scale out at 18 and a couple at 19.

I’ve also taken a handful of Tom’s that where 16lb range all breed out no food in the crop even.

Spurs will get you an idea how old they are but still not the best way to age them. Not sure if they have an exact way to age cause we always did the same and went by the spurs. More data coming out that is not always correct.

Congrats on the bird .

Hoyt4 wrote:

But really nevers matter to me, I never pass a Jake they all taste great to me. Which ever bird shows up first is how i decide

Same, if its a legal bearded turkey, I shoot it. Not fussy here given that you only get a few days to hunt one and its difficult to get one within range.

Gerty wrote:

Neither have anything to do with how old the bird is.

Hey Gerty I agree with everything you said with one exception. From what I’ve read in turkey biology books the spurs can age a bird in one way. A two year old tom will have big spurs on him in comparison to a jake. But the spurs will still be rounded on the end. In contrast a bird that makes it past two years will have spurs with a sharp point on the end. I’ve been turkey hunting 8 or 9 years, I’ve gotten 4 toms. And surprisingly they’ve all been big mature birds with nice hooks on them. I’m still waiting to get my first jake!

I have killed MN birds in deep woods and woodlots along corn and bean fields. My experience is birds living along corn fields tend to be about 3 pounds heavier than deep woods birds – for the same age class.