Im just wondering if anyone has ever passed on a gobbler?? I NEVER see hunters on tv pass up an opportunity to shoot a tom even if he has a short beard or messed/missing tail feathers. Is there such thing is managing turkeys where you guys hunt?? 
Good question…. One time, I was trying to kill the boss tom and ended up passing on a couple of other ones in the process. Never did get em’ but ended up killing a different tom on the last day of the season.
Couple of my buddies only hunt “mature toms” (beards more than 11 inches long) and end up passing on a lot of birds. So I guess you can manage them to a certain extent just like bucks.
so does that mean that if a tom is aggressive enough, but not worth shooting, you just let him come in and rock the decoys 
A few years ago I had a pair of Jakes come in and maul the heck out of the decoy. It was the first day and the first hour of the season so I passed. I knew that a big feller was still in the area, and I tried hard for the next four days to get a good shot at him. Several times I thought I had a good setup, and every time he’d change a little something or hang up just out of range. I left the field that last night humbled, and kicking myself in the [censored] for passing on those birds the first day. I caught the beard fever chasing the “One” for five days, so bad that I had no thoughts of filling with any other.
Since then I have changed my thinking. Food plots, tree plantings, maintaining the feeder, and even the scouting pre season all adds up. For all the time and work a guy puts into it, every bird is a trophy, and every bird down is part of some great memories!!
CW
personally i wont shoot a jake but put a longbeard in front of me and its over 
Never shot a Jake, Never passed a Tom.
This is a very good question. I guess since I hunt on land that will be hunted by others, I take any tom I can get! If I were to have my own land to hunt exclusively, I might consider passing some toms to see how big they can really get! And since I hunt them mainly with archery equipment, I would be foolish to pass up a nice shot at an adult tom! 
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Im just wondering if anyone has ever passed on a gobbler?? I NEVER see hunters on tv pass up an opportunity to shoot a tom even if he has a short beard or messed/missing tail feathers. Is there such thing is managing turkeys where you guys hunt??
This question has been posed to hunters and wildlife biologists alike for many years, and there’s no clear-cut answers. What is clear, is that turkeys aren’t deer, and deer aren’t turkeys, in terms of management, biology, and population growth.
It is far more difficult to “field-judge” the size/age of a wild turkey than a whitetail deer. Size is deceiving as they can readily change their appearance via their stance/posture, beard length is often more an indicator of good nutrition/genetics, and one of the better gauges of a gobbler’s age, in spur-length, is difficult to determine and/or follow while the turkey is alive in a hunting situation.
Their population dynamics are also much different. A study done by Lovett Williams on turkey age and longevity shows how rare the 3 and 4 year old birds are. This population structure, while somewhat like deer, may see few/no turkeys ever reach an older stage due to natural predation and environmental conditions, independent of hunting.
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“Starting from the egg, less than half the eggs will hatch. Only 30% of poults will live another two weeks and begin to fly up to roost. From that point, there is only a 50% chance of the bird living one more year. So,for every 1,000 turkey eggs laid, 457 will hatch, 137 poults will reach 2 weeks, and 69 will reach one year. Of the 69, only 34 will become 2 years old, 17 will become 3 years old, and 9 will become 4 years old. So a typical turkey population turns over every 4 years. An unproductive turkey population would be nearly extinct in only 5 years. If you calculated the longevity of the average turkey, beginning with the egg stage, the mean life span would be only a few days.”
Furthermore, killing the boss tom doesn’t mean it’s a bigger or higher scoring bird. In rockier parts of the mountain west, spurs are worn down. Anywhere at anytime, poor nutrition can lead to “beard-rot,” or broken beards. It can also lead to lighter/leaner birds. So can intense competition amongst many male birds in a small area. We’ve killed a triple-bearded bird that weighed 17lbs and had 1 1/8″ spurs that wasn’t the “boss.” I’ve killed the meanest boss turkey in the flock that weighed 24lbs, had a 7″ beard and 1/2″ spurs.
In the immortal words of Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland:
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Only a damn fool passes on a longbeard.
While I won’t go as far as saying that, I admit that I’m biased towards taking the first longbeard I have an ample opportunity at. Too many times in the distant past had I passed on birds only to come up frustrated and empty-handed. I don’t need to kill a turkey every year, but it is my personal goal to do so.
It’s established that because of predation, biology, and population dynamics that it’s more difficult to “manage” for older turkeys. Also, it’s established that older turkeys don’t necessarily mean higher scoring turkeys, neither does shooting the “boss-tom”.
These are just some of the reasons I personally choose to take the first longbeard I call-in or hunt.
Joel
I passed on a couple last year but it was becasue I was waiting for a chance to get the boy out with his tag. Hard enough to get drawn but hard missing school classes too.
a few years back i passed on a Long Beard the 1st morning of my hunt. there was good reason though…. “Ol’ Coke Bottle” was still walking around and when i was scouting the day before i knew he was the bird i was after. Anyway, long story short on the 5th day of the hunt and playing cat and mouse w/ OCB, i ended up shooting the Tom i had passed the 1st day. this bird had an 11″ beard and OCB’s beard made this beard seem small.
OCB and i had a history from 2 yrs prior and he walked w/ a limp from our first encounter when i had shot at him. to this day i don’t know why i didn’t wait for a better shot… i guess it just comes down to experience. I didn’t wait for him to stop and took the shot when his head was down and while he was walking. It was my 2nd year hunting turkeys… but still not an excuse.
I guess it was a great lesson for me. I have my doubts that i would pass on another Longbeard. Unless I see a BOSS again like OCB and get it in my head that he’s going down.
Patience is key when chasing Toms.
I passed on one three years ago. I had vacation Thurs through the weekend. I went out Wed. after work and had one come in with a small beard. I passed on it because I figured if I filled my tag my wife would put me to work on the rest of my days off. I never got another chance that season and I really worked my butt off trying. I should have shot the first one and let my wife put me to work, it would have been alot easier. Never again.
i always pass on jakes early in a season, but i will never pass on a longbeard. hopefully he’s at least a 3-year old, but i have shot a lot of 2-year olds; they are all trophys in my book.
too many things can happen to cut into your odds as a season progresses – like weather, henning up, unexpected hunting pressure (i dont have exclusive rights on some places i hunt), etc.
besides, if i tag out early in a season, i can always call for my buddies or go walleye fishing the rest of my vacation.
My first year turkey hunting I only had the weekend to hunt. Saturday morning set up about 15 feet into the woods along a field and called in 5 Jakes to the edge..easy pickins. However Mr Big Tom was about 80 yards away with a couple ladies. I held off hoping to get a crack at the tom but never did. No regrets.
I think another reason why many people don’t pass up turkeys when they get the oppertunity is the turkey season is usually only a week, while bow season is 4 months leading to more oppertunities and like my dad said above a bigger turkey in the field may be the leading cause of passing up a long beard in attempts to get a longer beard
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