It seems like everyone describes certain gobblers as “big, old turkeys with beards dragging on the ground.” Does beard length really indicate age? — Tommy Ceelow, Atlanta, Ga.
Here’s the easiest answer: No. Now, the explanation. Field-judging the age of a gobbler by using beard length is almost impossible. unless the turkey is a jake and has a typical 3- to 4-inch jake beard. The beards of male turkeys grow about 4 to 5 inches per year, so a 2-year-old gobbler will have a typical beard of about 9 inches. However, 3- , 4- and 5-year-old turkeys don’t have 13- to 18-inch beards. Why? As you mentioned, those beards drag on the ground and get stepped on, and the filaments at the end break off, leaving older turkeys with average beards of 9 to 10 inches. Of course, some are slightly longer or shorter. The only true measure of a turkey’s age is its spur length.
True, beard length is not an indicator of a gobbler’s age, but most turkey hunters value the size of a gobblers beard as a primary indicator of trophy quality of a bird. In a hunting situation, it is generally impossible for a hunter to evaluate a gobbler’s spurs while the bird is “on the hoof”, so to speak, but that is not the case with beards, which are usually quite visible. Often, a hunter will have no idea how old a gobbler is until he walks up to the downed bird and grabs the legs and looks at the spurs. It is often just the luck of the draw to find you have shot an old, long-spurred gobbler. Hence, many hunters, when given multiple birds to choose from, will pick out the bird with the longest and/or thickest beard to shoot. It might end up being a five-year-old,…or a two-year-old.
Regarding both beards and spurs, the fact is that their size is often a function of genetics and their condition a function of habitat type. In some regions and gene pools, gobblers will have much better developed beards and spurs than in others. A five-year-old Merriams gobbler from the Rocky Mountain region will often have a worn-off, nine-inch beard and one inch spurs, while a two-year-old Osceola from the sandy soils of Florida might have an eleven inch beard and inch-and-a-quarter spurs.
The bottom line is that the characteristics that define a trophy gobbler are, and should be, found “in the eyes of the beholder”. When all is said and done, they are all trophies.