Longest Beard

[Specklebelly]

I have turkey hunted for many years and have never shot one until this year.  I really don't know that much about turkeys but am definately now hooked.

My question is, mine has a little over a nine inch beard.  Is this average length or good sized one?

Second question, what is the longest beard you have ever shot?

[oktx]

I read somewhere  anything over 6in. could be considered a trophy class bird.  I have taken a 10.5 in. and a 9in.  My son has taken a 8in.

[justannie2]

9" is a good sized beard.

Longest I got was a 12 5/8" beard

[dougk]

First Tom was 10.5 inches.  But I am looking for a 14 incher. :-D

[nea243]

i took one this year that had two beards a 10'' and a 6''  

[flintlock]

A turkey with a nine inch beard is a good turkey...Have you ever noticed on the hunting shows that the hunter will pass on a 130 class deer....but not on a turkey with a 8 inch beard....Once a turkey has a 8 inch beard, he is probably a 3 year old bird....no need to pass on him....Until this year, my best was a 10 inch double bearded bird....I got lucky and killed one last week with a 11 1/2 inch beard that weighed 23 pounds....Doubt if I will ever kill one any bigger....

[dukkillr]

Beards don't indicate much, neither does weight.  The age of a turkey is best determined by spurs.

[wijim]

First Tom was 10.5 inches.  But I am looking for a 14 incher. :-D

so's my wife....

[wvbowman04]

I have killed 2 birds.  First was 10.5 and the second was 10.  I did shoot right over the biggest turkey i have ever seen this spring with my bow.  I couln't begin to estimate it but it made my 10.5 inch look small.

[joshco84]

my bird this spring had 9.5 which i consider a nice bird.  talking about a "trophy class" bird, in kansas to qualify for the state trophy program you take 2 times the beard, ten times the average of the spurs and one time the weight, if they then equall 65 or more it is a state trophy.  mine was 9.5 beard, 1.25 spurs, and 33 pounds. so i was a half a point off.

[SQUACKS]

if you want to take a turkey with the longest beard find the bird with the longest legs! after the beard gets long enough to drag in the dirt it can only get get longer if the turkeys legs get longer holding it further off the ground. ergo: a bird with longer legs can have a longer beard.

 i can now see a market for some gadget that can measure the length of a turkeys legs before you shoot! lol!

                                                       luck!

[buck460XVR]

if you want to take a turkey with the longest beard find the bird with the longest legs! after the beard gets long enough to drag in the dirt it can only get get longer if the turkeys legs get longer holding it further off the ground. ergo: a bird with longer legs can have a longer beard.

Pretty good summary...I've noticed over the years that the angle and exactly where the beard exits the body also has an influence on beard lenght. Up here long winters with hard crusty snow tend to make for shorter beard lengths come spring also. Like dukkillr stated, only true indication of age on a gobbler is spur length. Most of my heaviest birds had only 3/4" to 1" spurrs and were more than likely sub-ordinate  toms that had more time to eat in the spring. I have shot one tom with 1 3/4" spurrs and a coupla with 1 5/8'' and  none of them weighed over 23 # or had a beard over 10 ".

[kyelkhunter3006]

First Tom was 10.5 inches.  But I am looking for a 14 incher. :-D

so's my wife....

     LOL LOL  That sounds like a personal issue to me...... I'll just leave it at that (there's a bunch of other comments just trying to break out though!)   

[rocko]

First Tom was 10.5 inches.  But I am looking for a 14 incher. :-D

so's my wife....

Now thats funny right there!!   And my longest beard is right at 11 3/4 or 12. Cant remember exactly. Biggest oldest bird i ever killed only had a 9 and 3/4 inch beard.


chad

[BAP]

my best so far , had 2 beards 11.5 and 9.5 wieghed 25.6 lbs. and has 1 3/4 inch spurs...yes he is on the wall.....
 here in n.e.ky.. the average 2 year old has 9 or 10 inch beard  and weighs around 20 lbs. and has 3/4 to 1 inch spurs..
this will be my 20th spring season ,and i think the 2 year olds are the funnest birds to hunt they get all cocky and fired up ready to get in on the action that they didnt get the year before..

[jrnsuz]

My best was three years ago, Missouri Eastern with 13" beard, 1 and 15/16 " spurs and weighed a woppin' 18# Dang thing was so nasty the wife and kids wouldn't even eat it.

[oneshotonekill]

The longest beard recorded by NWTF is 22.5 inches shot in TX earlier this month.

http://www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/turkey_records.php

[oneshotonekill]

my bird this spring had 9.5 which i consider a nice bird.  talking about a "trophy class" bird, in kansas to qualify for the state trophy program you take 2 times the beard, ten times the average of the spurs and one time the weight, if they then equall 65 or more it is a state trophy.  mine was 9.5 beard, 1.25 spurs, and 33 pounds. so i was a half a point off.

Josh according to NWTF scoring you take the weight + twice the beard length + 10 times the spurs (both added together not the average).  As far as I know that is the standard method to score a turkey I never knew Kansas used it's own system.  According to NWTF your bird would score 33 + 19 + 25 (assuming both spurs were 1.25)=77