"3 year old bird's"

[lil hunter]

Poults are babies. Jakes are 1 year birds.(the birds born last summer are this years jakes) Then theres 2 year olds, and 3 years olds after that. I'm not exactly sure on the life span of a turkey, but I know 3 years old is a pretty mature gobbler. I am pretty sure spurs are one of the best indications about age. Jakes usually have about 1/2" or less, 2 year olds have an inch or less, and 3 & older have longer than an inch. That will not always be exact though.

[Guest Squirrelbuster]

Re: \"3 year old bird\'s\"

I did a research project on turkeys not too long ago, and according to statistics, in the wild, most turkeys don't live past 2 years old. But, in the wild they can live to be 5+ years old, although this would be extremely rare to see.

As far as the T.V. hunts always being 3 year olds, this is probably because all these hunts are done in guide services where the birds are managed and not hunted as much so they have more of a chance to live to be 3 year olds.

Hope this helps.

[Rhino]

Re: \"3 year old bird\'s\"

lil's got you straight on the polts through 3 year old birds.

The hunters on the videos are looking at the spurs when they make that statement. That's the best way to make an age estimate of adult gobblers for the Eastern, Osceola and Rio Grand species. This is how it generally goes (at least down here) for Eastern birds. Jakes have short nubs for spurs. 2 year old birds are between 1/2" and 1" spurs. 3 year old birds have between 1" and 1 1/4" spurs. 4+ year old birds are 1 1/4" or longer spurs. Some areas of the country may be a little different so take that into consideration too. Merriams turkeys don't have much for spurs no matter how old they are.