Just curious what you consider a "good" score and what would be a "trophy"

A "good" bird..20 lbs/10"beard/1.25" spurs

A trophy would be

22 lbs or larger

11 or longer beard

1.375" spurs or longer.

In my book, any longbeard is a trophy. You can't necessarily judge a trophy by a score. I've killed birds that weigh 16 pounds, but have spurs over an inch. I've killed birds that weighed over 20 pounds, but had only a 2 to 6 inch beards and spurs under an inch, thus lowering the score. No, they were not jakes. If you are dead set on scores, I would say any bird scoring in the 50's or higher is a great trophy, but I'll take any longbeard and be proud of it. I will say this about north Texas Rios compared to south Texas Rios. IMO, the north Texas birds are a little larger and the fans are prettier. From what I have seen and killed, the fans are much lighter in color, almost the color of a Merriams. Of course this may not be true in all areas of north Texas.

Spurs are the ONLY true measurment of a turkeys "trophy" status.

If you want to see a hunter that knows nothing about turkey hunting expose himself, then listen to him expound about the big beard on the dead turkey.

Not to say that I won't comment on a paintbrush but it' no indication of age.

I agree and disagree with you bama. I think we all love to see long spurs. We all know that indicates an older mature bird. That is the first thing most of us look at when we approach our kill. Most of us do prefer to take a 3 to 5 yr. old bird with limbhanger hooks, but that shouldn't be the only aspect of a bird being a trophy. Do you think I'm passing on an 18 pound 2 yr. old with a 9 inch beard just because he doesn't have inch long spurs? No way. In my eyes, he is a trophy also. I do like long beards. I do like full beautiful fans. I'll also have to admit, I do like long hooks, but that's only part of the trophy. Now, if I were to mount a gobbler, he would have to have at least 1 1/2 inch spurs, but I don't plan on mounting one.

I tend to agree on the spur length as being a measuring tool of of trophy status. Each sub-species is a bit different. 1.25" spurs on an Osceola is fairly commom, while on a Merriams, that would be a true trophy.


Gman

Thanks! I'm definitely not looking for a trophy number. I was just curious because almost all of the birds on our place the last few years were HUUUGE. All over 20lbs minimum and most have the long paint brushes and also the big spurs. We aren't seeing the numbers we used to so I'm probably not going to be picky this year.

I will say this about north Texas Rios compared to south Texas Rios. IMO, the north Texas birds are a little larger and the fans are prettier. From what I have seen and killed, the fans are much lighter in color, almost the color of a Merriams. Of course this may not be true in all areas of north Texas. [/quote]

I will agree with you for the most part on those colors, although i have seen a few rios in the grasslands with darker colored fans. The same way in South TX i've seen birds with lighter fans. I usually go for the ones with the big full lighter fans. The last goobler I killed in the grasslands was huge..about 22 ponds and tail tips almost snow white..lighter than a merriams fan of mine.

I guess if I had a ton of gobblers on my property in Louisiana I would be a little more picky. I would probably target more older mature birds, but I don't have that luxury. I may have 2 or 3 longbeards on my place each season, so picky is not in my vocabulary. Some years I may have only one. Of course I will not shoot jakes. If it has a long beard, then he is a target. Same thing goes when hunting the Grasslands. Now when I go on a pay hunt in Texas, I may be a little more selective, but that depends on how many birds are at that particular place.

Tjack, the two I killed last year in the Grasslands had almost white colored tips. They were both beautiful birds. Probably the prettiest gobblers I have ever killed. Every gobbler I have killed in south Texas were much darker, still very pretty though. I'm sure the colors vary from place to place. I love hunting the Easterns here in LA., but it's hard to beat the beauty of the light buffed colored Rios.

I would say a bird that scores over 60 would be a base line. A 10 inch beard, 1 inch spurs and a 20 lb bird will score 60. For all that dont know , it is total of both spur lenght X 3 beard X 2 and Weight. I have one bird that breaks into the 80,s and 15 in the 70,s the most of the rest are in the 60,s with a few that has beard rot that are in the 50,s. I would say a bird in the 60,s is like a 140 whitetail 70,s more like a book deer and 80,s is like 200 inch whitetail.

Did you mean the total of both spurs x 10 instead of 3?

ok bama ....we are in agreement on the spurs....the beard is usually an afterthought to me.....besides I make it a point to never be in a postion where a fellow hunter might expose themselves...

here is a beard that got my attn......not a paintbrush....but it measured 22.5 inches....it was an eastern killed in e.texas back in 2007....the boy that killed it was a neighbor of mine at one time.....I don't know if he ever got it certified w/ the nwtf but, he had it checked and measured by a game warden and went home with it....someone told him that turkey might be a record and he drove to a regional checkstation to get it certified and it had broken off 5 inches of the beard....
...long story short because it had been measured and photographed it would still be certified as the longest beard ever taken in the us.... numero uno .......also where he killed that turkey ...there is probably not 25 turkeys w/in 10 miles of there. I want to say it had some pretty good spurs too. 1 1/4 and 1 1/2

Wow. That is amazing.

yep... been hunting turkeys most of my adult life and never killed one over 11 1/4 inches for a beard ( an alabama turkey btw) I am pretty sure that was one of ( if not the first ) turkey he ever killed in the spring.

I killed one like that years ago but
the long part was only 17 inches

It broke off to about 10 inches.

Killed a No. TX bird in '09 that had 1-7/16" spurs, and weighed a little over 22 lbs.

I would say Hunter 1 turkey dead

total spur x 10 beard x2 and weight all added together