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Tennessee Hunting Forums
Long Beards & Spurs
Let’s talk spurs
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<blockquote data-quote="Popcorn" data-source="post: 5336439" data-attributes="member: 20151"><p>Having raised poultry all my life I know that a spur never stops growing but the harder a bird works for his food the more wear he puts on them. Walking through bramble and rocks and crossing sticks also wears them away. So with that know that a longer spur likely denotes a bird that has had an easier go of it. My pen raised gobblers that stand at a feeder grow some pretty big ones and that can be devastating to a hen when he slips off during mating and cuts her back and thigh. The spur is porous and is filled with bad bacteria that is why a battle wound often sets up a canker, a pocket of puss or causes a slow death. I measure spurs cause it has been "the way" since before I turkey hunted but its never done anything for me. 1.5 on one side and 1.25 on the other is my best. I did take a one spurred bird two years ago.</p><p></p><p>Beards never stop growing either, beards and spurs are essentially the same just in different form. They constantly wear and break off easily and like spurs can be an indicator of how easy the bird has had it or how rough it has been. Birds that strut a lot wear their beards more than those that dont. Birds that live in open timber and clover patches will have longer beards than those that live thick and scratch out overgrown edges and gravel bars. hens will pick at a beard, some gobblers tolerate it others do not this may be related to how thick some beards appear, Then there is beard rot which really throws a kink in it all. I have killed 2 with multi beards, neither was very impressive as they had less total beard than most single bearded birds. I have a 4 year old pen raised gobbler who keeps his beard broken off about 4 inches on the feed trough and a 2 year old with a lower feeder that has what looks to be 8 inches so it is what it is.</p><p>The hunt experience has always been my gage, that and weight, a 25 pound wild gobbler is a big bird but I have taken older ones that didnt make 20 lbs</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Popcorn, post: 5336439, member: 20151"] Having raised poultry all my life I know that a spur never stops growing but the harder a bird works for his food the more wear he puts on them. Walking through bramble and rocks and crossing sticks also wears them away. So with that know that a longer spur likely denotes a bird that has had an easier go of it. My pen raised gobblers that stand at a feeder grow some pretty big ones and that can be devastating to a hen when he slips off during mating and cuts her back and thigh. The spur is porous and is filled with bad bacteria that is why a battle wound often sets up a canker, a pocket of puss or causes a slow death. I measure spurs cause it has been "the way" since before I turkey hunted but its never done anything for me. 1.5 on one side and 1.25 on the other is my best. I did take a one spurred bird two years ago. Beards never stop growing either, beards and spurs are essentially the same just in different form. They constantly wear and break off easily and like spurs can be an indicator of how easy the bird has had it or how rough it has been. Birds that strut a lot wear their beards more than those that dont. Birds that live in open timber and clover patches will have longer beards than those that live thick and scratch out overgrown edges and gravel bars. hens will pick at a beard, some gobblers tolerate it others do not this may be related to how thick some beards appear, Then there is beard rot which really throws a kink in it all. I have killed 2 with multi beards, neither was very impressive as they had less total beard than most single bearded birds. I have a 4 year old pen raised gobbler who keeps his beard broken off about 4 inches on the feed trough and a 2 year old with a lower feeder that has what looks to be 8 inches so it is what it is. The hunt experience has always been my gage, that and weight, a 25 pound wild gobbler is a big bird but I have taken older ones that didnt make 20 lbs [/QUOTE]
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