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Heaviest Bird

RoyalPrudent

RoyalPrudent

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What's the heaviest TN bird that you've actually weighed. I killed a suburban bird one time that was right at 23 lbs. Most of the birds I kill away from agriculture and bird feeders are under 20. I'd love to hear the actual, factual weights of birds you've killed.

(Leave out the estimates if you didn't actually weigh it. I won't believe you anyway.)
 
This is my heaviest bird weighing 23.4 lbs. Killed in East Tn hunting with knightrider. It wasn't a guesstimate it was actually weighed.
 

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My son shot one last year here in Williamson county that I weighed at 24.5 lb.

I have killed a couple of 25 lb birds up north, but not in Tennessee. Years ago, in Ohio, I went to a check station where all birds were required to be manually checked and weighed. The largest bird checked that day so far was 32 lb. That's a big bird.

One spring in Michigan I hunted near a corn field which had not been cut from the previous fall. I killed a jake who was filled with corn. That jake weighed 20.5 lb, which is more than some mature gobblers I have killed.
 
rem270 said:
Did you full body mount that joker?
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nope. not sure why that one was so big. Killed a bunch of birds off that property (which is mostly ag fields) and he was by far the biggest. have killed 2 others off there right at 26lbs but most of them are usually in the 22-23lb range early season and in the 18-20lb range in late season.
 
24-15 on opening day on a mixed cedar/hardwood ridge. I remember the previous fall was a huge bumper crop of red oak acorns that held through the whole winter, all the birds I killed that year were heavier than average.
 
Andy S. said:
Over the last 30 years, I have seen plenty of 100% wild turkeys weighed on digital fish scales, mostly from west and middle TN. Biggest at 23.5 lbs, with most between 18-21 lbs.
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On my little spot on the TN side I killed 2 last year that were probably 16 & 18 lb longbeards (yes that was a guesstimate). The bigger bird had 9.5" beard and smaller had 8.5". I'd say they were both just 2 year old birds. And it was towards the end of season so a little run down. On my place in KY I know of one bird that was 26 lbs (by scale) but they are usually in the same range you see of 18-22/23 lbs.
 
26.2lbs is my personal biggest, 26.0 2nd biggest. My cousin did shoot one that was 27.0 on my farm back in the early 2000s, but he weighed it himself and I didn't personally see the weight.

Most of our 2yos plus weigh 21-23lbs. We raise our eyebrows anytime something over 24lbs is killed. Usually the huge birds are the ones that are almost unkillable with a harem of hens early season, and have lost a lot of weight toward the end of the season when they are vulnerable.
 
Question for some of you that have killed some big birds. Were any of them with another longbeard and you could tell it was the bigger bird is why you shot it or were they alone? The one above that I killed in East TN when we first spotted them almost a mile away we were so high up in elevation that I could tell one was bigger than the other as we watched them down below us. He was the main one strutting and that's the one I shot when they came in 1.5 hrs later. But as they came in close enough to kill I couldn't tell which was bigger and just shot the most mouthy one and the one strutting. That's the only time I've been able to tell the difference in sizes was that hunt.
 
Biggest Tennessee bird was a little over 23 lbs. I killed one in Ky that weighed 27. It had the widest beard i have ever seen. It was with 3 hens when we spotted it and it looked huge through the binoculars.
 
rem270 said:
Question for some of you that have killed some big birds. Were any of them with another longbeard and you could tell it was the bigger bird is why you shot it or were they alone? The one above that I killed in East TN when we first spotted them almost a mile away we were so high up in elevation that I could tell one was bigger than the other as we watched them down below us. He was the main one strutting and that's the one I shot when they came in 1.5 hrs later. But as they came in close enough to kill I couldn't tell which was bigger and just shot the most mouthy one and the one strutting. That's the only time I've been able to tell the difference in sizes was that hunt.
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I honestly dont remember it was so long ago on the biggest one. The other 2 big ones I do remember were solo with a handful of hens. Both of those I shot late in the afternoon
 
rem270 said:
Question for some of you that have killed some big birds. Were any of them with another longbeard and you could tell it was the bigger bird is why you shot it or were they alone? The one above that I killed in East TN when we first spotted them almost a mile away we were so high up in elevation that I could tell one was bigger than the other as we watched them down below us. He was the main one strutting and that's the one I shot when they came in 1.5 hrs later. But as they came in close enough to kill I couldn't tell which was bigger and just shot the most mouthy one and the one strutting. That's the only time I've been able to tell the difference in sizes was that hunt.
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All my largest birds were not with other toms when they were killed.
 
rem270 said:
Question for some of you that have killed some big birds. Were any of them with another longbeard and you could tell it was the bigger bird is why you shot it or were they alone? The one above that I killed in East TN when we first spotted them almost a mile away we were so high up in elevation that I could tell one was bigger than the other as we watched them down below us. He was the main one strutting and that's the one I shot when they came in 1.5 hrs later. But as they came in close enough to kill I couldn't tell which was bigger and just shot the most mouthy one and the one strutting. That's the only time I've been able to tell the difference in sizes was that hunt.
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My 2 biggest were both in subflocks with 2 other birds and over a dozen hens opening weekends. Yes, they were way bigger than the other toms, hard to resist not shooting the big boys. I didn't really call either in, just managed to get into position in front of both flocks and soft call.

My largest spurred bird was actually the smallest in a group of 3 and one of my smallest TN birds ever. I called in 3 toms by themselves, was about to shoot the biggest one, when I saw the spurs on the smallest bird. He was only 19lbs, but had 2in and 1 3/4 in spurs. Razor sharp, and I guess he just didn't fight at all to wear them down bc he was a runt.
 

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