• Help Support TNDeer:

Heaviest Bird

Me and a buddy of mine had a good string of three years in a row where the smallest we killed was just over 26 pounds. This was in SW Indiana though and the limit was one per year. Some of the best turkey habitat I have ever seen and back then hardly anyone hunted them.
 
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.
The biggest birds are usually killed at the very beginning of the season. They generally lose weight as the season progresses.
 
23.68 for me back in 2018. Was a good day...
 

Attachments

  • AD5B9FB6-905D-4135-A40E-EF413D6EC2FE.jpeg
    AD5B9FB6-905D-4135-A40E-EF413D6EC2FE.jpeg
    269.7 KB · Views: 86
  • 8A109AB8-873E-4E1A-8232-316DFD3443DA.jpeg
    8A109AB8-873E-4E1A-8232-316DFD3443DA.jpeg
    1.1 MB · Views: 84
27 pound from Lincoln CO. The Lady at the store weighed him on the same scales they weighed the deli meat

The next year I killed one at AEDC that weighed 24 pound. He was weighed at the Checking Station

Been hunting close to home for around 10 years now and ain't seen one over 20 around here.
 
24lbs with a double beard. 1 being 12" and the other 11". Both beards were a little on the thin side. Spurs I think we're 1 7/8. Scott Co bird. Reluctant to tell the story because of what happened this day but maybe I'm just telling a tall tale. 2nd day of turkey season in 1994 sitting next to my dad after a fruitless hunt Saturday at the Big South Fork with my cousins. Dad was on these gobblers on Saturday and I tagged along on Sunday before church. Sitting beside him he said if they both came in he would take the one on the left and I would take the one on the right. Both came in on an old logging road with the left one slightly behind the right one. 1,2,3 shoot! Both turkeys hit the ground. Ran up to the gobblers and after all the flopping stopped, he said you killed both of these. I thought he was joking until he ejected 3 unshot shells. Don't think I've ever have been nor ever will be that excited. In the end, what I will never forget, is after the turkeys were loaded up and we had driven down the road a bit, he said we forgot something. We both got out of the truck and hit our knees and gave thanks. You see, even before the first "hoot" of the morning, we always prayed. I guess we were both excited that morning and just forgot. The second one was 22lbs with a 10" paintbrush.
 
I thought weighing the bird, measuring the beard length and spurs were a part of the checking in process?
It is. And accurate information submitted can provide a wealth of biological information for those who make decisions regarding age structure of what is actually killed. Unfortunately, due to inaccurate info entered at checkin, I'm not sure any of that mound of data is worth anything in real world application other than jake vs adult bird.
 
I've had a few weighed at LBL when I checked them in, but never weighed any myself until a big Stewart Co bird.

I saw him strutting with hens on up on opening morning. I had another bird located in an easier spot. I'd get whipped by that one, and then head to the other end of the lease to fool with the big bird. He was living down in a hole that wasn't a lot of fun to get into or out of. He would answer, but always had hens with him and just wouldn't leave them. I was there before daylight a couple of times, but, he always flew down with hens.

Finally, on my fifth trip down into the "hole", I got him to answer about 8:30. Again, he wouldn't come. I decided to wait him out that day as it was later in the season and I figured the hens might be heading to nest mid-morning. He finally answered again around 10:30 and came on in to get shot. Packing him out up that hill he felt really heavy. So, out of curiosity, I weighed him when I got him home. He weighed over 25#s. That is a big bird for over there.
 
In 29 years the heaviest I've killed was 25lb 2 oz killed in Van Leer several years ago, I've killed 4 or 5 over 24 but the vast majority are 17-21 lbs
 

Latest posts

Back
Top