Scoring Birds

[rogvegas]

I see alot of posts on hear about certified scales, and getting birds registerd. Where do you get this done. I live 15min from region IV twra office. Sorry for bein dumb. :grin:

 

[spitndrum]

www.nwtf.org

 

[MRUTVOL]

I see alot of posts on hear about certified scales, and getting birds registerd. Where do you get this done. I live 15min from region IV twra office. Sorry for bein dumb. :grin:

Well according to the TWRA officer that I talked to this spring the weight of the bird has nothing to do with the scoring of a bird for the Tennessee records. Now the NWTF I believe uses it as a factor but I am not sure. Reason I called the TWRA to ask was I kept hearing these ridiculous weights being mentioned of 30 plus and even 45 pounds for wild turkeys so I was just curious what the heaviest weight recorded was. He said that the only factors that count toward a state record are the length of the beard and spurs. Reason being that there are too many varibles that can affect the weight of the bird other than age. Some people actually feed birds all year long right up to b/4 the season starts (imagine that ! ) so those birds will be much heavier than the regular wild bird that has to actually hunt his food. Also birds in high agriculture lands will have tendencies to be heavier. So to make the system more fair the beard and spurs are the 2 things that will stay most consistent with age. Only reason weight is required on check in is to guage the health of the bird in relation to the other data provided. Weight is more for the ego hunter than anything else." Mine is bigger than yours" type of thing

 

[RAFI]

I see alot of posts on hear about certified scales, and getting birds registerd. Where do you get this done. I live 15min from region IV twra office. Sorry for bein dumb. :grin:

Well according to the TWRA officer that I talked to this spring the weight of the bird has nothing to do with the scoring of a bird for the Tennessee records. Now the NWTF I believe uses it as a factor but I am not sure. Reason I called the TWRA to ask was I kept hearing these ridiculous weights being mentioned of 30 plus and even 45 pounds for wild turkeys so I was just curious what the heaviest weight recorded was. He said that the only factors that count toward a state record are the length of the beard and spurs. Reason being that there are too many varibles that can affect the weight of the bird other than age. Some people actually feed birds all year long right up to b/4 the season starts (imagine that ! ) so those birds will be much heavier than the regular wild bird that has to actually hunt his food. Also birds in high agriculture lands will have tendencies to be heavier. So to make the system more fair the beard and spurs are the 2 things that will stay most consistent with age. Only reason weight is required on check in is to guage the health of the bird in relation to the other data provided. Weight is more for the ego hunter than anything else." Mine is bigger than yours" type of thing

Well so would scoring spurs and beards. IMO Isn't it also just a way to say mine is bigger than yours?

 

[Setterman]

I see alot of posts on hear about certified scales, and getting birds registerd. Where do you get this done. I live 15min from region IV twra office. Sorry for bein dumb. :grin:

Well according to the TWRA officer that I talked to this spring the weight of the bird has nothing to do with the scoring of a bird for the Tennessee records. Now the NWTF I believe uses it as a factor but I am not sure. Reason I called the TWRA to ask was I kept hearing these ridiculous weights being mentioned of 30 plus and even 45 pounds for wild turkeys so I was just curious what the heaviest weight recorded was. He said that the only factors that count toward a state record are the length of the beard and spurs. Reason being that there are too many varibles that can affect the weight of the bird other than age. Some people actually feed birds all year long right up to b/4 the season starts (imagine that ! ) so those birds will be much heavier than the regular wild bird that has to actually hunt his food. Also birds in high agriculture lands will have tendencies to be heavier. So to make the system more fair the beard and spurs are the 2 things that will stay most consistent with age. Only reason weight is required on check in is to guage the health of the bird in relation to the other data provided. Weight is more for the ego hunter than anything else." Mine is bigger than yours" type of thing

Well so would scoring spurs and beards. IMO Isn't it also just a way to say mine is bigger than yours?

yes, and weight means absolutely zero when comparing birds. Same goes for beards.

 

[MRUTVOL]

I see alot of posts on hear about certified scales, and getting birds registerd. Where do you get this done. I live 15min from region IV twra office. Sorry for bein dumb. :grin:

Well according to the TWRA officer that I talked to this spring the weight of the bird has nothing to do with the scoring of a bird for the Tennessee records. Now the NWTF I believe uses it as a factor but I am not sure. Reason I called the TWRA to ask was I kept hearing these ridiculous weights being mentioned of 30 plus and even 45 pounds for wild turkeys so I was just curious what the heaviest weight recorded was. He said that the only factors that count toward a state record are the length of the beard and spurs. Reason being that there are too many varibles that can affect the weight of the bird other than age. Some people actually feed birds all year long right up to b/4 the season starts (imagine that ! ) so those birds will be much heavier than the regular wild bird that has to actually hunt his food. Also birds in high agriculture lands will have tendencies to be heavier. So to make the system more fair the beard and spurs are the 2 things that will stay most consistent with age. Only reason weight is required on check in is to guage the health of the bird in relation to the other data provided. Weight is more for the ego hunter than anything else." Mine is bigger than yours" type of thing

Well so would scoring spurs and beards. IMO Isn't it also just a way to say mine is bigger than yours?

Sure, but for record purposes those 2 factors are all they take into account for the books.

 

[BigGameGuy]

The state doesn't have official record book entries for turkeys. It's all NWTF.

 

[tickweed]

Great post!

 

[MRUTVOL]

The state doesn't have official record book entries for turkeys. It's all NWTF.

Well that may be so but it was one of your own people who told me that those were the only 2 factors that were taken into account for scoring a bird in Tennessee and weight was not a factor. Talk about right hand / left hand .... :crazy:
I will be sure and let him know next time I see him that he missed that test question!