Just wondering if yall knew anything about this? I've heard that a gobblers will lose some weight by the end of mating, or near the end of turkey season. Due to em neglecting food for courting the ladies. Never knew if this was true or just the 'good ol boys' talkin. Have heard that a gobbler that weighs 18 lbs at the end of the season probally would of weighed 22 at the beginning or something to that effect. Also wondering what the heaviest bird you have taken was and what state it was taken in? Mine was a 23 pound bird from georgia, majority of birds taken between 17 and 20 though.

I think true mountain birds tend to lose more weight in the spring than do the cow pasture or agricultural land birds. Birds that are in agricltural landsand have accesss to food nutirents around cattle or from old grain fields can get pretty big. Ones being fed corn deep in the hollow can get ptretty good-sized too. :>) I haveseen 25 pound birds in Tenn and a couple over hat..Freddy killed a 27 plus pounder with me in Marshall county Tenn a few years ago. Iowa seems to have a corner o nthe really heavy birds. 17-19 pounds is a fair sized mountain bird, but tehere are jakes that size in the cow pastures.

My personal best is 22 LB in VA.

ALL TIME WEIGHT RECORD... 35.8 LB from Iowa
ALL TIME LONGEST SPURS... 2.25 inches - shared by several
ALL TIME LONGEST BEARD...18.125 inches from VA.
MOST BEARDS... 9 from Wisconsin
BEST TYPICAL SCORE...104.8125 from Kentucky
BEST NON-TYPICAL SCORE...194 (8 beards) from Wisconsin

These are all Eastern birds and the rcords are courtesy of the NWTF.

barry

I agree with GN. It depends on the topography, the terrain, the available food sources, and to a certain extent the age of the bird. My biggest was 24 pounds taken here in VA in 2002. He was taken in the Appalachain Mtns. and there was no agricultural food sources around except for the little bit of feed that passed through my neighbors cows.

Yep. I've killed more birds over 20 lbs than under 20 lbs in Mid-TN. Three of them have been over 24 lbs. We grow them fat around here

TW up where I hang out and check my stuff in ( Southeastern Outdoor Supply) they have checked in about 200 birds and you can look on the weight chart and see where the average weight is going down as the season wears on.I would say that they will lose 10% of their weight.I do think that the older birds probably dont loose as much because they are like us old men;eating becomes more inportant than some other stuff.

i definately think they lose some weight over the course of the spring. But, what about in the fall? I've heard they lose more weight in the fall b/c there is less food in the fall? Is this true? I don't hunt turkeys much in the fall mostly b/c it's too easy. For me, all you gotta do is find a gang and bust them up. After that, sit and wait, they will call themselves right back to you.

I think it depends on how many trips you can make down that deep hollow carrying a 50# bag of yeller yelper!
GS...

Thanks for the feedback, thanks for the stats barry i have never seen those numbers before mighty impressive, I wish they checked birds in georgia (we dont even tag em), and the place i check in virginia they dont even look at the bird, I'm allways buggin em about how many they have checked how big were the beards, spurs, weight, would be nice to look at a chart like yall got cottontop. The biggest bird i ever shot (at least as far as beard) was the second bird i took and first longbeard, first was a jake, never weighed it, didnt keep his spurs but he had a 12 inch beard that i kept, i dont remember him being that heavy, have no idea about the spurs, but i didnt know no better all i could do was halfway cutt on a mouth call, i was ignorant. wish i knew his weight and had kept his spurs. He might of been a 2 year old 17 pounder, but ill never know. I killed a heavy bird 22 pounds in NC this year, the area i hunt its legal to bait, not turkeys but deer in the fall, so they probally eat lots of corn, maybe thats why that bird was bigger.

My best was 23 pounds in NY. I shot it on the third day of the season up there. Up there I think the winters really take a toll on the birds all the way around. The beards get a ton of freeze damage and the spurs wear down in the ice and snow. I was shocked when I put him on the scale.
Were I hunt in Iowa I know that they took a 30 pounder this spring.

Tom

I've killed 2 in va over 22 lbs. In the mts you'll kill big old birds and they will weigh 19 lbs, just tougher living. Gobblers live off that breast sponge and so lose a little fat. I don't think a 22 lber will end up 18 lbs but that 10 % seems very probable from beginning to end of season.

5-6 pounds sounds like an awful lot of weight loss, we're looking at 25% loss on a 20 pounder.
Not that I'm doubting you but where did you get your info Maytom?
I wish I could lose 10-15%!!!

barry

I contacted Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries biologist Gary Norman.
He stated, "I'm not aware of any study that has shown that. I suspect they loose weight but 5 or 6 pounds is a lot. Maybe birds in Iowa that weigh 25-26lbs over winter would loose that much. Our birds don't weigh that much and typically weight anywhere from 17 to 21 pounds when killed during the season. Winter trapping weights are in the same range."

If you can remember where your data came from, Gary and I would like to see it. That would be some interesting reading.

I've been fortunate enough to kill two 24 pounders...one was a WV mountain bird and the other a farm country (rolling hills) PA bird.

-Eric