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Post by woodmaster on May 15, 2006 9:09:12 GMT -5
Is it me or are the weights down on turkeys this year?
With the great acorn crop we had last year I figured the birds would really be big this year. I've heard of several 18 - 20 lbs birds and not very many in the 23 - 25 range.
A buddy of mine did killl a 27 lb. bird in Kentucky. That is huge any year!
Whats your thoughts?
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Post by huxbux on May 15, 2006 9:13:12 GMT -5
Probably hard to tell until all the stats have been studied, but I do know I killed a 24 lb. in Brown county that was only 2 years old.
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Post by hunter7x on May 15, 2006 10:23:08 GMT -5
From the way I understand it, the weight has more to do with how much breeding they've been doing.
My indiana bird only weighed 19 pounds, but was 3 years old. The young lady who killed the first part of that double killed a 23 pound 2 year old. When I cleaned the birds hers was full of fat, mine was dry and no fat at all. I would say mine was doing the majority of the breeding between the two.
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Post by eelriver on May 15, 2006 10:39:47 GMT -5
Weights could be regionalized depending on food sources. My group of friends killed a total of six birds, 24.5, 24, 23, 22, 21.5, and 19.
The latter two were 2 year old birds and I think 19 to 22 lb. is normal. My biggest worry is: last year we had a poor hatch, and this year won't be any better with the cold wet weather we had had the last several days.
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Post by mbogo on May 15, 2006 13:22:46 GMT -5
The local radio station has a sportsman's report every Friday and it had reports of more birds in the 24-26 lb. range this year than in years past. On the other hand, not as many 28+ lb. birds were reported.
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Post by hoosier on May 15, 2006 21:44:41 GMT -5
I'm with you Woodsmaster. This year my buddies and I have noticed a marked reduction in weights. My friend's wife took a 23 1/2 pound tom Saturday and it was the heaviest in our circle this year. Others weighed 20, 19.5, 21, 18.5 and 19. Last years birds were heavier around Owen county anyway.
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Post by gobblerstopper on May 16, 2006 21:26:37 GMT -5
woodmaster, I noticed some small birds too, but I think a lot of it depended on the area that the bird was taken. I know of some birds from south of Boonville that went 24 lbs. and over and a couple from north of town that did good to hit 18 lbs. Mine was a two year old that weighed 18 1/4 and my buddies was a three year old that went 18 even. It felt funny carring mine out Friday when I had helped my brother carry his out a couple days before and his weighed 7 lbs more. Felt like I'd shot a chicken  |
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bigred
Junior Member
Posts: 34
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Post by bigred on May 17, 2006 9:19:55 GMT -5
My hunting buddy and I both killed on opening day. I shot at 6:50 am, on a 23lb 2 year old. 9.5 inch beard with inch spurs. My buddy shot at 9:10 am on a 23lb 2 year old. 10.5 inch beard with inch spurs. Different parts of the woods. We were sitting next to each other when I killed mine, I made a comment that mine is not that heavy. I guess I was excited! They were in different parts of the woods. Switzerland County, I've killed on opening day 6 years in a row. I grew up a hoosier, but live in Kentucky now. I pay the high non-res. price for an hour in the turkey woods every year though.
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Post by Woody Williams on May 17, 2006 9:40:11 GMT -5
I've got a chart from the IDNR on average turkey wieghts by year.
I'll post that up when I get a chance.
Bigred,
Welcome to the Hunting Indiana forum.
I do understand that the IDNR is looking to dropping the prices of "bonus deer" for NR.
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Post by starvecntyjake on May 17, 2006 10:28:05 GMT -5
my bird was a 2 yr old weighed in just shy of the 20 mark, I have killed 9 turkeys with my back aginst the same tree and I would say he was average for all the birds from that spot, all of them have been real close to that mark weight wise and this years was an above average from a trophy aspect, 1.5 inch spurs 11 7/8 inch beard was with another one that was a little bigger as far as gurth but not as long in the beard, he broke into a strut and let his partner take the fall, and than he wouldn't leave
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Post by dwhunting on May 17, 2006 13:43:18 GMT -5
We notice the difference in our camp this year as well. The highest weight was 24 lbs. Thats out of 9 birds. I did see something on television the other day about this. They mentioned that most of the weight difference is due to the dominace factor. Those birds that do the most breeding are obviously going to be a little smaller do to the amount of daily breeding activity. Because we had such a good hatch two years ago we see the rise in the 2 year old population. The more birds we have the more competition for breeding there is which in turn causes much more activity to compete. Just a thought. I did see something this year that I never have seen before. I got set up on a bird that was hammering his head off on the roost. I watched him for 30 minutes on the limb. Gobbling every minute. A friend of mine was hunting with me and was about 5 yards to my left. He whispers over and says there's a strutter coming in to our left. I look and for sure there he was strutting away just out of range (50 yards). At that point I knew we were out of luck and sure enough the roosted bird flew down to him. Within a few seconds of landing they started to fight and I mean really fight. It was very interesting and was something that I have never seen before. Sorry for the rambling but I feel that the competition was very high this year and that could be the reason for the smaller weighted birds.
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Post by ridgerunner on May 17, 2006 18:26:29 GMT -5
We had lots of two year old birds this year and with 50% of birds killed being two year old the weight is gonna be down a little maybe. My brother did kill a 26 pounds 3 bearded tom probably a three year old. It depends on the previous years hatch too. Two years ago was a record hatch for jakes which contributed to the high number of two years old being harvested.
I killed a 20.7 pound two year old, My buddy took a 20.5 pounder,my nephew took a 20 pounder, another buddy took a 19.5 pounder, and another buddy took a 24 pounder. I didn't really notice a big drop, I guess it depends on the age of the bird and the ammount of breeding, like a big buck that ruttin hard tend to lose alot of wieght trolling for does. Ridgerunner
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Post by huxbux on May 17, 2006 20:42:32 GMT -5
We notice the difference in our camp this year as well. The highest weight was 24 lbs. Thats out of 9 birds. I did see something on television the other day about this. They mentioned that most of the weight difference is due to the dominace factor. Those birds that do the most breeding are obviously going to be a little smaller do to the amount of daily breeding activity. Because we had such a good hatch two years ago we see the rise in the 2 year old population. The more birds we have the more competition for breeding there is which in turn causes much more activity to compete. Just a thought. I did see something this year that I never have seen before. I got set up on a bird that was hammering his head off on the roost. I watched him for 30 minutes on the limb. Gobbling every minute. A friend of mine was hunting with me and was about 5 yards to my left. He whispers over and says there's a strutter coming in to our left. I look and for sure there he was strutting away just out of range (50 yards). At that point I knew we were out of luck and sure enough the roosted bird flew down to him. Within a few seconds of landing they started to fight and I mean really fight. It was very interesting and was something that I have never seen before. Sorry for the rambling but I feel that the competition was very high this year and that could be the reason for the smaller weighted birds. Not a ramble at all, but rather some insightful observations that seem to lead to very reasonable conclusions. |
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Post by Woody Williams on May 17, 2006 21:30:36 GMT -5
This is the AVERAGE weight tallied by the IDNR turkey biologists for the last 17 years..
1 year old birds - 15.6
2 year old birds - 20.9
3+ year old birds - 22.3
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Post by turk2di on May 19, 2006 10:11:28 GMT -5
Im told that the poor mast crop of 04 caused hens 2b in poor hatching condition for spring 05. Perhaps the abundant mast crop of 05 caused MOST hens 2b in a nesting frenzy this spring, perhaps causing toms to be particulary busy, I.E Lose wight? Saw very few hens exhibiting behavior that would suggest they R barren hens.? Most birds i saw were normal in weight. Who knows!
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