[kachingchingpow]

Excellent bird PW! Nothing gets my blood-up like turkey hunting. Don't get me wrong, I love deer, dove, duck, quail, etc and they each hold a special place in my heart. However, the thrill and adrenaline rush of a big strutting tom coming into view is awesome compared to the rest.

I'm having my son's turkey (another thread) mounted in a "shoulder mount." My basement is finished out with bar and rec. room, and various animals on the wall. Not really enough room to mount any more full body mounts. I have 1 that's in the flying pose over a fireplace that closely resembles the old Wild Turkey bourbon advertisements of the 80's. Another bird is on a limb looking down in a gobble, as if it's on the roost getting ready to fly down. The shoulder mount is a good space saving approach, plus it'll be easy for my son to take with him when the time comes Hopefully he'll be filling his own wall one day.

Jbour13. Critters are definately 'overall' smaller in the southeast. Deer in particular. Not sure of the scientists name, but there has been quite a bit written about how natural selection impacts animal sizes in warmer vs. colder climates. Readers Digest version, is basically that genetically smaller bodied animals (deer in this particular study) don't survive cold winters for several reasons, so over the course of decades the larger bodied animals are the most prevalent. Conversely, larger bodied deer tend to struggle in the summer in the south. Mature bucks weighing in the 200-250 range in GA are considered "large," whereas Iowa and Minnesota commonly produce deer in the 300's. Heck, doe's in the midwest can be in the 200lb range, and a 130lb doe in GA is considered big.

I've never hunted in the midwest for turkey, but have looked at their record books quite a bit. I've probably killed 20 or so toms in GA from the mountains down to the FL state line, and have had 100's of close calls. The birds here are big by any standard. A full grown tom with a 10" beard should weigh 20-25lbs. Spurs being the best way to tell a turkey's age, obviously the longer the spurs the bigger the bird... 1.5-1.75" range are going to be on a 25lbish bird. Beard length is not accurate at all in determining age. Younger toms can actually have a really long beard. As the breast develops the older the bird gets, the closer the beard will get to the ground, causing it to drag more - wearing it. As far as jakes go, they'll run 16-19lbs here. I can't imagine NC would be all that much different.

Work has been so crazy that I've only made it to the woods a 1/2 dozen times this year, and our season ends May 15, a Thursday... WTF is up with that?