Jake/Tom Pics

[tator]

Ok guys, take it easy on me now... I've only been turkey hunting for about 2 years, and have yet to kill a turkey. For some reason this year, though, I've been getting alot of turkey pics. Hoping for a succesful season! Here are somemore pics, I'm guessing these are mostly jakes, but there looks to be some toms mixed in... please help me out!

[gfdeputy2]

Well i am not an expert Turkey hunter I started a few years ago I have only got 4 birds but it looks Like you got at least one Tom & in the middle pic the bird w/ its back to the cam does have slightly uneven tail feathers but by spring it may be gone I could also be wrong & may be a Tom

[Hunting Man]

bird in middle picture to the right has a nice beard on him, not a jake to me.

[tator]

ok, HM, stupid question of the day for you... what age structure do they use on turkeys? I mean, when does a jake cross over to a tom? Do you tell by the spurs and beard? or just size? Kinda like deer, I know the difference between a fawn and adult deer... any good tips to tell the two (jake and tom) apart?

[on_the_fly]

here in kentucky a male turkey is not a tom untill his beard is over three inches, meaning 3 inches and under is classified as a jake during harvest check in. and to me the first two in your pics were both toms, i would guess the first one at a two year old bird (looks like about a 5 inch beard)and the one on the right as a three to four year old bird (it looks like around an 8 inch beard) and the other pic would be a jake looks like hes right at about three inches.
and like said a dent in the middle of an open fan usualy is a dead give away for a jake. i have pet turkeys and can say that from some reason when they shed their old feathers the younger males keep their middle feather till the reas are over half way grown. and buy the time the others are grown the middle feather is still usualy still around 3/4 to an inch shorter leaving a dead tell tell of his age in his fan.
my tom is 4 years old and has a 9 1/2 inch beard and its about 1 inch in dia (realy thick beard) but he is feed high protine breaders crum year round and doent have to scavange like the avarage wild bird.

[tator]

Thanks for your help onthefly, hm, and gfd... going to go check my trail cams this weekend.. can't wait to see if my toms and jakes are still running around.... hoping to get me a fat one this year.

[gfdeputy2]

Hope you aren't using the IR4 LOL
good luck

[timberghost]

There is a nice long beard in the pics. A Jake will have a very uneven tail fan meaning the middle 4 or 5 tail feathers will all be much longer than the others. When the bird matures the rest of the feathers will catch up and make an even fan. When a Jake crosses over to Tom he will no longer have a shorty beard but will have a longer more defined beard and the nubs behind the legs will turn into spurs. Not too big in size or sharp but the older more mature birds will have some huge thorny looking hooks on em. Hope this helps.