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Thursday morning I killed the oldest gobbler, most likely, in all of PA. This warrior monarch of a bird had his wing tips worn down to nubs from strutting so much, a 9 inch beard, and his spurs were down to nothing. He weighed 18 battle scarred lbs. I'm guessing he's at least 8, maybe 10 years old. All that remains of his right spur is a 1/2 inch nub. The other, his left spur, is worn down flat, probably from digging grit every evening from the farm lane before he flew up to roost. I don't know if turkeys have dominant legs(like left or right handed people), but it appears this one used his left leg more, since that spur was more worn. He was smart, and sneaky too. I have pics of him on trail camera strutting every day around 12 to 1pm, but he would never gobble. So after not hearing or seeing anything all morning, I moved to where I have trail campics of him around 1045. I made a few light clucks and yelps on my Lonnie Sneed hot hen, and sat back to wait. 15 minutes later I caught movement to my left, and saw him standing there. It took him 5 minutes to move 20 yards, out from the dark hemlocks and into range on the grassy tram road. I already had my gun up, and when he stepped onto the road I gave him a one way ticket to turkey heaven. Here's a couple pics of the old boy.
P.S. I ended my season this morning with what was likely one of his sons, a 19 lb bird with a 9.5 inch beard, and 1 3/16 Spurs. He came in gobbling and strutting, much less sneaky than his old man! Here he is, just after I pulled the trigger.
P.S. I ended my season this morning with what was likely one of his sons, a 19 lb bird with a 9.5 inch beard, and 1 3/16 Spurs. He came in gobbling and strutting, much less sneaky than his old man! Here he is, just after I pulled the trigger.
