J-birds place

[Bill]

No doubt, no cover, no improvement. I have what were once hay fields that have been untouched and fallow for over 15 making some nice cover.

 

[buckdeer1]

The 120 ft deal sounds like cp33 the quail program.The open CRP enrollment opened up today. Do you have any creeks or ponds? There almost are always riparian buffer programs.There are usually corners or other small places to add cover.have you posted an ariel of your place? Another thing to compare is do you have areas that you plant to crops close to trees that puts out low yields?These areas sometimes have low enough yields that with the cost of herbicides and fertilizers you could make as much.

 

[j-bird]

The 120 ft deal sounds like cp33 the quail program.The open CRP enrollment opened up today. Do you have any creeks or ponds? There almost are always riparian buffer programs.There are usually corners or other small places to add cover.have you posted an ariel of your place? Another thing to compare is do you have areas that you plant to crops close to trees that puts out low yields?These areas sometimes have low enough yields that with the cost of herbicides and fertilizers you could make as much.

I looked into and participate in some of those programs. Between those and when I had my timber cut was the biggest improvements in cover. I have a neighbor that planted trees in what was previously ag fields, but he is in the timber biz. That made some really nice cover for a while....but it is now maturing and creating a canopy that now shades out any ground level cover. That is the one thing with regeneration...is that it will reach a point in which it needs to be "re-set" or it matures and looses its cover value.

 

[j-bird]

Had an exciting weekend.... my boy took the first turkey off our place since we have owned it (20 years+). It's not a big bird, but it is a tom.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I don't think you are giving your son enough credit, that's a really good bird! 1 1/4" spurs is the turkey equivalent of a 140" buck.

Are turkey nuggets on the menu this week? That's our preferred way to eat the breast meat and the legs are great in soup.

 

[Telemark]

I agree. That's a bird to be proud of. I would be happy with that all day long.

 

[Mortenson]

Congrats. Will be some big breasts on a 24 pounder also. Now all you need is some peanut oil and panko or Shorelunch.

 

[j-bird]

I don't think you are giving your son enough credit, that's a really good bird! 1 1/4" spurs is the turkey equivalent of a 140" buck.

Are turkey nuggets on the menu this week? That's our preferred way to eat the breast meat and the legs are great in soup.

So I have done some digging and again I am not a turkey person so if I sound stupid...well, it's because I am!

If I score my boys bird the way I read - it comes out to almost 67 (24.2 lbs, 9.5" beard, 1.25"/1.125" spurs).

I just am not sure what a "book" turkey scores..... I wasn't able to find a min score on the NWTF site. They will score it and register it, but, I didn't see a minimum score required....

As for the eating...yep - deep fried turkey nuggets for the white meat.....not sure what is in store for the thighs and drumsticks...

It is funny though....now that he has his bird, we have been seeing even more bords out doing their thing....it's like they know!

 

[Buckly]

That’s a heavy bird. Nice one. As far as score that would be a good average for an Eastern turkey. Good adult gobblers are 21-25 lbs with 1 to 1 1/2 spurs with 9-11 inch beards. Just all around average. For Records I would say a score of 70-75 is really great. Down in Florida I’ve see birds score 80. You need to have 11-12 inch beards and 2+ inch spurs to be a contender there. It looks like your birds are eating well.