Wild Turkey Hunting

The Wild Turkey World Slam

Do you just want to stick to that one subspecies that lives in your backyard, or want to go for a Grand Slam with a Eastern, Merriam, Rio and Osceola in the US mainland? Be careful though, because you’re probably going to get all crazy and want to go after your Royal Slam by adding a Gould’s or even the World Slam when you add an Oscillated. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

If you’re not quite ready for that, we can help you plan a trip for later, either a big World Slam trip or even just single turkey hunts in Hawaii, Florida, Colorado, the Midwest, Idaho, Mexico, New Zealand or even in Europe…. the list of good outfitters we work with is LONG. When you’re ready, we can help realize your dreams.

How to Score a Wild Turkey

While most turkey hunters don’t really ever score their bird, here’s how to score one if you’re interested. There are three measurements that you use to score a turkey. Weight, beard length, and spur length.

• Weigh your turkey on a good scale. Once you get an accurate weight, convert the ounces to decimals.
• Beard measurements are taken to the nearest 16th of an inch. To score a turkey, measure from the skin to the tip of the longest whisker then multiply that number by two. For example, if the turkey has a 10” beard, the score would be 10 x 2 = 20. If your turkey has more than one beard, add the lengths of each beard and multiply the total by two to get the beard measurment.
• Measure the spurs from the base to the tip on both legs. Once you get those two measurements, multiply the total by ten. For example, if one spur is 1″ and the other is 1 ¼”, the spur score is 2.25 x 10 = 22.5″.
• Add the three measurements together for the final score.

*The record eastern wild turkey came from Kentucky and scored 104.81 with over 2” spurs, 13 ¾” beard, and a weight of over 33 ½ pounds.

Let us know if you’d like to book a hunt.
(208) 991-4868