Posted: Oct 05, 2010 3:35 PM CDT Updated: Oct 05, 2010 3:35 PM CDT
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Nine year old holds turkey record


CLIMAX, GA (WALB) –A 9-year old Florida boy bagged a record turkey in Decatur County.

Tallahassee native Winton Gustafson shot this 24-pound double spurred Eastern Turkey at the Climax Gun Club back in May.

Wildlife officials only recently certified the bird, giving it a total score of 93.75 and making Gustafson's gobbler the highest scoring turkey of its kind in the nation.

It's the second highest of all four U-S species.

"That memory is there forever. That's the good thing about it," says Decatur County Sheriff and one of the Climax Gun Club's co-owners, Wiley Griffin. "I know his father Jimmy was proud of it, but he'll always remember that. We need more kids hunting and fishing."

Sheriff Griffin went on to explain that hunting gives parents a chance to teach their children gun safety and gets kids involved in outdoor activities at a young age.

Here's a scoring breakdown of Gustafson's record turkey:

Beard - 11.125 inches
Weight - 24 pounds
Left spurs - 1-5/8 inches and 1-1/8 inches
Right spurs - 1-5/8 and 3/8 inches broken off

Total score of the bird was 93.75.

The estimated age of the bird was 6 1/2 years.


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while i'm not a hunter myself, i don't disparage it from other people... way to go kid, great job!
mm

Is this butchered out weight? Or total weight?

My Black Spanish toms are 30lbs right now walking and they're only 2 this year. Easterns and most of the heritage types run that way weight wise. Of course, whether they get to live that long may be the problem.

dam thats a nice size turkey,decent beard...butterball me

i believe it is a wild turkey, not a domesticated one... the wild turkeys are slimmer and faster...


this is a wild turkey, like the one he shot...

domestic turkey

turkey platter...

this pic is the only one that matters

Twenty-four pounds is probably before it's dressed out. The length of the beard and second set of spurs is really impressive. I've clipped a twenty-two pounder, but the spurs weren't near that long. Of course, I've never taken one in to see if it was a record either. I was way too excited about having a turkey dinner. Those wild ones taste great!!!

Did they say what kind of shotgun he used? I don't think I got use the twelve guage until I was a teenager.

The picture of a wild turkey you posted is a hen. They average about 10lbs smaller

The other is a bronze breasted tom who is strutting his stuff. He's not all that big with feathers down.

All wild turkeys are mostly crossbreeds of the heritage turkeys now. Breeders have been attempting to reconstitute the old style with more natural birds due to the open slaughter and almost extinction of wild turkeys.

Heritage breeds are old style breeds that more closely resemble the original type. They can breed naturally and have the instincts of survival better then your hugely obese turkey sold at Thanksgiving. Those are usually White Giants or White-Breasteds and have to be artificially inseminated.

do hens have the beards?

no, thats a male...
look at this picture


http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/resource-room/general/poultry/turkey.htm

Well I will have to tell Nepthys and Dracas they shouldn't have beards. The hens only ever get a couple of inches long.

The one picture is a hen though. She doesn't have much in the way of carunkles, the bulbous fleshy things going down the throat. The toms, even when relaxed, is still very obvious. Also, the snood never fully retracts up on a tom.

And that OK site is a favorites on my computer. They do a pretty good job with the more obscure breeds.

you sound like you know about them... i've only seen a few wild turkeys and raised a few domestics... but if you think it's a female, i can't argue.