Fall Jobbler

[WhitewaterDuck]

I posted this pic in the deer hunting forum, but I wanted to put it here too. This is the first fall turkey I’ve killed. I always buy a fall tag in Ohio despite knowing that it’s about a 99% certainty that a turkey will bust me in a tree trying to draw. This is the first time I’ve tried to target a fall turkey, and it is cool to see the progression from Jake to Longbeard. I thought “jake” when I first looked at the beard, but when I spread the fan out and didn’t see the feather step down and looked at the tiny spurs, I realized that next years “jakes” in the fall are likely very difficult to distinguish from hens in a fall hunting situation. This bird is a tweener and woulda been a 2yo longbeard come spring. There is a small step down in feathers and spurs are more spur-like than nubs. Nothing mind-boggling...I’ve just never thought about the constant growing process of beards and spurs. Wasn’t really thinking about it at the time, but I wish I’d have held off and killed a hen and left this guy to make me feel good about my calling come spring.