Shoot or pass?

[bullmoose38]

Are you going to shoot a jake or wait for the big boy? I will probably wait for a long beard here in PA.

[farmcntry]

With our population, I'm waiting.

[Monie]

I'll let webb tell me what to do, since it's in her backyard. lol

[Great White Hunter]

I will have to take a longbeard (anything with a 8"+ beard will be in danger. If I can I'll be looking at spurs. They score the most overall in the local contest where we hunt. Here's our formula.

Beard legth times 2 + spur times 10 + Spur times 10

Last year mine was 9.5' x 2 = 19
Left Spur .875 = 8.75
Right Spur .875 = 8.75

= 19 + 8.75+8.75 = 36.5 points for the contest

With a 11" beard it would have been 39.5
but with a 9.5" beard and 1.25" spurs

But...use my 9.5" beard with 1.125" spurs and you get = 41.5 points. You see? It's all in the dang spurs and most of the time you can't really see the spurs - and try to see that extra 1/4" at 40 yards! Well that's enough of my rant on scoring.

[HuntnMa]

i'll let them walk.........unless it's like the last day and i have no bird.......but hopefully i'll have my longbeard before then, so i won;t have to worry about it.....lol.....i've only shot one jake and i was tickled, but the walk out just wasn't the same.....

[BRIAN34]

this will be my first year turkey hunting, so i will not be to picky.

[RockyMtnGobblers]

I have never gotten a Jake and want to shoot one one time but I don't know when that will happen as I am still hooked on long beards for now.

[burrhead]

Will definatley hold out for a long beard, ussually not a problem where I hunt.

[Great White Hunter]

Same thread a year later. Well, since I held out for a longbeard and passed on two jakes at 8 yards (bowhunting) and went home empty handed I will still be trying to take a tom with 8"+ beard but can't say I'll pass on a good jake again. Bowhunting them is a different kind of monster. Time will have to tell this spring.

[MJewell]

Looking for the long beards once again this year. We always have let the jakes walk since the second year that we hunted turkeys. Only killed one jake since then an that was either kill him or let him walk right over top of me.

Matt