While most turkey hunters don’t really ever measure their bird, here’s how to score a turkey.
How to Score a Turkey
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. I know for me it’s been awhile since I’ve had to do this so I had to refresh my basic math skills here.- 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 measurement.
- 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 World Record Eastern Wild Turkey
The record eastern wild turkey came from Kentucky. It scored 104.81 with over 2” spurs, 13 ¾” beard, and a weight of over 33 ½ pounds.