Are other people noticing heavier bird weights?

[JoeRE]

Are other people noticing heavier bird weights than expected in the upper midwest this spring?

We just had a pretty wicked winter, yet the bird I have seen shot are heavier, most 2 year olds over 20 lbs and lots of older birds in the mid 20s even upper 20s. Its surprising to me. I sort of expected light weight birds because of the winter. Was the acorn crop that good last year? The other thing I wondered about, even though it was cold we didnt get a crust on the snow till late meaning they could still scratch down to food in spots. The crust is what really does the number on turkeys I have seen.


I shot a 22 lb 2 year old and a 25 lb 4-ish year old, my brother shot a 23 lb 2 year old, and seeing a lot of heavy birds posted on here.

[BigHunt]

both birds I killed this year are heavy ...24.84 nearly 25pounds ....and a 26 pounder....both birds had a lot of fat on them....I wonder if the turkeys knew that we were going to have a bad winter? or is this just regular for them?

[dan]

I was surprised also with all the heavy weights... Someone should ask Mark in the ask the biologist thread to see if he has any input to this cause I am baffled too...

[Brad]

Very heavy this year, my dad killed a Jake that weighed 20 lbs even! That goes nice with his 27.5 lb tom from last week.

[ Post made via Android ]

[BigHunt]

my buddy killed a 19lbs two year old this spring during the 1st season .....a week later I killed a 26 pounder less then a mile away. I wonder what the difference was besides age.....his bird had a stress line in the beard, mine did not.

[BassBoysLLP]

Birds are running lighter than normal in North Central WI with heavier birds showing up in the farm country.

I suspect the majority of heavy birds are due to amount of corn in farm country. Crops came off late due to the weather. Some fields were declared as losses and left standing throughout the winter.

The turkey population took a big hit in the north country. There are significantly less hens and jakes running around. The toms appear to have faired better through the winter.

[ozzz]

I definitely havnt observed the turkey population suffering from the hard winter, if anything I think it has been a good year. I only go as far north as Marquette Co though.

[goldtip5575]

Birds are running lighter than normal in North Central WI with heavier birds showing up in the farm country.

I suspect the majority of heavy birds are due to amount of corn in farm country. Crops came off late due to the weather. Some fields were declared as losses and left standing throughout the winter.

The turkey population took a big hit in the north country. There are significantly less hens and jakes running around. The toms appear to have faired better through the winter.

Ive noticed the same as far as less jakes around here in S.E. WI in fact where I normally see a lot of jakes I haven't seen any(0).I think last years bad spring made for a bad nesting season,members on this forum even mentioned seeing less poults last year.Fewer birds would mean less competition for food so maybe that means heavier weights.

[dan]

Birds are running lighter than normal in North Central WI with heavier birds showing up in the farm country.

I suspect the majority of heavy birds are due to amount of corn in farm country. Crops came off late due to the weather. Some fields were declared as losses and left standing throughout the winter.

The turkey population took a big hit in the north country. There are significantly less hens and jakes running around. The toms appear to have faired better through the winter.

Ive noticed the same as far as less jakes around here in S.E. WI in fact where I normally see a lot of jakes I haven't seen any(0).I think last years bad spring made for a bad nesting season,members on this forum even mentioned seeing less poults last year.Fewer birds would mean less competition for food so maybe that means heavier weights.

Around my area near Rome Wisconsin there are a lot less birds and I have found the remains of a few that did not make it thru the winter, certainly the winter was hard on the population down here as well... However, back to the original conversion, despite the big decline in population the bird weight average seems really high...

[BigHunt]

I had 7 jakes rush in to my decoy set up on Friday...all looking healthy

[yungbuck]

read an article last week said heavy mature birds are getting harvested because of poor brood production in Indiana in recent years meaning limited 2yr olds- leaving more limb hangers for harvest- my .02