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Hunting News Latest Hunting News Potential World Record Turkey Taken in Texas
Hunting News Latest Hunting News Potential World Record Turkey Taken in Texas 
| Potential World Record Turkey Taken in Texas |
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| Written by Craig Nyhus | |
| Tuesday, 10 April 2007 | |
 Cody May, of New Boston TX, holds the possible world record for the longest bearded turkey ever harvested. The bird has a 22.5 " beard, weighs 20 pounds and has 1.50" and 1.25" spurs. Photo by Cody May May, a real estate appraiser, has hunted turkey for two years near his home, and shot his first bird last year. “On Friday morning, the cold front had just hit,” he said. “I heard them gobbling on the roost, and set up in the closest wheat field with one hen decoy.” Things happened quickly. “The tom flew off the roost straight to the field, and came straight to the decoy and started strutting,” he said. “I shot him at about 25 yards with my 12-gauge.” May said he knew the bird was a good tom, but didn’t see the beard. “It all happened so fast, I was kind of befuzzled.” After he saw the beard, he knew it was something special. After making a few calls, he took the bird to Savage Deer Processing in Hooks, an official Texas Parks and Wildlife check station (hunters harvesting eastern wild turkeys in Texas must check them in at an approved station). Owner Tina Savage measured the bird. “It’s the biggest turkey I’ve ever seen,” she said. It weighed 20 pounds, the left spur was 1.5 inches and the right was 1.25 inches.” The beard measured at an incredible 22.5 inches. Savage Deer Processing has been a check station “for as long as they have had the program,” she said. “There’s been a lot of excitement here since the bird was brought in.” Determining whether the bird’s beard is a world, or even a state record is difficult. “TPW does not keep records for that species,” said Penny Pettit, regulatory wildlife biologist for the Piney Woods district. “Your best bet is to go to the National Wild Turkey Federation. They keep better records.” NWTF keeps records for typical and atypical (more than one beard) eastern turkeys. Birds are scored by adding measurements of the both spurs and multiplying the combined length by 10. The beard length is measured and multiplied by two. The spur and beard points are added to the total weight for the bird’s score. According to NWTF’s Web site, Alex Low has the current state record for a typical eastern, which scored 80.75, and its beard was 11.875 inches. The nation’s longest beard of 18.125 inches was taken in 1998 by Robert Tremblay of King George, Virginia, according to NWTF. In Texas, the longest beard registered on an eastern is 13.5 inches, shot by Michael Storey near Jefferson.  Photo by Cody May Karen Cavender is the Wild Turkey Records Coordinator for NWTF. “The web site stays current on the rankings of the birds,” she said. May’s bird had an unofficial score of 92.5, which would make it a state record typical eastern. The nation’s best eastern typical scored 104.8125, taken in 1999 by James Lewis in Franklin, Kent. After leaving Savage Deer Processing, the bird was viewed by friends and photographed by Johnny Thomas, an ex-game warden. That afternoon, they took the bird to Mount Pleasant where it was measured again. But, the thin protruding strands of the beard had broken off, and the beard measured 17.5 inches. “The beard was awful brittle,” May said. Cavender said the record is still attainable. “If the bird was measured, the measurements were recorded at the checking station, and if the hunter has pictures of the beard, the hunter can provide the picture with an affidavit from the checking station,” she said. “Then, that would be legitimate.” Does May think he’ll get the record? “It’s up in the air,” he said, although he wished he wouldn’t have driven 70 miles per hour with the bird in the back of his pickup. “We’re just kind of waiting right now. Whit Gentry and David Sweet contributed to this report.
 Possible World Record Turkey - Photo by Cody May  Photo by Cody May  Photo by Cody May |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 10 April 2007 ) |
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