With the inaugural fully open spring season this past May in Suffolk County, it was predicted by many of us in the turkey hunting community that gobblers tagged in Suffolk County would likely rachet the record books upward. It has not only moved the high water mark upward but delivered a new #1 Typical Score on May 10th. This follows another gobbler in the top five from this season- https://www.turkey-talk.com/tblog/?p=2694
A fall season had been in place in Suffolk since 2009, along with a spring youth hunt that began in 2011. After much deliberation and observations of plentiful and healthy flocks on Long Island, the go-ahead for an open spring season hunt was green-lighted this past May. With hunting fall gobblers a more difficult endeavor in the fall season, having an open season in the spring was expected to yield even more impressive gobblers. It is a shift of preferences from fall to spring from over a century ago when fall season was the traditional season.
Christopher Tellone, a resident of Long Island, took his first ever wild turkey gobbler this spring and without question, a wild turkey gobbler of a lifetime. It may be his first turkey, but Christopher is no spring chicken in the woods or new to hunting. As a lifelong deer hunter, he employed many of his woodsmanship skills to help him bag the new top typical score gobbler in the Empire State. Chris, now known to his friends as “Long Spur,” tells the story of getting onto a flock of birds that morning with several gobblers courting hens. Although he is new to calling turkeys, he knew that the hens were not swayed by his calling and the gobblers were not leaving the hens they courted. After giving it ample time for the flock to come his way, he backed out to head to his truck. He spotted the flock several hundred yards in a field. Surmising where they would end up, he patiently made his way to position himself to where they would eventually cross. As the hens left the gobblers an hour later to head back to the woods, they crossed in front, and the gobblers would follow. Choosing the largest gobbler that lead the bachelor group, Chris made good on his shot.
Chris’s bird scoring 84.0000 NWTF-Score surpasses the previous record held for 24 years for the number one typical category taken by Robert Miller Jr. in 1999, with an 82.1600 NWTF-Score. The gobbler was weighed on a certified commercial scale and properly measured in accordance with NWTF guidelines. The gobbler weighed in at 28lbs, sporting 1.75” spurs on each leg, and swung a 10.5” beard.
The gobbler, currently recorded by the NWTF (National Wild Turkey Federation,) also shows the bird to rank #3 in the state for spurs, and #4 for weight.
Using the SBP method of scoring, the gobbler scores 182.0000 taking over the #2 ranking in New York.
NWTF Typical calculation = (weight x1) + (spurs total x10) + (beard x2)
SBP Typical calculation = (weight x1) + (spurs total x32) + (beard x4)
Congratulations on an impressive first gobbler and a new record!
https://your.nwtf.org/members/records/
https://turkey-talk.com/scoresbp.html
-MJ
© 2023 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
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