A full fan on the Merriam's birds is a sure-fire way to tell a mature bird. The Merriam's birds have a short and thin beard due partly to ice forming on the end and breaking some of it off. Depending on where you hunt them also makes a difference, with southern Colorado having the thinner beard. Spurs in all areas as a general rule are very short and stubby due to the rough terrain and the huge amount of travel time, they put in looking for food compared to the Eastern Bird. Great flock of winter birds you have there Snowy.

Wet springs, at least in the south, con contribute to “wet hen syndrome”. As bird hunters are well aware, wet damp conditions make it much easier for bird dogs to detect their quarry. Same with predators and ground nesting birds. Wet springs lead to poor nest success down here

Yes some moisture is good but not too much. In the west we can go for long periods of not even morning dew and that hurts the bird populations.

Yep, exactly!! Hardly ever have to worry about too much moisture here. Yes, the dewy mornings is what we want here for a successful hatch. No dewy morning while egg laying is not good for any upland game.

The question is do jakes do the breeding if a low number of mature Toms. In my research not sure if true but what I'm seeing is a one-year-old jake doesn't have the fertilization capability at that age to have a clutch.

To have a healthy flock of wild turkeys my concern is just that.

As a Southerner, I don’t go by beards on y’all’s birds. Beards can break off during freeze conditions. I look for a full fan. The first Merriam I killed I thought I’d made a mistake and shot a jake. He had a full fan when I shot, but I wasn’t used to wispy little beards and basically nubs for spurs. Different parts of the country produce different beard length and spurs for Merriam’s. NM had almost every bird looking like a jake as far as beards and spurs. The PNW had better beards and even spurs for Merriam’s. Full fan and its beak gets smashed.

Yep, fans are the true indicator of maturity. Spurs here on the Merriam's are nubs and aren't sharp. I have taken many through the years spurs are not a good measuring stick for age at all.

Man, a lot of jakes and not seen but one mature tom. I believe in this picture all jakes about 16 of them right there. I guess will see the next two bring and see f some mature birds show up and how many. Still debating how much hunting pressure I want without mature birds.

We have had “jake years” in places when their numbers exploded, seen it in WI and in western SD years back jakes everywhere it seemed like every younger bird was a jake. Seeing a solid string of the was not uncommon that year. We still got our gobblers no problem can’t remember any major increase in gobblers the next season either it was a come and go nature thing.

We shot our SD birds so we popped over to WY for some NR over the counter tags at a hardware store In Newcastle. We talked with a beautiful young lady Turkey hunter at the store doing the same thing. She commented on all of jakes they had run into so I knew it was going on in other places. I pointed to my buddy and said ya he’s a jake killer you should have seen his face it was a hoot.

That is an interesting observation and like you said, it is a nature thing and will all play out according to nature. I guess time will tell when breeding season get going to see what is around then.

We had some major swings at the ranch over the years I’ve seen the usual flocks of 30-40 some years a couple hundred under ideal conditions in the spring wheat fields. One thing I noticed is the coyotes show up when you’re calling often that happens often.

see the stepped fan? the 4 long feathers inn the center, he will be like that till he molts after mating season, he may well have a 7" beard but will be a jake this season

Ridge Runner1960 >>> that is what I was thinking would be the case. Thanks for your knowledge.

Not trying to tell you something you don't already know: More jakes than toms like more little bucks than big ones. In the winter jakes hang together, toms together, and hens together. Sometimes jakes will try to hang out with the toms but the toms do not prefer it. There can be a flock of 15 toms in the winter staying on 200 acres and come spring they will be spread out over 2000 acres. All of that of course is in Missouri. So the toms are around some where. If the hens stay there in the spring then a few toms will definitely show up. A jake(s) is not going to have a spring flock of their own.

I’m not understanding the “wet spring”? Unless you’re talking an over abundance of rain. We generally have a wet spring and produce quite well. Of course that’s private land and with optimal habitat and a strict predator management program.
A wet Spring makes everything grow and produce. When vegetation and food grows it provides the necessary cover for ground nesters. Cover protects the chicks and poults and produces food as well. A drought or dry Spring/Summer is never good.
This info is for Eastern’s, Merriam’s may can survive differently. I don’t see how anything survives y’all’s winters. I cringe every Winter my brother sends me pics from Washington, lol.

TurkeyTime >> thanks I appreciate your help. I had a guy ask me today if he could turkey hunt this spring and I said, that is no problem. I didn't say anything about not seeing any toms. I will see how things look in a few months and will have an idea on the presence of the toms at that time.

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/turkey-population-decline/

Interesting info if interested.

That was a great read!!! Thank You.

I guess that is why I pay attention to wildlife and if I can make a difference the help them sustain that is everyone job as an outdoorsman.

In WV I have watched Jakes breed Hens. They will sneak around and Breed them until the old Gobblercomes in and runs them off. Then they hang out waiting for a chance.

Just remember that they are yarded up right now. When the weather get warm these groups will break up. Then you'll see your big toms.