Wednesday, March 21, 2012

How to Score Your Wild Turkey - Merriam's, Rio's, Eastern's, and Osceola's

You can calculate the score of your turkey with our scoing calculator.

Before you begin to score your turkey, be sure to note that all measurements are taken in 1/16-inch increments and converted to decimal form. A current NWTF member or another licensed hunter from the state where the bird was harvested must verify all measurements. A conversion chart for measurements is located at the bottom of this page.

Step 1:

Weigh your bird in pounds and ounces and convert ounces to decimal form.

Step 2:

Measure each spur. Spurs must be measured along the outside center, from the point at which the spur protrudes from the scaled leg skin to the tip of the spur. Add both spur measurements and multiply the combined length of the spurs by 10. This is the number of points you receive for the turkey’s spurs.

Step 3:

Measure the beard length (a beard must be measured from the center point of the protrusion of the skin to the tip) and convert it to decimal form.
Next, multiply the beard length figure by 2; this is the number of points you receive for the beard length. If you have an atypical bird (multiple beards), measure each beard, convert them to a decimal number, then add those figures together and multiply by two. This is the number of points you receive for your turkey’s beards.

Step 4:

Add together the weight, the points for spurs and points for beard(s): This is the score you receive for your turkey.

Conversion Chart

1/8 Measurements

1/16 Measurements

Weight

1/8 = .1250 1/16 = .0625 1 OZ. = .0625
2/8 = .2500 2/16 = .1250 2 OZ. = .1250
3/8 = .3750 3/16 = .1875 3 OZ. = .1875
4/8 = .5000 4/16 = .2500 4 OZ. = .2500
5/8 = .6250 5/16 = .3125 5 OZ. = .3125
6/8 = .7500 6/16 = .3750 6 OZ. = .3750
7/8 = .8750 7/16 = .4375 7 OZ. = .4375
8/16 = .5000 8 OZ. = .5000
9/16 = .5625 9 OZ. = .5625
10/16 = .625010 OZ. = .6250
11/16 = .687511 OZ. = .6875
12/16 = .750012 OZ. = .7500
13/16 = .812513 OZ. = .8125
14/16 = .875014 OZ. = .8750
15/16 = .937515 OZ. = .9375