Like everything else the person who pulls the trigger is making the decision about trophy status. Others' opinions don't really matter.
Congratulations on a successful hunt!
I like to save a momento of every hunt, even if it's only the unfilled tag.

To each his own. I leave the Jakes to grow up. The length of a beard means little to me. However, a big set of spurs is the mark of an old tom.

Unless the landowner specifies what he/she wants taken off the land I'm hunting, I figure if it's legal and I want to try and take it...that's my business.

Okay, Hurteau, if you insist.
You should have passed on that jake.....NOT!!!
Trophy is a relative thing. Sometimes, the satisfaction comes not as an overgrown or hormone-ally challenged freak of nature, but completeing the task one assign's oneself, like building a home, gives one a feeling of self satisfaction that antlers, body mass, beard and spur length just can't match.
Job well done! Nice bird!

Bubba

Your turkey hunting....thats a turkey...good choice

Well done Dave! With archery equipment especially, any turkey is a trophy, and no one who eats wild turkey often would prefer to eat a 3 year tom to a jake.

My son Ken was 12 when I started turkey hunting about 17 years ago. We were new at the game, and had a lot to learn (after 2010 and 2011 seasons, it appears I have to start learning all over again, but that is another story...). Ken was reading all the articles in F&S, OL, NWTF...longbeards, toms, gobblers....one morning when we were set up he whispered to me...."Dad, would you shoot a jake?" Thought a moment...."Ken, I would never shoot a jake...unless he was within range..." It took him a second, but he got it.

I'm still waiting for my first, so any turkey looks good to me!

If I had a tom and a jake in range together, then fine I'd go for the tom. If only a jake was running around in front of my sights......boom!

Last week after he took an Iowa gobbler with 1.5 inch spurs I told Billy D. he was now a master turkey hunter. No more grasshopper for him after taking about 30 gobblers and this old bird.
Anyway, yesterday Billy D and yours truly drove up to the family farm. We caught a bucket full of catfish, bluegills and one nice bass. Spent the night in a mom and pop motel, got up early and went turkey hunting at the farm. We set up in our favorite spots along a creek bottom bordered by a field with old corn stubble in it. At first light a gobbler flew down and lit 40 yds out from Billy. He touched off his favorite old Remington 1100 and scared the crap out of that gobbler when he shot over his head. I was watching from my spot about 350 yards away. The bird flew about half way to me, lit and ran into the woods. At 9:00 am I had heard nothing and only seen one hen. It was time to go 'cause Billy had to be home by a certain time. I took up my decoy and walked up the tree line to get Billy. When I got pretty close the sound of Billy's old box call tickled
my ears so decided to have some fun. Eased my Beekeeper special out of the coat and used it to gobble. When I did a mature gobbler raised his head in the bushes about 15 yds behind Billy and only 10 yds from me. There was nothing to do but raise ol' Betsy and touch off a 3.5 in load of heavy #6. Billy wanted to know if I was trying to scare him. Nope, just shot my 66th gobbler off your back was the reply. The bird weighed just shy of 21 lb and had a paintbrush beard about 10 inches long. Spurs went about .75 inch. Had to raz Billy about the earlier miss. Told him he is back to grasshopper status. We only heard 3 gobbles all morning and think this bird was the same bird Billy missed. Billy said he heard the bird behind him cluck several times but never gobbled. Note that I knew exactly where Billy was sitting before the shot. That bird was so close I could see his eye. Don't know why he just stood there and looked at me. Maybe he thought he was hidden in the underbrush.

Hey Buckhunter,
Thanks. I'll be keeping that tail and the primary wing feathers for my own flies. Hard to find time to tie as many flies as I used to, but I still do it when I can.

Dave, Im just glad your gun was loaded-LOL. And Del, if that's how you hunt 'em in Kansas, I wouldn't come to Alabama lookin' for a longbeard, our possums are smarter than that.

My elderly Father pulled that stunt last year(unloaded shotgun) & ended up eating crow-at least you got some turkey to serve up & revenge at the same time! By the way my 81yr old Dad redeemed himself opening day this Spring with a 21lb bird & broke his 3year dry spell. Jim