Records are meant to be broken, and wildlife records seem to be falling in bunches this year. Tennessee may just have a new record turkey on their hands.
If you follow hunting and fishing news, you know that the past few years have been providing outdoorsmen with some incredible animals and fish and records are falling. After many state record fish and a world record deer, the Tennessee's State turkey record is now in jeopardy.
Cord Maddox, 23, of Huntingdon, knocked down what he thought was a regular old gobbler. But that wasn't the case. Using a scoring method developed by the National Wild Turkey Federation, it looks as if this bird is going to top the previous record set in 2016 in East Tennessee.
Cord's pending score of 89.562 has edged the previous mark of 89.50 if the NWTF certifies the measurements taken by TWRA Henry County Wildlife Officer Greg Barker according to Tennessee Wildlife's Resource Agency's Facebook. As you can tell by the scores, it is a very very close call.
The scores include a formula that takes into account the birds weight, the length of its beard, and the the length of each spur and then all added together for a final total.
After harvesting the bird on a field edge by bringing it in close with a call, Cord and hunting buddy Travis Ward made there way to it. The size of the bird and it's beard seemed to be just another turkey, but when their eyes saw the spurs, they knew they had something special. And as you can see in the picture, it had some hooks!
"Our jaws dropped," said Cord. "We had never seen spurs like that."
You die hard turkey hunters can breath easy though, Cord has killed many turkeys in his day and has already filled all of his tags for this season. He plans on helping a few others fill theirs too. Therefore, it wasn't his first bird and full of luck. He has earned it.
Here are the measurements that are pending certification from the NWTF:
Weight: 25.37
Beard length: 12 7/16 inches
Right spur: 2 1/16
Left spur: 1 7/8
Total score: 89.5625
The photo above is officer Greg Barker taking measurements of the incredible tom. Tennessee is a great state to be a turkey hunter. Allowing hunters to harvest up to four bearded birds (no more than one per day) during the spring season, which makes it a very sought after hunting destination.
Heck of a bird Cord! According to Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, Cord will be getting the bird mounted.
How about those spurs again, wow.
Did you enjoy this post? CLICK HERE to view more articles by Colton Bailey. You can also follow him on Facebook CB Outdoors and Hunting and Fishing Memes, and Instagram Ultimate Outdoors.
NEXT: Rare Footage Catches Confused Hen Gobbling
