Step 1: Weigh your bird in pounds and ounces. A digital fish scale works great. Make sure to convert the ounces to decimals by dividing by 16. (Example: 3 ounces / 16 = 0.1875)

Step 2: With a measuring tape, measure each spurs. Measure the outside of the spur to get an accurate measurement. Add spur measurements together and multiply by 10. The total will be the number of points you will receive for the turkey’s spurs.

Step 3: Measure the beard length. Measure from the point where the beard begins next to the skin out to the tip of the beard. Convert the measurement to decimal format (follow link at end of article for conversion chart). Next, multiply the decimal form by 2. This will be the number of points you’ll receive for the turkey’s beard. For multiple beards on an atypical bird, add each beard together and multiply by 2.

Step 4: Add together the weight, the points for spurs and points for beard(s). This is the final score you receive for your turkey.

** For a complete list of measurement conversions and an online calculator, visit http://www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/turkey_score.html