Remember the turkey picture that was in the May 4 edition of The
Era?

It was a photo of Bradford’s Tim Piller holding a 29-pound
Eastern Typical wild turkey.

Piller informed The Era on Thursday night the 29-pounder is a
state record, according to National Wild Turkey Federation
calculations.

Piller, 39, shot the bird at 7:45 a.m. May 3 in the Minard Run
area where he has been hunting for several years.

The previous state record for weight was 27.75 pounds shot by
Robert Wise of Green, Pa., on May 10, 2002.

Turkeys are rated in four categories – weight, score, beard and
spurs. The four are combined into a score of a wild turkey.
Piller’s bird ranks fourth in the state with a score of 80.0. In
addition, the gobbler ranks fourth in spurs and 23rd in beard.

Piller said there are three ranked turkeys in the weight
category from Bradford in the top eight.

Piller is getting a full mount from Mount Jewett Taxidermy,
which is a witness in the calculation. Taxidermist Hattie Prosser
said “it was the biggest bird” she has ever seen come through her
shop.

“I haven’t seen anything like this one,” Prosser admitted. “The
biggest one before this was 23 pounds.”

On the morning of May 2, Piller got his first glimpse of the
turkey. He took a shot, but missed it because it was out of range.
The following morning, Piller saw the same turkey on the other side
of the hill.

“I knew it was a big bird because the neck measured eight inches
in circumference,” Piller noted. “I knew there were three or four
birds in that area.”

Later this month a picture of the bird will be on the
Pennsylvania Game Commission’s web site at www.pgc.state.pa.us.