As I hoisted the freshly killed turkey, I thought he was unusually heavy, and upon arrival at the shed, I hung him on the scale and to my amazement he weighed 32.5 lb. Must be seeing things, yelled for the wife to double check and she says yes 32.5 lbs.
Thinking this might be the new state record I start considering what to do to get folks to believe me. First, stop – the registration station. Their scale reads 27.5 lbs. What the heck; where did the 5 lbs. Go? Oh well, their scale must be off – my friend runs the local grocery, and he has a certified scale back in the meat department.

Only in a small town, WI can you carry a dead turkey over your shoulder, down the aisle of a grocery store, to the scale in the back and no one raises so much as an eyebrow.
On the way down the aisle the gobbler does not seem as hefty as he did at first, but then adrenaline could be the cause of that perception.
Certified scales don’t lie– he is 25.3 lbs!

Back in my pole shed, I’m staring at the turkey hanging from my scale it now reads 25.1 lbs. What the heck?

It was pouring buckets when I shot this turkey, so his feathers were full of water. Have you ever wondered how much water a gobbler’s feathers could hold?  This one had 7.4 lbs of water.
No real concern, this is one beautiful bird, but so much for my brush with a state record bird.