Kentucky Has Its Share of Animal Records, but a 37-Pound Turkey Tops Them All

When it comes to world records and animals, Kentucky can do some bragging. There are several categories in which the Commonwealth can stand tall on the world stage, but we're no slouches regarding the animal kingdom, either.

Kentucky World Records From the Animal Kingdom

In 2024, Brandon Burman made it into the record books with his "world-record typical 8-point buck." I am not well-versed in deer-hunting terminology, so I'll just write it like I saw it. But, congrats to Brandon.

In 1985, Robert Sangster and his partners broke the bank in their purchase of the thoroughbred Seattle Dancer. They forked over a cool $13.1 million at Keeneland in Lexington. There had to be a horse in this mix, right? Well, how about another one, a much more famous one, to say the least? The record for the fastest half-mile in the history of the Kentucky Derby still belongs to Secretariat, 52 years later.

Kentucky's Turkey World Record

But, since we're so close to Thanksgiving, how about a world record belonging to a turkey? Ten years ago, in 2015, David Cody Guess from Lyon County bagged an adult male wild turkey that weighed a whopping 37.6 pounds. And it seemingly came right to him; the turkey had wandered onto David's family farm. Midwest Outdoors tells us that the average weight for an adult male turkey is 17 pounds, so, you know... GOOD LORD.

One week after Guess claimed the longbeard (its spurs, by the way, were just over an inch long), the National Wild Turkey Federation made if official and placed Guess's bagged bird into the record books.