Turkey

[Breck]

White hands will get you busted when you raise the gun to shoot, wear camouflage gloves

I do. Just had them off at the time of the pic.

 

[Zak]

Weve been using wild bird for thanksgiving for about a decade now. It's been a long road but we have really arrived in my opinion.

We pluck the breasts, then breast them out with skin on. Dark meat is removed sans skin. Dark meat is placed in a mild corned beef style brine for a week, breasts in a mild salt/sugar brine for 3-4 days.

Dark meat is cooked into a stock and the meat shredded. The stock and meat are used to make stuffing. It is ridiculously good and I promise nobody at your thanksgiving table has had corned turkey stuffing before.

The breasts are the real star however. After their brine we dry them overnight. Score the skin very lightly in a cross hatch pattern. Beat the breasts with a french pin until the entire breast is rectangular and 1/4" thick.

Make a filling using pancetta, bread crumbs, mushrooms, herbs, etc... bonus points for rendered duck fat making an appearance here.

Lay the filling across the flesh side of the breast and roll it like the fattest joint you ever seen. YOURE ALMOST HOME NOW!!

Create a latticework of pancetta. Take turkey tube and wrap the lattice around it. Have some whiskey, you're kickin ass. Tie everything up tight with butcher string. Place in vacuum seal bag with a fat pat of butter and seal it up.

The cooking: I cook it in the sous vide bath overnight at 145, about 16 hours total. This really allows things to soften up.

Just before it's time to eat, it comes out of the bag and gets butter basted/fried crisp in a cast iron. Also a fantastic place to reintroduce that duck fat we talked about earlier.

Slice and serve. The result is a huge depth of flavor and wild turkey moist and tender enough to not need to be washed down with gravy. May seem like a lot of effort, this is 10000% worth every bit.View attachment 8467

Omg. That sounds and looks amazing!

 

[Uptonogood]

I’ve never hunted these birds but I did assist another biologist with trapping and relocating them many years ago in Georgia. The birds we were after were baited and them captured with a rocket net. The trapping was on private plantation with virtually no hunting pressure. I’ve never seen more wary birds than these birds, big, too! Be sure to spray yourself with tick repellen! Down this way the chiggers will eat what the ticks don’t get. Oh, yeah, and we’ve got the largest venomous snakes species in the country lurking around.

Good luck! Post updates!

 

[Breck]

So much gobblin’ all around our cabin the past few days. Need to get to the store and pick up a Spring tag.

 

[JS]

White hands will get you busted when you raise the gun to shoot, wear camouflage gloves

Twice as bad when you’ve got a bow in your hand, learned that the hard way opening day last year.

I do a version of the brined bird, but the real magic is turning that shit into breakfast sausage. Rinella has a recipe we’ve been using for four or so years now that’s unreal.

 

[Brute]

Weve been using wild bird for thanksgiving for about a decade now. It's been a long road but we have really arrived in my opinion.

We pluck the breasts, then breast them out with skin on. Dark meat is removed sans skin. Dark meat is placed in a mild corned beef style brine for a week, breasts in a mild salt/sugar brine for 3-4 days.

Dark meat is cooked into a stock and the meat shredded. The stock and meat are used to make stuffing. It is ridiculously good and I promise nobody at your thanksgiving table has had corned turkey stuffing before.

The breasts are the real star however. After their brine we dry them overnight. Score the skin very lightly in a cross hatch pattern. Beat the breasts with a french pin until the entire breast is rectangular and 1/4" thick.

Make a filling using pancetta, bread crumbs, mushrooms, herbs, etc... bonus points for rendered duck fat making an appearance here.

Lay the filling across the flesh side of the breast and roll it like the fattest joint you ever seen. YOURE ALMOST HOME NOW!!

Create a latticework of pancetta. Take turkey tube and wrap the lattice around it. Have some whiskey, you're kickin ass. Tie everything up tight with butcher string. Place in vacuum seal bag with a fat pat of butter and seal it up.

The cooking: I cook it in the sous vide bath overnight at 145, about 16 hours total. This really allows things to soften up.

Just before it's time to eat, it comes out of the bag and gets butter basted/fried crisp in a cast iron. Also a fantastic place to reintroduce that duck fat we talked about earlier.

Slice and serve. The result is a huge depth of flavor and wild turkey moist and tender enough to not need to be washed down with gravy. May seem like a lot of effort, this is 10000% worth every bit.View attachment 8467

Turkey porchetta…sounds great.

I would think throwing them in an imu and cook overnight Hawaiian style would work…

 

[Richard J]

My daughter and I will be turkey hunting for the first time this year. We have been practicing the various calls and doing a lot of research. My shotguns were not good for turkey so I just got a Mossberg 930. Spent one day patterning it out at the Greenwater site a few weeks in the snow and that was fun. Finding turkey shotshell loads in western WA has not been easy though. I was able to get a box of Winchester XR Longbeard shells online and wonder if the local stores will stock up soon. I am planning on going to eastern WA soon to scout and wonder in the stores on that side are better stocked since that's where most of the birds are.

 

[Roper]

If you don’t need 3-3 1/2 inchers, I’ve got some 2 3/4 to share…

 

[atomic dog]

My daughter and I will be turkey hunting for the first time this year. We have been practicing the various calls and doing a lot of research. My shotguns were not good for turkey so I just got a Mossberg 930. Spent one day patterning it out at the Greenwater site a few weeks in the snow and that was fun. Finding turkey shotshell loads in western WA has not been easy though. I was able to get a box of Winchester XR Longbeard shells online and wonder if the local stores will stock up soon. I am planning on going to eastern WA soon to scout and wonder in the stores on that side are better stocked since that's where most of the birds are.

I assume you'd be headed NE to hunt so its probably way out of your way, but for reference, Sportsman's in Kennewick has had some selection on the shelves the last couple times I was in there. I'm guessing it will become more scarce the closer we get to April.

 

[Pink Nighty]

I assume you'd be headed NE to hunt so its probably way out of your way, but for reference, Sportsman's in Kennewick has had some selection on the shelves the last couple times I was in there. I'm guessing it will become more scarce the closer we get to April.

Hunting in chewelah last year, sportsmen's in spokane and cabelas in state line were completely bereft of Turkey gear. Find it now

 

[TicTokCroc]

So I normally have a rule I don't sell guns or ammo once I have it. But... I can't foresee ever getting to hunt turkey in the next 15 years having 2 young girls, and working constantly. If I do, it would probably be with a bow. And I have enough buckshot for the zombie apocalypse. So, I can't sell on here yet since I don't have a PayPal to make a donation but if anyone is interested, I can probably figure it out in the next few days. This is what I got, preferably going to taking a youngster hunting.

 

[Chadk]

Roper, I have access to a few hundred acres near colville for whitetail hunting. I also have some luck with bobcat, rabbit, and grouse. There are turkeys in the area (lots), but i've yet to hunt them. Keep us posted on the hunt and your thoughts. Maybe I can meet you in Colville one of these days for turkey and maybe squeeze in some fishing

 

[bearclaw_guajolote]

Anyone find any success this weekend? Dad and I both got toms on Saturday.

Saturday morning we woke up to a dusting of snow in West Okanogan county and were hoping it would keep the birds at roost a little longer so we could get a better position and set a few dekes. It was so bright with the moon reflecting off the snow and it seemed to make the birds come out of roost earlier than Friday morning, so by the time we got to the spot they were already on the ground, and not nearly as talkative as Friday. Decided to hike the ridge and call every so often and got a gobbler to bite. Dad and I posted up up off the ridge edge and I ditched my pack. Dad kept calling, alternating the reed and gobble to keep his interest, as I snuck downhill on my hands and skidding on my butt. Finally got to what I decided was my "spot" and just caught a glimpse of his beard and head in the underbrush about 30 yards out and downhill. Decided that once he cleared the lip he'd be in range of my ol' 870 Wingmaster 2 3/4 fixed full choke. Soon as he hopped up I let him have it! First mature tom for me, and so happy to have my dad call him in.


Did some midday chores and took a nap, then decided to go looking for an evening bird at a different spot for Dad. Narrow strip of public land that we had some intel on from a friend who owns a cabin across the road. We showed up around 3 and got out to look...didn't even grab the guns

. Got to the edge of the public land and let out a few yelps to an immediate response from a gobbler. I told Dad to keep him talking and jetted back to the truck to grab guns and shells. Made it back to dad sweating like a pig and out of breath. Dad hid out in a brush patch just at the edge of the clearing and I took a vantage point higher up the hill. From there it played out like an episode of a hunting show. Over the next ten minutes, that tom responded to every call and came in on a string, gobbling and flashing his fan all over the place. The combo of Dad's yelps and my slate calls brought him right into range and Dad smoked him. Awesome way to start the season! Time to start trying out some of my new recipes!

 

[Pink Nighty]

Anyone find any success this weekend? Dad and I both got toms on Saturday.

Saturday morning we woke up to a dusting of snow in West Okanogan county and were hoping it would keep the birds at roost a little longer so we could get a better position and set a few dekes. It was so bright with the moon reflecting off the snow and it seemed to make the birds come out of roost earlier than Friday morning, so by the time we got to the spot they were already on the ground, and not nearly as talkative as Friday. Decided to hike the ridge and call every so often and got a gobbler to bite. Dad and I posted up up off the ridge edge and I ditched my pack. Dad kept calling, alternating the reed and gobble to keep his interest, as I snuck downhill on my hands and skidding on my butt. Finally got to what I decided was my "spot" and just caught a glimpse of his beard and head in the underbrush about 30 yards out and downhill. Decided that once he cleared the lip he'd be in range of my ol' 870 Wingmaster 2 3/4 fixed full choke. Soon as he hopped up I let him have it! First mature tom for me, and so happy to have my dad call him in.
View attachment 12006View attachment 12009View attachment 12010View attachment 12011

Did some midday chores and took a nap, then decided to go looking for an evening bird at a different spot for Dad. Narrow strip of public land that we had some intel on from a friend who owns a cabin across the road. We showed up around 3 and got out to look...didn't even grab the guns

. Got to the edge of the public land and let out a few yelps to an immediate response from a gobbler. I told Dad to keep him talking and jetted back to the truck to grab guns and shells. Made it back to dad sweating like a pig and out of breath. Dad hid out in a brush patch just at the edge of the clearing and I took a vantage point higher up the hill. From there it played out like an episode of a hunting show. Over the next ten minutes, that tom responded to every call and came in on a string, gobbling and flashing his fan all over the place. The combo of Dad's yelps and my slate calls brought him right into range and Dad smoked him. Awesome way to start the season! Time to start trying out some of my new recipes!
View attachment 12008

Gahhhhhhhbllleeeerrrrr!!! Nice birds man! I'm heading over the last weekend of april to NE WA, gettin real itchy knowing how many birds are already in the freezer!

 

[Pink Nighty]

First bird alert! I've been hunting a few seasons with my dad and brother, both of whom are much more dedicated to the craft than I. Never been able to put it together personally, but today I got a Jake! Missed a long shot on a tom earlier but was patient enough to let this lovely come in range!

 

[Cliff]

This past year I finally decided to get serious about turkey hunting. I've bagged a few over the years but I never really jumped into the pool to get wet, so this past year I bought a new high tech vest, camo clothes, and a dedicated camo turkey shotgun with a high end turkey choke, and spent a relative fortune on Apex TSS shells for it. So what did I use? A 91 year old LC Smith trap gun with pheasant loads while wearing street clothes.

 

[bearclaw_guajolote]

This past year I finally decided to get serious about turkey hunting. I've bagged a few over the years but I never really jumped into the pool to get wet, so this past year I bought a new high tech vest, camo clothes, and a dedicated camo turkey shotgun with a high end turkey choke, and spent a relative fortune on Apex TSS shells for it. So what did I use? A 91 year old LC Smith trap gun with pheasant loads while wearing street clothes.

Isn't that just how it goes? Great bird!

 

[bearclaw_guajolote]

First bird alert! I've been hunting a few seasons with my dad and brother, both of whom are much more dedicated to the craft than I. Never been able to put it together personally, but today I got a Jake! Missed a long shot on a tom earlier but was patient enough to let this lovely come in range!

Great job on your first bird, way to stick with it! You can get a sweet pin from the National Wild Turkey Federation if you report it https://www.mywdfw.com/first-turkey-program/.

 

[Hem]

Fun times last weekend.

 

[Hem]

doubled up this morning to wrap up the season.