Turkey hunt Buck field test

[Pack Rat]

Could well be the Rio subspecies.... am sure there are many and I didn't look them all up...found this tidbit on the Rio..

The Rio Grande turkey was originally found in the southern Great Plains, western Texas and northeast Mexico. They have expanded their range and been introduced into Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, and California. This race of turkeys generally occurs in areas having 16 to 32 inches of rainfall.

The yellow is some rubber gloves I had on to clean it.

 

[Joe Houser]

Thats a very nice bird!! Is he hanging by his spurs? I never have got a bird with long spurs like you see in the hunting shows. I dont know why but mine are always somewhat rounded.
The best eating bird I ever shot was this bearded hen I shot when I first moved to Idaho.


This bird looks like a tom, even has the blue/red head, but no spurs and she had eggs inside her. Those eggs were my first clue that something was up!

Might be playing hooky tomorrow to give it one last try to fill my tag. Its pretty hard to get out of bed at 3am when you know you might just be in for a long hike!

 

[Messersmith]

Nice gobbler PR! I guess they grow 'em big in Texas! Joe, I think I've met a few women like your bearded hen....

Since we're sharing trophy shots, I'll share mine from last Fall. He was a Jake which you can tell from the short middle tail feathers. I cleaned him with a <cough> CRKT M16 <cough, cough>

 

[Guyon]

Joe, we need to talk turkey some time.

I got this bird last month. First one in a while. Not a big bird but a mature tom. 9" beard and 5/8" spurs. The beard wasn't really thick, but the longest strands just topped the 9" mark.

 

[Pack Rat]

I hang them by their feet to clean them Joe. I completely strip the skin off and then lay them on the table and dress them.

Our P&W regs talk about the bearded hens, but I haven't gotten one as yet. Saw one one day that wouldn't pause long enough to shoot at. Definitely a bearded hen. Thankfully there were some toms in the flock that made comparison easy.

This bird (posted above) , I believe, was arouned 18 pounds. I think our best has been 24. They are all fluff...lol

I rounded up some spurs and beards for a quick pic. Couple pair of spurs hit right at one inch.
Few of the beards are honest 10 inchers and one could be called 10.5.... 11 if my Dad was measuring...lol... He does have an 11.5 incher which is our best so far.

Great pics Y'all... Where ya huntin Guyon?



The beards range from a 8 to 10 month old Jake on up to a 4 year old and older mature birds.

 

[Buckaholic]

So, do those taste like store turkeys?
All I have hunted are snipe. My 102 and 55 dress 'em pretty good

 

[Pack Rat]

So, do those taste like store turkeys?
All I have hunted are snipe. My 102 and 55 dress 'em pretty good

naah Gooser, they taste more like snipe....lol

They are like any other wild game. If they are taken care of they eat just fine.

Mom and the wife cooks them up and you wouldn't know the difference. We mostly make little fried cutlets, or toss them in the slow cooker. Still do the big store bought ones for T-Giving....haven't figured that one out yet.... May be because I skin the ones we shoot instead of plucking them and leaving the skin on.... I tried that two times.....the first and the last. All at the same time.

 

[110 Dave]

got to admit i did not know what a jake was...:foot:
and the only wild turkey i tasted was a tad tough and
had been eating hot pepers which you could tast in the meat...:thumbdn:

have only been turkey huntting one time in texas
and the friend that took me used a tape recording of
other turkeys... i asked and low it is down right wrong
to use one then in tx... so i did not go again ...
texas game wardens like to take the gun and the truck you drove...
seen some nice birds at the check in in florida 20 and almost 30 lbs.
easer and better tasting from the piggly wiggly...

 

[Pack Rat]

Yeah Dave,,,electronic callers on game animals is a taboo. Maybe on some varmits as long as you could convince a GW that you were hunting varmits. There used to be some wording "where deer are known to roam" in there that pretty much puts you in hot water in Texas. Deer are known to roam EVERYWHERE.

I opened the front door the other morning to let pup go out and do her thing. Were 4 grazing in the lot across the street. Less than 100 feet. They look at us but ignore unless we make threatening moves.

Course they totally ignored the yappin pup....5 lb chihuahua. Big mama doe even made threatening moves toward pup and pup high tailed it to the front door. Cracked me up...

Oh yeah,,,we live just a couple a three miles on the NW side of Houstons IAH airport....

Now,,,I may just carry some pepper seeds to the ranch and scatter them around. We like a little spice on our meat...

The old long beards usually go in the slow cooker. Makes them nice and tender. I don't shoot many tender hens. They are a lot smaller and keep the population up. Altho they are legal in the fall season. I will shoot the bearded hens, like the one Joe shot... Somehow those just aint right...lol...

 

[Guyon]

Great pics Y'all... Where ya huntin Guyon?

That bird was shot in middle Tennessee on some paper company permit land. I've only been hunting turkey for about four years, and it was my sixth bird. First one in a while though.

Marinated the meat in honey. Then battered, fried, and drizzled with a little more honey. Extremely tasty.

Best bird I've had though came off a farm down in Alabama. When I cleaned the bird's craw, it was full of nothing but corn from the landowner's deer feeder. Corn-fed turkey is nothing to sneeze at.

Another good prep method: use a meat injector (basically a big needle/syringe) to inject a water/BBQ sauce mixture into the meat. Then grill and continually baste with BBQ sauce while grilling. Excellent and juicy from all the marinade and sauce.