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Other topics for members => FOOD! FOOD! FOOD! => Topic started by: goose63 on October 17, 2013, 08:18:36 PM

Title: wild turkey's
Post by: goose63 on October 17, 2013, 08:18:36 PM
Buddy of mine has 80 or so running all over the farm making a big mess on hay bales. he thinks I should come over help thin em out might try turkey crispen . I wonder if I need grits with them :D 8) :snowball:
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: thecfarm on October 17, 2013, 08:22:30 PM
I would get in touch with the game warden. We was having trouble with them eating our blueberry crop. You might be able to fill your freezer with turkeys. Better than that other stuff you mentioned.  ;D
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: Chuck White on October 17, 2013, 09:03:48 PM
Might even be such a thing as a nusense permit!

After all, they are causing crop damage!
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: beenthere on October 17, 2013, 09:19:41 PM
From this linked report, the turkey's in ND are struggling with 4 bad years.
Must be your buddies hay that has them doing well there.
Have not seen hay bale damage by turkeys here. Doesn't mean it can't happen.

http://gf.nd.gov/news/fall-turkey-season-set
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: Al_Smith on October 17, 2013, 09:50:08 PM
I'll put some pictures on tomorrow of a flock I got from less than 10 feet away roosting on a machinery trailer next to a soybean field .Turkeys like soy beans about as much as they do acorns .
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: drobertson on October 17, 2013, 09:50:30 PM
Yea, I would help him out a little, just before calling the conservation dept.  they might want to set up some nets and transplant them.    david
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: thecfarm on October 17, 2013, 10:00:15 PM
They must like 'em Al. The turkeys around here may walk by the living room door by 10 feet,but if I open up that door they are gone.
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: WmFritz on October 18, 2013, 12:36:06 AM
Quote from: goose63 on October 17, 2013, 08:18:36 PM
I wonder if I need grits with them :D 8) :snowball:

Using g#%ts for bait is probably a bad idea. They may run for da hills!   smiley_turkey_dancing
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: justallan1 on October 18, 2013, 08:18:28 AM
We have plenty of turkeys in S.E. Montana this year, but they don't bother anything.
I got one five years ago and these things don't cook like a Butterball at all.
I'll definitely look into how to cook these things before I get another.

Allan
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: Raider Bill on October 18, 2013, 08:21:38 AM
Quote from: justallan1 on October 18, 2013, 08:18:28 AM
We have plenty of turkeys in S.E. Montana this year, but they don't bother anything.
I got one five years ago and these things don't cook like a Butterball at all.
I'll definitely look into how to cook these things before I get another.

Allan

Take the breasts and beat them flat with a tenderizer, cut into strips, bread and fry. Throw the rest away.
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: justallan1 on October 18, 2013, 08:23:51 AM
That's pretty much what I learned and then was told. I thought the rest was junk when I tried one.

Allan
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: ND rancher on October 18, 2013, 09:04:06 AM
Allan, you need to cook them in an oven bag or brine them in a tenderquick brine first then cook them. Bag keeps them moist TQ. keeps them even juicer. That is how I do geese also.      goose63, they probably have grain bales that they are going after. They can rip through plastic twine or net wrap in a hurry and the bales fall apart for easy pickens. The turkeys have been on a decline for a number of years , so for me it was nice to have a few in the yard last year and this fall!
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: Al_Smith on October 18, 2013, 06:54:30 PM
Here's these turkeys I encountered last Sat .

 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12054/Poulan_GTG_2013_004.jpg) 

 (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12054/Poulan_GTG_2013_003.jpg)

Funny those turkeys were looking at me as I was looking at them .A couple of jakes had to show off and puff up which is their nature .The lighting from the early morning sun was bad to get good pictures .
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: goose63 on October 18, 2013, 07:07:43 PM
Skin em out cut the brest out cook slow on wood fired grill gona try some in a stew this week end
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: SPIKER on October 18, 2013, 07:51:34 PM
5 years ago I had tons of Turkeys on my place, (lots of Oak, Grass hoppers and Hickory nuts as well as berries all over it.)   I lost count over 50 individuals in one flock and guesstimated it to be about 75 + birds.   This year I've seen maybe 10 in small flock of yearlings.   Have had a Fox Den on the back corner to keep the birds down some but I feed them a good number of ground hogs (after shot might call em ground chucks ;) & drop em of for the fox pups.   2 years ago she had 3 or 4 pups, this year I did not see any pups at the den but saw Momma and one Yearling Pup in back yard...   Pup was following a Skunk (was out very early evening) sun was up pretty good.   I was working in back garage & saw Skunk 1st... :o    Then 30' back was the pup  lol   I walked out maybe 20 feet from the pup but he either was mesmerized by skunk or deaf...   I was approaching from out of SUN side of him but was not particularly quite.   Had the 22 with me but just was trying to get a Pic on Phone.   Missed pic as phone chimed and shocked the poor thing, I think it about crapped it's self lol :D

Anyhow Pic below is about same spot the Fox was at year later.   With the foxes there are less Turkeys on the property but see signs of them all time and maybe seen birds 5 or 6 times this summer within shooting distance.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12855/Turkey_pic.jpg)

Mark
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: beenthere on October 18, 2013, 08:04:28 PM
The last turkey we fixed, my wife put the legs and thighs in a crockpot slowcooker. They came out quite good, and I prefer that dark meat over the breast meat baked in the oven.
I only shoot them with an arrow, as I don't like picking through the meat looking for bb's that are embedded with feathers in the meat.            Arrow only, or no turkey.
We have large groups of them, 15-20 at a time and upwards of 30-50 in the winter time. On a ridge between feeding grounds and their roosting trees (which are all too close to my good deer hunting stand and have to put up with their wake-up routine and incessant cackling before and after they fly down from their roost). 50 turkeys can make a lot of noise.
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: thecfarm on October 18, 2013, 08:57:38 PM
Nice pictures of the turkeys. The ones here are some scared of me. And I have never even shot at them. The flocks around here are no more than 20,more like 12-15. But go south about ½ and very common to see 30 in a flock.
Title: Re: wild turkey's
Post by: Al_Smith on October 18, 2013, 10:10:53 PM
I've seen probabley flocks as high as 100 in southern Ohio next to the WVA. border .Seldom here more than 6-8 .That flock of a dozen 15 is the largest ever I've seen .

I've never seen them in my woods but every so often in my front field .They are kind of like deer in that they don't shy away from cars and trucks .On foot though they skedaddle .Once I had this great big swan that hung around for a day or two .Where pray tell that thing came from I'll never know .I couldn't  believe a bird that big could fly but it did just fine .