Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Cleaning turkeys

Brest them out, then save the legs & thighs put them in a Crock Pot fill with Mt. Dew or ginger Ale, cook 8-10hrs Dam good eating! I used to throw them away till I learn about this way to fix them!

^^^^^^ This ^^^^^

I cut the beard off, cut the spurs off, cut the breast out, and use the rest of the carcass for coyote bait. On the first turkey I killed, I soaked it in hot water, picked the feathers off, and tried cooking it whole It was tougher than shoe leather, and my wife knows how to cook. Trying to keep anything other than the breast is just not worth it.

I keep the breast and thighs. I take them to my local shop and have summer sausage made. Guaranteed I’ll eat it!

That is a great idea.

I used to boil enough water to get a cooler filled enough I could dunk a whole bird.
The key was 185 degrees, dunk whole bird for 4-5 minutes or you can pluck feathers easily, you can literally grab fistfuls.
I would hang bird in my garage and pluck till naked then gut it out.
I would lastly take a torch and burn off the little itty bitty fine feathers and have a bird that looks store bought.
I would next bake, fry, broil or whatever and like others said the only thing worth eating was the breast.
Now days I just breast it out = even easier.

Wow, maybe it is my tightass family, but I would not even admit to breasting and chucking a turkey.

Not counting animals killed to be gotten rid of, I eat what I kill.


If someone posted that they pulled the back straps and cut off the horns, they would be flamed for days.

You ever eat a wild turkey leg?

Yep, legs with thighs roasted, make turkey salad or use with broth to make turkey and waffels.
Turkey and rice or noodle soup.

If you want a good eating turkey, hunt for a Butterball.
But, wild turkey can be made into good food.

. Asked my mother-in-law what she thought after eating some wild turkey. She said, well, it's not a Butterball.

Breastfeeding is good fried.

The rest,
requires more work.


Obviously, I typed breast, the rest was spellcheck!

Wild turkey leg is nothing more than solid stringy muscle and tendon.
Unchewable and I tried to like it.

It's like chewing on a mouthful of fishing line.

I'll take the thigh and legs all day long, Best part of the turkey, smother them down pot roast style, until they fall apart and you can pick out the spliters in the legs, Damn good stuff.

smothered turkey rice and gravy, potato salad and french bread

Yup

I just fillet them. Lots of good recipes for the Breast meat.
For the legs and thighs I crockpot them on low in chicken broth/water for 8 hours, let em cool and shred the meat. I use it in Chili, and my new favorite Enchilada's.
For the wings, I take out the bones for call making. Used to take out the primaries for fletching.
Not much waste but the rest gets fed to the wild critters out back.

Add 2 heaping Tablespoons roux!

Good god man, many of you need cooking lessons. Those that say store bought turkey tastes better than wild must have no taste buds. That mushy, bland stuff from the store is barely fit for my dogs. Second, if you are tossing the legs and thighs in the trash you are missing out on a ton of great meat. While no, you can not just throw on the grill for 5 minutes and have dinner but with a little forethought braising is an excellent way of cooking those tougher parts and transforming them into something delicious... like shredded turkey tacos, turkey pot pie, or smoked turkey soup.

Filet the breast meat off the bone and tenderize, marinate, batter and fry, keep the thighs and grind or use for fajitas, and the best part is the gizzard, heart, liver, and gonads for frying.

I also like cooking down the running gear till if falls apart.

I've caught some big ass catfish with the turkey insides.

That's a great way to put it! lmao.