Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting Wild Turkeys ???

These so called wild turkeys come & go around the house. I can be outside as they peck around . Hardly even give me any notice. Would like to harvest one for Thanksgiving. Legally can do. How do you feel about the ethics of taking semi tame wild turkeys ? Just would like your thoughts..

I would shoot how many ever was legal. The more you hunt/shoot them the more wild they will get.

if you don't the coyotes will!

I like Wild Turkey! Oh, you mean real turkey. Shoot if it's safe and legal. We have a small flock by me that does not seem to mind people being around. That will be their downfall. Opens here in a week. One looks to be a bearded hen; a tranny turkey.

try a wrist rocket on them. that should spook them up.

I'm in Montana too and I have yet to see a Merriams turkey that was anything but half tame and the other half stupid.


But they taste good....

Rio Grande Turkey is like eating a hand full of rubber bands, and not tasty, and we are covered up with them,

Now we will hear from everyone that's turkey cooking expert. Rio7

First rule: don't dry out the bird - the Insta-Pot and bullion cubes are your friends.

A pair of drum sticks with morels and rampling on are on the menu for Thanksgiving ( tomorrow in Canada! )

First off I would have no issues harvesting one of those Forrest Gump type birds. As far as eating wild turkeys I have only killed and eaten Easterns and found them tasty.

If a tough bird is anticipated, there is always a pressure cooker. Tender every t9me...

Remember to start shooting the ones at the back of the line first.

For years I heard how smart turkeys are and how hard they are to hunt. Then I started hunting them. They are a couple steps above a house plant intelligence wise at best. They can be very tuned into movement spooking them if they are hunted alot. Or vehicles trying to run them over. Once they perceive something as not a threat they don't care about much.

If I did not like to eat them I probably would not hunt them. I like to breast them cut the breast thin and then pound them out real thin. Bread them and fry them like veal or pork cutlets. Very tasty.

Years ago when turkeys were being helped along in my state they stocked a lot of birds in some areas. Including the area where my family has a cabin in northern Wisconsin. After about five years there were turkeys everywhere. Dumb as rocks. Seriously you would have a flock of twenty to fifty birds standing in the road would not move. You could pull over by a flock and they would walk up to the car from the ditch.

Well the locals must of liked the taste of them or took joy in using them as bowling pins when they blocked the road. Within a couple years you almost never saw a turkey. Wasn't until about ten years later you saw birds again. Still dumb but average dumb for turkeys. Eventually came out that to increase numbers a lot of the stocked birds were the results of wild birds being breed with captive "wild" turkeys.

I think in general there are lots of questionable genetics in most turkey populations.

Same situation here. Low density, everyone has acreage, lots of small farms and ranches. There are turkeys in my yard some years. My neighbors who know that I hunt blamed because the turkeys disappeared for a few years even though I've never even tried to hunt them. I guess they regard them as pets.

I would give a rats ass what others feel. If it’s legal and you want to eat one, fire away.
I’ve hunted them a lot with archery equipment. As others have said, they are not at all smart.

WRT Rio Grande turkey - do not eat the cactus thorns!

At first, I took pains to bring home the whole turkey so it could be baked like in Thanksgiving photos. Then, I saw that the legs and thighs were not being eaten due to the cactus thorns and tough ligaments and switched to the more common Texas Wild Turkey field dressing method as follows:.
Lay bird on it's back and remove breast. Walk away, leaving rest of bird for native animals and birds that know how to eat it. Ants will clean off anything not eaten.
Turn breast over to daughter or wife to be prepared for another delicious and memorable turkey dinner.

Point #2
Turkey have excellent eyesight and can see suspicious movement at a good distance. Decent hearing, but no sense of smell. This Turkey gun greatly simplified taking Rio Grande turkey for me: Savage O/U .22 hornet/12 gauge with Turkey scope:

Yard animals are yard animals, it’s a product of modern civilization. I don’t hunt in my yard (not legal). I have 10 to 15 mile deer in my yard a night no different than your turkeys. I enjoy hunting mule deer, but have no interest in shooting one that my neighbors and I have conditioned to have no fear of man.

If you want one, kill one.

Hope ya don’t think less of me, hesp!



Would echo what the others said. They’re seemingly ALL semi-human tolerant/tame around here, their numbers are obviously up and they feast at will on bird feeders, broadcast chicken feed, and idiots who deliberately feed them. About 2.5 dozen are on a circuit out here. Coyotes abound. You got a tag, then within reason you are doing the flock a favor by culling one.

Oh, Anschutz 1433 22hornet, .224 Berger FB varmint over lil gun, 2-7 leup old time post reticle, about 30yds, maybe 35. Honest, have passed many a chip shot to TRY and make it feel a bit sporting.

Nice shootin! Love hunting tiurkeys here in northern PA.

Generally from what I have seen the less pressure the tamer the bird.. Only makes sense... I used to hunt S.D. in the Black Hills.. Those birds on public land were always pretty wary.. On the other side less so.. In W.Va. they were very wild.. Their motto was the best time to get a gobbler is when you see him... In Pa. with lots of pressure, they were extremely wary... Like humans no fear, not too alert.. But humans are pretty stupid also..