I spent over half my life in Alaska. There are no turkeys there. (At least the kind with feathers) So I booked a hunt in Washington. My question is, and I've heard, but don't know, is wild turkey good to eat? Thinking about just bringing back breasts. I need to know.
How do you fix it? Mostly used to Thanksgiving Turkey from a grocery store.

Jack, it's not too bad. Just head shoot them and clean them right away. I've shot a lot of turkey and the worst one to eat was one that I made a less than perfect shot on, when it flew overhead and I took it out of the air. You can cook the whole bird, just like a thanksgiving turkey. They have a sweet/gamy taste to me, but not much different than a domestic turkey... Good luck with your hunt..

Its not a butterball so you have to add the fat back in. Low and slow cooking is the trick or it gets tough. Cheap fatty bacon is effective to add fat and flavor.

Ive had them come out good with bacon and lots of citrus fruit. Don't be afraid.

You're not losing a whole lot by just bringing the breast back. I have just recently resorted to this more as a way to save freezer space than anything else. A whole bird will take up an entire shelf all stretched out.

I have been known to try all sorts of methods. My favorite is injecting it with a marinade and doing a hot smoke. The marinade is (you'll laugh) is a mix of butter, curry powder, bacon fat, Creole seasoning, and grape jelly.

another thing....
when my FIL got me into turkey hunting... We used to boil dip and pluck thos things.... Don't waste the time. Just breats them out. Michael Weddel has a good youtube video on it.

I do keep the legs for the crock pot though.

I find em very tasty. Usually breast em and cut the larger pieces from the thighs and legs. Legs get pretty tough. I'll oftentimes cook them in a crockpot with gravy. Makes a good cream turkey over biscuits. Good grilled in chunks basted with butter and vinegar.....yum!

Much better than butterball !
Breast them out . Cut it into strips or nugget size pieces .
Soak in butter milk for 24 hrs , bread and fry it.
Marinate in Zesty Italian dressing for 8-24 hrs then grill it.
Both ways are delicious as long as you Don’t over cook it !

Chunk the breast in to bite sized pieces. Soak in buttermilk, dredge in your favorite breading and deep fry.

Pretty good vittles.

This

This is the only way I eat wild turkey.

we will soak in zesty italian, then bread and fry, unreal. We always cut up a deer backstrap into chunks too and fry them too, always good but the turkey is usually the first to get eaten. For dessert, we'll fry some of those flaky biscuits, a little powdered suger or blackberry jam on them, good stuff.

They taste good enough that you'll want to eat it. Breast it out and take it home.

We debone and cube the meat. It’s great fried with gravy and a biscuit.

I give them away, but a few few friends that deep fry them.

The breast are much better than domestic turkey. I grill them and they are great. Do keep the legs and thighs. Boil until tender and make a turkey pie or put in soup or season with mexican spices and make tacos.

Keep the legs and thighs and even the little "oyster" on top of the back just ahead of the thigh. As most have said the breast cut into pieces or strips and fried is hard to beat. For the rest try this:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...460/re-wild-game-taste-test#Post14591460

Having plucked a few, I'm in the Skin 'em Camp now. There's not much fat to lose that way anyway. I've sliced the breast for grilling or breading and frying with good results, just don't overcook them. The rest has gone into the crockpot for soup, but now we have one of those electric pressure cookers that works magic on stuff. Next one is going in there, parts at least. Either way, the meat will fall right off the bones, and wild turkey legs have a lot of bones!

I take the breasts and pound then down to about 3/4 inch. Put provolone and munster cheese, 1/4 cup of chopped onion, spinach, mushrooms, and sliced thin, good ham. Saute onion, spinach, and mushrooms. Place that mixture onto of the other ingredients at one end of breast and roll it up, wrap it with bacon strips. Hold it with toothpicks, bake it to 165 degrees. Let it rest, then cut it like a pinwheel. Easier to do than say and real tasty.

Just in time for turkey season. Ought to be room for bacon somewhere in there. I hear it's good for colesterol.

The first few I killed I plucked and smoked in the smoker. Then I got a couple from West Texas that had prickly pear needles in all their feathers. I am now a "skin 'em and fillet 'em" turkey cooker.

ME TOO!

Mighty tasty!