The high cost of turkey hunting

[bullseye]

I stopped and got my turkey stamp etc and that set me back about $20.

I still have to get the shells but that shouldn't amount to much.

Now we come to the big expense. Our Dodge Dakota was giving us some grief and the wife really didn't trust it much any more. We had been driving the 1500 in the mean time while I was deciding if I was going to fix the Dakota or what.

So then the wife drops the bomb. I can't go turkey hunting 80 miles away and leave her with the Dakota!!
So after looking for a while and test driving a car over the weekend we ended up buying a new one last night....cost $11,000!!!

I wonder how many Butterball turkeys that would buy???

[Bill]

I think it would be cheaper to stay home By the time you get a decent vehicle to go with and then buy the gun and even prorate the costs of them, then you need calls and camo and etc. etc. You end up with quite a bit of money into that turkey. Or you can go to the store and buy them after a holiday and get them for about .49 per lb. Fill up the freezer and your still money ahead, even if you have to buy a new freezer to put them in.

[klsm54]

Plus.....the turkey you buy at the store will be edible, actually pretty darned tasty.

Now if you are fortunate...err...okay, I guess bagging a turkey would be considered good fortune...by some..
You may as well drag it home behind the truck, that might help make it easier to choke down... ;D ;D

[donnie]

Wow Scott! I can't believe the abject hatred! What has a turkey ever done to you?

[Bill]

Now KLSM54, I do like the taste of a wild Turkey. It maybe not as buttery flavored at a tame one unless you inject the thing with the same buttery flavor as the companys that sell tame turkeys do but all the ones I have eaten tasted good. You must of gotten one mean old bird or something that had about a 16" beard and spurs 3"s long to make that comment. ;D

[Jack]

"I wonder how many Butterball turkeys that would buy???"
"I think it would be cheaper to stay home"
You guys are thinking too much.
Cut it out.

[deputydon]

A picture of Bullseye w/ a big ole smile & his turkey.............................Priceless

[klsm54]

I have cooked, tasted, and tried to eat proably 20 wild turkeys. The only one I ever enjoyed was my first. I was 14 years old and would have eaten a turkey buzzard if I had shot it. That was also the only bird I ever plucked. The rest have been skinned.

The only way I have found a Wild Turkey to be worth eating is to cut the breasts into cutlets, grill them with lots of BBQ sauce or basting liquid, and throw the rest of the bird away.

The only thing that ranks in the same category with wild turkeys is those dried out, leather like, Canadian Geese....Uuugghhh....brrrrr....ahcchcck.

I cooked for years for a game feed and after about 10 years we found a guy who take the turkeys and geese, along with some ducks, and start cooking them about Wednesday for our Sunday feed. They were okay, but pretty much disguised with sauces and stuffing and such, all boned and cut into bite sized pieces. I'm not going through that. If it can't be cooked in a few hours, I'll pass.

[jimh]

well to each their own, but for me i'll take those breast, cut them into strips and a dip into seasoned flour and a short stay in the skillet. heck even the wife dives in on that one.

[bullseye]

I have only eaten wild turkey once, one that my father-in-law Cliff shot. It was cut into strips and deep fried. It was OK but a little tough. My brother said the best one he had was smoked by the local meat market. If I get one that is probably what I will have done with it.

I had also thought of pressure cooking one and wondered if that would take out the toughness. It would also make it so more meat would be usable from the other areas of the bird. We can get pork ribs pretty cheap thru work and we pressure cook them, the rib bones just fall off, and use the meat in barbacue We freeze it in smaller containers and it is one of the meals we have for camping.

[klsm54]

I would think that pressure cooking may be a good way to cook a wild turkey. It would sure be worth a try, not like you'd be wasting any good meat if it didn't work out...

I forgot about breading and frying strips of breast meat, JimH, that does come out pretty decent. We did that one year at the game feed. We had one small breast that somebody gave us, too small to go around, so we stripped, breaded and fried it for kitchen help, pretty good...

I don't know, maybe a guy could just grind up all the meat and make turkey sausage or turkey burgers.

No matter what the recipe, as far as wild birds go, I am always going to prefer pheasant and grouse...

[deputydon]

I don't know what you guys feed your turkeys but.............ours are sweet
AND tender!!!!! Maybe its the acorns............

[calsibley]

But Tom, you never did tell us what you purchased! You can tell a lot about a man by the type of vehicle he drives. So what did you get? The world wonders.` Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[bounce]

Just guessing Cal but do you drive a 1959 Nash? lol