I feel dumb but id like to ask..field dressing cleaning turkey

[USPENAMC]

I dont think you field dress a turkey but just asking. How do you clean it once you get home?

[StillwaterAaron]

I skin it out at home. Plucking is just not worth the work for me. The breast meat is where most will be and the legs also after that the amount of meat is barely work the work.

[WaitForIt]

I shot my first bird this year. I field dressed and plucked it. Plucking is not as hard as it sounds, toss the bird into a tub of hot water and start yankin. Took about 1/2 hour.

I like to prepare it traditional thanksgiving turkey style, so I went with the plucking.

One thing that shocked me was just how DIRTY they are - you should have seen the water in the sink. If you have a missus don't let her in on it

[Bucksnort101]

Yep Wild Turkeys are dirty birds;) They do like to dust themselves on occasion and thus get a little dirty.

How did the roasted Wild Turkey turn out, everything I've heard states they do not have enough fat to keep them moist in a roasting pan? Maybe a deep fat frying would work?

[Dave S]

I skin it out at home. Plucking is just not worth the work for me. The breast meat is where most will be and the legs also after that the amount of meat is barely work the work.

I prefer to skin mine as well. Once I remove the cape, I'll take the wings and legs off. Then start on one side of the breast and start cutting/filleting it off the carcass. You stay out of the entrails and the pleasantries that come with it

[BigWadeS]

I have yet to shoot my own but have had it in a deep turkey fryer and smoked and also roasted...I will never roast one I shoot it will be smoked or fryed, just seemed more moist and better flavor those methods

[Borch]

If you roast it a roasting bag and add bacon strips over the breast to help keep the bird moist.

I pluck all of mine and deep fry them. Yummy...

[paceman]

I drop mine off at the local butcher. I know pretty lazy but for 5 bucks it is worth it. I have deep fried them and had them smoked. Both were delicious....

[goblueM]

i breast it out and take the drumsticks. not much else on em, even the legs are barely worth it on a bigger bird, so full of sinew and tendons

[bigbucks]

Paceman,

Are you talking about uncleaned you drop it off at the butcher? If so, that's a great deal in my opinion. I don't know what it is about them, but I don't enjoy cleaning turkeys.

I gotta try one smoked.

[trolloni]

yeah some butchers clean we had one that would smoke it to for 15 bucks well worth it as it takes all day to smoke one its ok if you have the time ,had good results using apple wood chips .deep frying is awesome 4 minutes per pound all kinds of marinades [garlic butter my fav]recommend leaving the skin on for both of theese ways roasting to ,if you breast em you lose the skin inject with youre favorite marinade and put on the grill man its awesome! it can be a job cleaning to leave the skin on ,i have an old 30 gal steel drum lp tank and a sand torch get the water simmering just below the boiling point dunk the bird after removing the wings ,feet and head for a count of ten be careful ,hang on a wire and start pulling feathers usually can do one under ten minutes this way its just like peeling a banana just dont leave it in that hot water so long that you start to cook the meat ,next remove the crop cut lengthwise from the wind pipe to the nob on the breast hold youre nose on this one, just get youre fingers behind it and pull easy it will all come at once ,then get ready to pull the noodles cut from the breast bone to the vent and run youre hand on the bottom all the way up and pull if youve made all the right cuts everything will come out together if you like save the gizzard and heart and liver even if you dont like it the ole bird dog sure will take that gizzard cut the gut off of it then take youre knife and split it length wise and pull out the membrain in the center this can smell to as this this thing is what grinds what they eat .

[trolloni]

there is agood book on aspects of turkey hunting ,cleaning ,getting ready for taxidermist, and recepies its called After The Hunt by Lovett Williams thers a lot of how to get a turkey but hardly anything written about what to do after you get one this book delivers on all! youre question is warrented i know ive been there hope this helps .

[Gissert]

I got my first bird last spring. I cleaned mine with the hot water/pluck method. A friend who has butchered a lot of domestic birds gave me this little tip. Get the water to 150-160 degrees. Put three to six drops of dawn detergent (or any other liquid detergent that isolates grease) into the water. DO NOT put in too much detergent. Dip the bird, then pluck.

The detergent acts like a release agent and the feathers came out very easily.

For cooking, I smoked mine. Fantastic