Georgia turkey season

[22magnum22]

Good work on that one, great story. Are you gonna save him for Thanksgiving?

 

[Spurchaser]

Heck no, he’ll be eaten this weekend. Or half of him anyways, lol!

 

[hm1996]

Good job, enjoyed the hunt, thanks for posting!

 

[hunt0168]

Great going Spurchaser on all the turkeys in this post. Our spring season here in NY fires up May 1st. I’m hoping to get out after them but I gotta see how my hand is doing in a few days. I had carpal tunnel surgery today so not really sure what to expect?

hm1996, I think maybe your son’s bird with the 416 Rem was simply poor bullet choice or poor placement? Looks like it may have splashed on a shoulder? Kinda hard to tell from the pic.

Wild turkeys can make excellent table fare. My favorite is to make cutlets from the breasts. The legs I simply make soup but they do take a long time to become edible! I also do a honey glazed smoked breast that is fantastic.

 

[Spurchaser]

Man that honey glazed looks legit! Just showed my wife and told her, let’s do something like this!!

 

[hunt0168]

This Spicy Wild Turkey Sandwich with bacon, egg and caramelized onions is also phenomenal.

 

[hm1996]

Yep, based on the two pics above, I don't know how to cook wild turkey.

hm1996, I think maybe your son’s bird with the 416 Rem was simply poor bullet choice or poor placement? Looks like it may have splashed on a shoulder? Kinda hard to tell from the pic.

Might go back one more step and say poor choice of rifle, but he was hunting bigger stuff at the time. Not that it would have made any difference, but a solid might have been better but I doubt seriously that the SP opened any. Believe it or not, didn't spoil any meat. He placed bullet at base of neck so nothing important was damaged. But wow what a spectacular feather shower; shame it couldn't have been recorded.

 

[hunt0168]

Yep, based on the two pics above, I don't know how to cook wild turkey.


Might go back one more step and say poor choice of rifle, but he was hunting bigger stuff at the time. Not that it would have made any difference, but a solid might have been better but I doubt seriously that the SP opened any. Believe it or not, didn't spoil any meat. He placed bullet at base of neck so nothing important was damaged. But wow what a spectacular feather shower; shame it couldn't have been recorded.

Yeah… obviously more gun choice than bullet. My comment was all in jest. Don’t often hear about rifle killed turkeys. I guess if you’re gonna do it, do it BIG!

 

[DesertRam]

This Spicy Wild Turkey Sandwich with bacon, egg and caramelized onions is also phenomenal. View attachment 7548

Whoa, that's a day's worth of food in a single sammich. Awesome!

 

[hm1996]

Yeah… obviously more gun choice than bullet. My comment was all in jest. Don’t often hear about rifle killed turkeys. I guess if you’re gonna do it, do it BIG!

I caught the jest, LOL. I, personally, am not much of a shotgun shooter, the only turkey I've ever killed was with a rifle. My son, OTOH is proficient w/either SG or rifle, but has shot more turkey w/rifle than w/shotgun. Turkey season is open during deer season down here and he always hunts deer on up with his Africa rifle. This was his first (and only, so far) turkey w/the .416, however. Poor turkey just happened to be at the right place, but wrong time.

 

[jmeddy]

Good story, one that I have lived through myself. I get to start carrying the gun Saturday but am already "sleep deprived" from listening/scouting the last 2 weeks. AND haven't been hearing much!!??

 

[hunt0168]

I caught the jest, LOL. I, personally, am not much of a shotgun shooter, the only turkey I've ever killed was with a rifle. My son, OTOH is proficient w/either SG or rifle, but has shot more turkey w/rifle than w/shotgun. Turkey season is open during deer season down here and he always hunts deer on up with his Africa rifle. This was his first (and only, so far) turkey w/the .416, however. Poor turkey just happened to be at the right place, but wrong time.

Here in NY we can only use shotgun or bow for turkeys. Mid 90’s through 2010 there were crazy turkey numbers. They have been declining since. We still have birds but you have to be a bit more dedicated these days. I love hunting them and I just happen to be married to an excellent cook with a creative approach to her dishes. I stick to crock pot dishes and smoking dishes. Give me an open flame and I’m a mess. I’d probably be in the same “inedible” class as you and Murl B if I were to cook a turkey myself! Lol

 

[Spurchaser]

I am lucky/blessed/honored enough to hunt a private wild quail plantation where I also have a “second job”

When the population started to decline in our State we decided no more than 3-4 birds a year. Only twice in the last eight years I can think of we’ve taken 4 birds.

The manager left it up to my son and I to decide on how many birds to take each season. We decided we wanted a place to go where we’d always hear birds and have multiple chances throughout the season or even day, lol.

We have gobblers that will die of old age and I’m ok with that. Even after we’ve all killed a bird, I’ll get up and go out and just watch them.

He also let us come up with rules for deer. Before it was just 1 buck and 2 does and the buck had to be mounted. Now we shoot the heck out of does and a sho’nuff management deer and one trophy or 2 management deer. After a few years we started killed 130-140” management deer and 160”+ trophies. I realize those measurements aren’t huge for some areas of the country but down here they’re pretty dang good. Our weights increased as well with the an average adult doe live weight of 140-150 and the bucks at 200 and over. Of course with bucks it depends when they’re taken. Prerut great weight, post rut and I’ve seen some that I didn’t think would make it the following season.