Turkey Day Success

[martin08]

And no, I'm not still eating leftovers from last Thanksgiving.

I found a nice rock wall to conceal myself, and when the jake sauntered within 40 yards, I let him have it. Frankie the kitty is always interested in what I bring home.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Nice bird, what are leftovers?

[martin08]

Nice bird, what are leftovers?

Just one empty shell casing of Winchester #4 shot.

[desdem12]

Nice

[WeldonHunter]

Nice Bird Matt. We have a few of them here that from what I've been told are reintroduced birds from about ten years ago. They supposedly let 2 truck loads of them loose about 1/2 mile from here. I had my Turkey stamp 2 years ago and saw a Tom and 2 hens but never could get a clear shot. I decided to leave them be for now and just eat the ones I have in the yard. This year I saw about 15 of them in the back field. It was mostly little ones from that years hatch. What a sight.

[Alden]

Nice bird! I bet he was tasty too.









That's me with a Florida Osceola.

It's my favorite type of hunting. It's a hell of a lot more fun than deer hunting to me.

[desdem12]

Nice Alden...You should take a hunting trip out west here where you can not sit in a tree and shoot a deer. A lot more challenging and i think more fun also.

[Alden]

Nice Alden...You should take a hunting trip out west here where you can not sit in a tree and shoot a deer. A lot more challenging and i think more fun also.

I would like that. I get bored sitting for hours. I'd much rather do a stalk, or a drive, than hunt from a tree stand.

You have to do that some with turkey hunting too, but deer don't gobble at you.

One time I fell asleep while sitting in a clump of bushes, all camo'd up, and when I opened my eyes a turkey was standing not 20 feet in front of me, staring at me with HER big yellow eye. Too bad it was a hen.

[martin08]

Beautiful tom turkey! Looks like a 20 pounder!

Yes, mine was delicious on Thanksgiving.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Been some time since I saw turkeys that size around here anyplace except the supermarket

[Alden]

Beautiful tom turkey! Looks like a 20 pounder!

Yes, mine was delicious on Thanksgiving.

Yes they are very pretty. The feathers are mostly bronze and copper on this sub-species, and iridescent.

You can only find the Osceola turkey in Florida, below the panhandle. They are up in the panhandle too, but up there a lot of them have interbred with other sub-species.

This one weighed about 17 lbs.

[WeldonHunter]

While we're on the subject of Turkeys. I know I've mentioned these before. Here's some pictures of what I have following me around all day. The last picture of the one that's strutting is not a Tom but the mother hen with her daughter from last year. The brothers were Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.

[Alden]

Are these just called domestic turkeys? Or do they have a specific breed name?

They are really pretty with all that snowy white on them. Kinda like huge fancy chickens.

[WeldonHunter]

Are these just called domestic turkeys? Or do they have a specific breed name?

They are really pretty with all that snowy white on them. Kinda like huge fancy chickens.

The breed is Royal Palm. They are good looking birds. Anoying as hell though. We ate one for Thanksgiving or there'd be another Tom. My mother killed him and cleaned him this year. When he was done being cooked she asked me to carve him and I noticed a weird smell and commented about it. When I went to carve the fatty part off between the breasts I cut straight into the craw complete with whole corn and grass and the other stuff he'd been eating that morning. She said she thought she got it out. I said "if we left it in for a while longer the corn might have fermented and we'd have a corn liquor marinated bird." I didn't eat much of it. Yuk! They're good to eat the first year or so but they do get a bit tough after that. I usually clean them and my mother said she'll never do that again. From now on we're going to get a bird from the store most likely. They taste good if you soak them in salt water overnight and it tenderizes them some but Turkey's aren't that much from the store.

These guys follow me around the yard and gobble and strut all day long. The one that's missing most of his beard is called Lucky. He's let's me pick him up and that's saved him from the pot. He's huge. Weighs about 30lbs or more and comes up to my chest when he stands up straight. He's was my breeder Tom last year. His beard was trimmed off by the Guinea Keets. They're another anoying bunch. I have to run them off if I need to concentrate or my head might explode from the racket they make.

[bunkysdad]

The one ya'll ate was called Unlucky!

[WeldonHunter]

The one ya'll ate was called Unlucky!

LOL You got that right!