natimage

This is something I figured I should know in case I get lucky enough this year to get a bird...Assuming I want to save the fan, beard and spurs. Hypothetically, I just shot a bird...how do I make it ready for the freezer?

Do you breast them? Pluck the whole thing? Skin it?

BvrHunter

Its not if you get lucky its when you get lucky! This is just how I do it,I'm sure some do it differently. First I pluck as many feathers as I can off the breast, cut the bird open just past the thick layer of skin up past the breast towards the neck. Once I have the breast exposed I just cut both sides right off the bone. Not to hard to do really. If you want the tail fan, you just cut it off at the tail bone, then use some borax or taxidermy preserve. The beard you do the same way, just follow it up to the neck and cut it off about an inch or so passed where it connects. The feet I just saw off at the knee. Pretty simple. Like I said this is just how me and my dad do it. Maybe other ways. Good luck to you!! Hopefully you'll be skinning one out pretty soon

superstrutter

There is no need to pluck any feathers at all. Just cut a slit in the skin of the breast and pull the skin apart. It's very easy. Then you can filet the two pieces of breast meat off the breast bone. When you cut the tail fan off, make sure you get as much meat and bone off as possible. Only leave a little fat so the fan will dry the way you want it. Spread the fan out and pin the last two feathers to a piece of cardboard. Use borax instead of salt. It works much better. The more meat you get off, the quicker your fan will dry. Use a knife and a pair of strong scissors to remove all the meat and bones from the tail fan. It's really not that difficult once you get used to it.

JoeA

There's a lot of useful videos in youtube. I try to recover as much meat as possible, so I take the legs and thighs in addition to the breasts.

Breasts: Fillet off the bones.

Thighs: Cut bone from pelvis, and at "knee" joint. Cut the bone free from the meat. When grilled or seared and sliced across the grain, makes a great appetizer with a few cold ones.

Legs: brown in oven, then shred meat from bones. Then cook down for stew or gumbo.

Howler

As was said, no need to pluck any feathers. Simply lay the bird on it's back, head away from you, use two fingers and pinch the skin, obviously with some feathers, and gently pull the skin up a little and use a knife to cut a slit into the skin. Now, lay the knife down, stick your fingers in the slit and pull, using both hands, in opposite directions and that skin will open right up exposing the breast meat. Using your hands, pull the skin down far enough to expose all the breast meat. Now take your knife and cut following the breast bone, and fillet one side, then the other. Once the breast fillets are removed, pull the skin/feathers down around the upper thighs and you can fillet the upper thigh meat. I don't mess with the hole thigh becuase there are a lot of tendons, expecially in the lower part of the leg.

Fan and beard are straight forward. Find the base of them, and cut them off.

deerhunter152

I pluck the whole bird and gut it and imediatly get it on ice.

JW

All you want to know is found on Tips and Tactics Forum- from how to clean (one method) and how to mount the tail and beard and al are pictorials.

JW

turkey guide

There will be a lot of ways to do it, but I agree with the others that you just cut one slit and tear the whole skin and feathers away with your hands. I know a guy who plucks and scalds his turkeys and leaves the skin on for cooking, but it seems like a waste of time to me. Just take out the breast meat and the legs and thighs and you are done, if thats legal.
Depending on where you are hunting, the laws are different. Here in Missouri, throwing away any commonly edible portions of your game animals will get you a big fine, so just taking the breast meat only, for example, is illegal, and can get you busted. Check your laws where you hunt. Plus it may be up to the interpretation of the officer what portions are commonly edible, so I don't take chances. I'ts common for instance for a store bought turkey to be whole, with the back, breast,wings, legs and thighs, and the neck, heart, liver, and gizzard stuffed inside, and they are of coarse edible. You run into an officer who's favorite part is the heart and liver and you've thrown those away, and it could be a fine. It's unfortunate that so many hunters don't read or understand the laws before they hunt, and get in trouble. We had a new game warden in the area last year who ticketed people for not signing their hunting permits before hunting. He'd ask for the tag, they'd hand it over thinking they were ok, but they'd forgotten to pay enough attention to read the NOT VALID UNTIL SIGNED part, and thats $150. fine for hunting without a valid permit. Now locals who buy tags regularly, have no excuse anyway, and non-residents should know the laws as well before they hunt here. So just know your laws before you take anyones advice and cause yourself trouble.
If your state has laws about wasting meat like mine does, and you get caught on your way home with only a breast, and maybe you haven't taken the time to make the phone call to check it in or something it can be trouble, even if you have hours left to check it in. I saw a guy pay a fine last year for leaving the front shoulders in a deer hide he was throwing out, and another pay a fine for removing the backstraps (because they are his favorite part and he wanted them on ice immediately) before calling the telecheck number and officially checking the deer. Game warden arrives at truck stop, sees deer with backstraps removed, reads the number off the trans. tag and finds it's not checked in,and fines the guy when he returns from his lunch, because he had begun processing the deer before checking it in, as the law requires. These computers now days can trip you up, because the game warden will know the exact minute you checked in your bird, and if you already skinned it and put it in a cooler so you could go to lunch, you're screwed, even if you have 10 hours left for legal checking. You can't miss a step anymore.

hunt12ga

I plucked my first turkey, a jake, and baked it in the oven just like a Thanksgiving bird. It turned out awesome and looked great on the table. Even some of my wild game disliking family enjoyed it. Big tough toms though... I haven't ever tried it. Breast it out and then use the thighs for noodles. Yum yum yum.

rw