From the Sound of the Shot to the Table

One of my biggest worries before I began my first hunt was what to do once I finally killed a wild turkey. I had no idea then that I'd have a long time to think about it. For those of you who may be just beginning, I'll relate in a series of posts my experience with the wild turkey I killed from the time I shot it to when my family ate it. Of the different animals that I've hunting since beginning this journey into becoming a hunter, I have been able to kill two other game species. My first kill was a pheasant in South Dakota. That trip was a wonderful beginning to my experience with preparing and eating game birds. I had no idea at all what to do and I got a lot of practice during that afternoon. All of my cousin Hobart's family and extended family from South Dakota converge on his three section farm that he hobby farms specifically for rasing game. That year was the best year for pheasant in 10 or 15 years and everyone limited out. We set up an assembly line operation cleaning the birds. With 8 dedicated people on the line and everyone else supporting the operation it took us about an hour to clean all the birds. I was lucky enough to get to participate in all aspects of cleaning the animals and after going through that many birds any feelings of grossness had turned into weariness. The other game animal that I've had the pleasure of cooking is mourning doves here in Arizona. After doing the pheasants the doves were fairly easy to figure out. Having these experiences before I finally got my bird really helped me. In my next post I'll talk about after the kill and field dressing my bird. Keep in mind these posts will address what I did with my bird. I can't tell anyone what is the best thing to do since I have only had this one experience. Hopefully, I will be able to experiment and come up with new and better ways of cleaning and cooking future wild turkeys.