Got my first Turkey!

[msta999]

I went turkey hunting for the first time with a friend of mine and got a young male. When plucking the birds feathers, I tore some skin off. Later, when I got it home and was washing it, I noticed a kind of yellow fatty coating on the outside of the birds skin and the place where the skin was tore off had a kind of clear slime on the meat. Is this normal or is there something wrong with the bird?

Had a great time on my first Turkey hunt.

 

[Hunterdad]

Its normal.....you get it on ducks too. It's just fat.

 

[Floppy_D]

Congrats! If you boil a big crab pot full of water, and then let it cool just a bit, you can dunk the turkey in it for a minute or so, and the feathers will come off in clumps. I got sick of dealing with the mess (feathers blowing around my yard for a week, dog always chewing on 'em) so I skin 'em and cook 'em in a dutch oven. Much easier.

 

[msta999]

Thanks hunterdad and floppy d.
I thought you couldn't skin turkeys? something about changing the taste? I don't know, I'm asking.

When you dunk them in hot water, do the pin feathers come out too? Took me almost an hour to get all those little things out. There are still some small ones under the skin, that I couldn't get ahold of.

 

[Husker_Fan]

They may dry out a bit more, but I skin my turkeys. I almost always smoke them after brining. Using a good brine will make a world of difference.

 

[msta999]

Thanks Husker Fan, I think I'll give that a try.

 

[wombat13]

I got my first turkey this weekend too! What a blast, for me and the turkey.

My FIL recommended that I skin the turkey and it worked out pretty well. I brined it over night and then draped bacon over the breast and legs. I roasted it until the thermometer read 160F.

It turned out great. The drumsticks were a little dry. Next time I'll wrap them in tinfoil first. The rest of the turkey was nice and moist and tasted great.

 

[MinnMooney]

Congrats on your 1st turkey!

I got my 1st bird after hunting for 3 years for one. I came close last year but connected with a nice sized Tom this year.... on the 5th morning of my 5-day season!

Everyone I know skins their turkeys. Several told me that plucking one takes about three hours and it tastes no better than a skinned bird. They're both dry so you have to layer many strips of bacon on top if you roast one.

I brought mine in for smoking and it'll be ready tomorrow.

 

[buck460XVR]

The drumsticks were a little dry.

LOL........I don't even take the drumsticks. Buggers are so full of tendons, that it's like chewin' on hockey puck. I haven't plucked a wild turkey in a long time. Pluckin' that jake with all those new pin feathers had to be fun. I don't even skin out the whole bird anymore. I cut off the fan, the beard and the spurs, then I pull back the skin on the chest to where the wings meet the body. I then "fillet" out the breast in a manner very similar to taking the loins off a deer. Let your knife follow the breast bone down to where it meets the ribcage and then follow the ribs till you run outta meat. Repeat on the other side. You don't even have to gut them out....as a matter of fact if you do it right, you won't even penetrate the chest cavity and won't have to inhale that awful smell that lives there. When you get done you have a skinny lookin' turkey and two large breast fillets.....and hardly any mess.

 

[magnumman44]

I killed my first this weekend after four years!! We fillet the breasts, but also take the thighs and legs, but no chest cavity punctures for us either!!!! We like to cut the meat in small strips, flour, salt and pepper and fry them!!! YUM YUM!

 

[Floppy_D]

Everyone I know skins their turkeys. Several told me that plucking one takes about three hours and it tastes no better than a skinned bird. They're both dry

Brining can fix a lot of that by pulling hydrolyzed proteins toward the surface, and osmotically working salt back into the membrane, improving the meat's ability to retain moisture. And yeah, plucking a bird sucks. Brined and dutch ovened, you can still produce a succulent bird. Hmmm... sounds like we need a turkey recipe thread.

 

[slabuda]

AWESOME!! I got my 1st bird too. 1st real serious season hunting. I dabled a couple of days last year.

Got it on opening day, called it right in to me.

Did you get to call yours in?

 

[msta999]

Lots of good info on how to cook this bird! Thanks everyone.

I got mine on the second/last weekend we went. on the last day the last hunt, I decided to try something different. Instead of walking the trails, I went 20-40 yards off to the side of the trail. walking real slow and not making any noise, I came on mine when I rounded a bunch of pine tree bushes. It's body was behind a tree with just it's head sticking out. It was about 30-40 yards away and I just aimed for the head at the edge of the tree. Nice head shot. We try'd sitting in a turkey blind, but couldn't handle more than an hour and had to get up and start walking around. If we had the ability to just stay in the portable blind, we may have gotten one a day or two earlier.....but it was hard just sitting there and not seeing anything.

 

[Grizfire]

Nice, congratulations. Sounds normal to me. My bird was the same way.

I breasted mine, pounded them flat, put a garlic/cream cheese spread on them, rolled them up and secured them with bacon and oven cooked. the legs went into the crock pot for some delicious soup.