Thread: best time to shoot Turkey's for the table

Ok so it's probably been done before but done a quick search and didn't find too much.....

My question is
When is the best time to take wild turkeys for the pot.....have heard if ya get them at wrong time of year they can taste pretty nasty



Cheers Matt

They say any month without an "R" in it. I've shot quite a few as pest control. I wanted to eat one, but they stink and are covered in lice, so I've been put off each time. Are these the same birds that our American friends get so excited about?

Same bird, pretty sure the R thing is northern hemisphere based and not applicable here. IMO avoid them when crickets are about they taste foul.
Never seen a fat wild one, so just breast them and cook diced in chillis or curry, better flavour than chicken I think.
Oh and the cats love it.

I believe they are same birds ....some say any month without an r but that only leaves may june July and August...others say as long as they not been eating crickets ....think pigs taste awful after they've been eating crickets so this kinda makes sense

creep up to the gate they roosting on at night and grab what you need..... shooting not required.

June & July are good months for turkey.

Cheers
Pete

Yep, months without an R, so May to August.
Remember to take the crop out when gutting, my mum didn't like it when she found it intact and full after cooking

This has been done to death. The guide about months with an R in them comes from the US. Opposite seasons, opposite saying. I understand they ONLY take them in a month with an R in it, since Thanksgiving is in NovembeR. That would exclude May-June-July-August - the height of their summer. Someone reversed the saying for NZ, but that would mean we should only be eating them May-June-July-August. That excluded 8 months of the year, vs 4 months excluded in the US. Seems a bit extreme to me. Here (just south of Auckland), I noticed the crickets disappeared in May. I left it a few more weeks and started taking turkeys in June. Last year I didn't notice crickets emerging until late November. I was still taking turkeys in early November and they tasted fine. That makes 6 months of turkey tastiness. Makes more sense than only excluding 8 months of the year, when they only exclude 4 mothns of the year in the northern hemisphere.

The R month thing is not a hard and fast rule.


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Rented a farmhouse out of Tikipunga - Northland.
A largish 20 bird flock ran wild over the farm and in the surrounding bush.
After watching them roost on a fence about 500 metres away, decided it was time the missus learnt to cook one.
So 1 hour after sunset, snuck over to the birds roost for the night, grabbed the biggest one around the neck, flicked him/her like a terrier shakes a rat and walked home pretty pleased with myself.
The missus wasn't, but she's a good sport (still is), so cleaned it on the front deck and gave the kids an anatomy lesson at the same time.
Don't recall the month, but certainly no crickets about and it tasted pretty good.
Last time (3 years ago), drove by to see the farm is now cut up, by the farmers children, into 1 acre lifestyle blocks, so no turkeys there any more

Back in the day we used to shoot em may/June I worked in one of the large bakerys in Auckland and we would take them to work wrap them in dough and put them thru a couple of slow bake cycles ..... sealed the juices in nicely, break open the bread and feast on baked turkey and fresh bread turkey was tender as

If there's no crickets go for it. Get peacock if you can as well. Way better than turkey

Plus one on the peacock!!! Mighty fine eating.. What I've come to the conclusion about turkey is, and I've eaten a few, is that the real unpleasant taste comes with a lot of clover eating, if the crop is full of clover generally they taste like shite.... If you can find some that have been on the maise stubble, your'e on to a good thing.. Same goes for pheasants... And I've eaten freaken heaps of them!!!!

Originally Posted by Steve123

If there's no crickets go for it. Get peacock if you can as well. Way better than turkey

I shot one in march, crickets everywhere when I got that one. Breasts tasted excellent, legs were pretty average. There was maize on the farm and the crop had maize and some greenery in them, no crickets. My guess would be that they eat maize over crickets and you might be okay if there's maize nearby.

Or maybe I like crickety turkey?

Ok sounds like crickets could be the problem....pretty sure they have all but gone into hibernation down here in north otago...there are usually a shitload of the bloody things around where the birds are being the lower tussock country but reckon I'll contact the cocky and try organizing a wee hunt....personally think pheasant and quail are superior birds to Turkey taste wise but beggars can't be choosy aye....and quail ain't that big....lol thinking of putting them into sausage or salami