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[Bentley]

Just curious how close in taste they are to a domestic one?  These seem like they would be the size of a chicken once dressed out?


Invasion

[Bar-B-Lew]

I have had them a few times for Thanksgiving in MS and didn't like them.  Certainly didn't taste like the turkey you buy in the store to me.

[bregent]

We've been overrun by wild turkeys for many years now - in fact there are 4 walking around on my roof right now.  I've heard from a few folks that they taste terrible and are stringy. My guess is that if they tasted good, there wouldn't be so many of them around.  It could be due to their diet - I think they live mostly on grubs around here.

[okie smokie]

We've been overrun by wild turkeys for many years now - in fact there are 4 walking around on my roof right now.  I've heard from a few folks that they taste terrible and are stringy. My guess is that if they tasted good, there wouldn't be so many of them around.  It could be due to their diet - I think they live mostly on grubs around here.

That would make a cool pic if you can get it without spooking them.  Where do you live?

[urnmor]

It has been a long long time since i have eaten one, however, if one was given to me i would cook it again.  yes they do not taste like store bought turkeys as they are lean.

[pmillen]

Those things are vermin!  You should kill every one you see.  IDK if you run over them with your car.

They just dinosaurs walking around eating everything they see.  They have decimated the quail and pheasant populations by destroying the nests and eating the eggs and chicks.

The Nebraska Game and Fish Department planted them saying that they don't care about the pheasant population because "The pheasant isn't native to Nebraska.  The turkey is."  Now, motels and restaurants miss the hunter-generated revenue because the pheasant population isn't worth hunting.

They jump into rancher's beef cattle feeding bunks and poop in them.  The beef eat it and get some disease.  One of my rancher friends regularly shoots them at night while they're roosting.  He takes them to the dump in 55 gallon garbage cans.  He doesn't seem to be reducing the population or the cattle illness rate.

They cook up nothing like commercial turkeys.

[Mikro]

I used to hunt them every fall and spring. My wife and I prefer wild turkey over anything store bought. The legs are useless as they are stringy. The breast when cooked correctly is like eating a very large quail or a good pheasant, well at least the Rio Grande type of turkeys here in Texas are. Most people will overcook one and then they are tough as boot leather and have no flavor.

Just my 
MK

[BigDave83]

I used to hunt them to when i was younger. I remember them being good, easily over cooked and turned into trash though. The legs I agree were worthless. They were a lot harder to find 40 years ago when i hunted them, pretty plentiful today. Nothing to go past a few fields around where I live and see flocks of 20 plus. I am not sure why i never tried to make jerky out of them, a friend of my Father's would drop off geese I would make jerky from them after my Mother tried to cook one and said never again. She didn't mind store bought geese though.

[ICIdaho]

All wild meat is gamy compared to pellet fed farm raised. It is what you get use to I guess. It is not as bad as wild duck (liver on wings)  

[BigDave83]

All wild meat is gamy compared to pellet fed farm raised. It is what you get use to I guess. It is not as bad as wild duck (liver on wings)

Is wild Duck that bad? I do not believe I have ever had wild duck. But I do like liver n onions so I could be in for a treat.

[lil moose]

I found if you brine them for 24 hrs THEN add bourbon for another 8 to 10 hrs it takes most if not all the gamy flavor out

I buy the cheapest bourbon I can find when I do this.   I buy a 750 ml bottle and use just a bit over half then I make a bourbon BBQ sauce out of the rest 

[pmillen]

It is not as bad as wild duck (liver on wings)

Prairie Chicken tastes like liver, too.

[ylr]

I found if you brine them for 24 hrs THEN add bourbon for another 8 to 10 hrs it takes most if not all the gamy flavor out

I buy the cheapest bourbon I can find when I do this.   I buy a 750 ml bottle and use just a bit over half then I make a bourbon BBQ sauce out of the rest 

I thought Wild Turkey was bourbon.... 

[okie smokie]

I found if you brine them for 24 hrs THEN add bourbon for another 8 to 10 hrs it takes most if not all the gamy flavor out

I buy the cheapest bourbon I can find when I do this.   I buy a 750 ml bottle and use just a bit over half then I make a bourbon BBQ sauce out of the rest 

I thought Wild Turkey was bourbon.... 

Sounds like the old recipe for wild duck with oyster stuffing. (who will be the first to ask about it?)

[yorkdude]

We have had them several times, a few we tried that we cooked but zero success. We have also mostly  had them cooked by Many other people and same consensus from us, awful. Not anything like a farm raised turkey. When I hunted when I would clean and dress something I could tell instantly what it would probably taste like and at least the Kansas turkeys stink, don’t know about other regions turkey.
Gotta agree with PMillen, horribly invasive.