Field to Table - A Turkey Tale

[shannerdrake]

Fall 2023 was a dream season, but spring of 2023 was rough. I went 0-3 on turkeys in three states. I set out with a dream to make 2024 start out great as I bought Indiana and Tennessee tags (again).

Unfortunately (sort of), I was out of the country on a family vacation during the Indiana opener. I say it was sort of unfortunate because the trip was awesome but I do hate missing an opener.

My buddy went to our place and was successful on the opening morning and saw a total of four gobblers from one setup. Needless to say I was optimistic. I got home late on Saturday night. Spent Sunday and Monday unpacking, doing laundry, and repacking. Tuesday morning my wife left for a business trip and I finished some things at work and hustled to my Indiana property. My goal was to a good long sit hoping to catch an evening bird or at minimum catch some roost gobbles so I would know where to setup in the morning.

I’d love to turn a tale here, but I’ll be short - nothing. No bird sightings no gobbles, nothing. I did climb into a blind in a known roost area and spent the last couple hours slow smoking a nice Rocky Patel Decade that I’ve been aging for the past year. It was excellent. So not all was lost. I also got to stay a night at “deer camp” in April. No complaints.

 

[shannerdrake]

4:30 comes early. Particularly when you don’t sleep well. But I was excited. My first morning turkey hunt of 2024! As I brewed some coffee I couldn’t help but to hope for a gobblefest. Since the evening hunt gave me no actionable intel, I decided a blind on a bluff in a historically good turkey spot was my best bet. knew between the calm winds and sitting on a bluff over a river bottom would also afford me a good opportunity to hear gobbles and make a move if needed.

Getting to this spot always runs the risk of walking close to roosted birds so I go into the blind a good 45 min before first light. I know the place well and went in quiet and without a light.

As the sun peaked over the horizon, I was confronted with the recognition that it was truly a beautiful day in the woods but I also realized that I hadn’t heard a a single gobble and should have by now.

As said earlier, this spot is really good. It produces a bird basically every year. Particularly if you put in some time because it is killer late morning/midday.

I had to meet a couple friends at 4pm two hours away to drive to Tennessee for the second stop on the turkey tour so I knew I could hunt until 1 (or 2 if I wanted to push it). So I settled in for a long sit.

I called every 20 minutes or so just to let the phantom birds know that I was there. I also had the foresight to pack in my camp stove and coffee singles. A fresh brewed cup of coffee can extend a sit, but by the time 9:30 rolls around I decided to go on a walkabout.

 

[shannerdrake]

The way our property lays out you can sneak around, call, and glass fields very effectively. So that’s what I do. Again, I’d love a happy ending but a 3 mile loop in 80 degree weather and two hours later I am back at my truck. The blind I spent the better part of the morning in is 800 yards away. I have a choice to make. It will be 11:30 by the time I get to the blind. Why not call it and get some work done? Well I’m a man of my word and I told everyone I’d sit until 1. So dripping sweat and mad at the world I end up back at the blind. Which is about 90deg inside now.

It is so hot I end up stripping down to my underwear and a black sleeveless baselayer. Desperate times.

An hour later it’s 12:30 and I’m wondering if that is close enough to 1 to call it quits. Still no bird sightings. No gobbles. I even checked a couple cameras on the walkabout and nothing in the last 5 days. Whatever I tell myself. Grow up. We wait all year for season. Put in the time.

I don’t fall asleep but I get a 1000 yard stare and am not really paying attention. But is that a head and neck in the grass?!?!? No time for binos and no cover to move anyway. I freeze and watch closely and sure enough it’s a white/grayish turkey head and neck. Has to be a hen. She ends up dropping in a low spot in the field giving me the chance to grab my copper slate and laminated striker (my favorite combo) and slide my gun out the window. I put the stock under my armpit and soft call. She looks but isn’t interested and like an idiot I follow her with my eyes. Call it being sleepy. Call it euphoria and excitement seeing a bird. But while staring at her, I catch movement to my right at the wood line.

 

[shannerdrake]

I don’t dare turn my head but I strain my eyes far to the right and staring dead at me is a bright red head and a dark body. But the grass is tall and I can’t see a beard. While I briefly internally debate if I’d be ok shooting a Jake, he hits the same low spot the hen did moments earlier.

I do another soft yelp and get on my gun. It seems like an eternity but it was probably about two seconds and I see the same red head pop up 20 yards farther to the left. This time I don’t debate and I squeeze the trigger.

The boom echos but it happened so fast it would be easy to assume it didn’t. I put it on safe, quickly pull my pants up (I told you it was hot) and rush to where he was standing because from my angle, I can’t see a bird.

My nerves get the best so I start to hustle over now and as I come up to the low spot I see my bird. He’d just rolled flopped and rolled down into the low spot. I immediately notice he’s a big beautiful bird.

 

[shannerdrake]

I look down at my watch. It’s 12:53PM! I had already started packing up a bit. I am solo so I had to get creative with the field photos but they turned out ok. I realize when I picked him up that his spurs are not only long but extremely sharp. His beard is beautiful and he’s extremely heavy and long.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I end up measuring. His spurs both end up being an honest 1.5in and his beard just over 10.5in. He was also 52in long from snood to toes. My two hunting buddies and I have killed 31 birds mostly in Indiana and the longest spurs we had seen on one of our birds was 1.25in. For our part of the state at least, he is really big.

I hurry up and get him cleaned and on ice because we are leaving in about 2 hours for Tennessee and that means two more turkey tags!

 

[Hem]

That's a dandy!
Sometimes when you least expect it, expect it.

 

[shannerdrake]

Tennessee turns out to be a grind. Between four hunters over two days we hear exactly one gobbling bird. For the second year in a row, we drive back empty handed and pretty exhausted but still happy to be out hunting.

I also have a cooler full of turkey meat and I have a recipe I’ve been wanting to try. My wife eats very “clean” but we both have a soft spot for Chick Fil A nuggets. She once told me that if I could make my game birds taste like Chick Fil A, she’d send me on more hunts. I’ll take that challenge.

My research seems to suggest that pickle juice and sugar helps to make their chicken taste so good. I take my time and trim so breast meat up nice. Cut it in chunks and on a hunch I hammer it a few times with a mallet because if any bird were to be tough this one would be it. I also saved the heart, liver, and gizzards. The heart and liver get trimmed and cut up. The gizzards get trimmed, sliced, and the meat mallet treatment.

I make up a brine of Wickles pickle juice, water, salt, and sugar. I give it all a 20 hour soak. The next evening everything gets a really good rinse. I then into an egg wash that’s eggs, milk, and Chick Fil A sauce. Then in a breading made of flower, bread crumbs, and seasoning. Everything gets a quick shallow fry in avocado oil on an awesome two burner my neighbor’s dad gave me because he knows I’m a man that isn’t afraid to fry fish and game.

All I can say is wow. If these things aren’t the best game I’ve ever made they are top five. Might be top five things I’ve ever made period. And I’ve made a lot of good stuff. My wife and I made ourselves sick eating them. She declared them better than the fast food nuggets. She asked we save the rest of the breast meat specifically for nuggets. The giblets turned out amazing. I basically ate them all myself

 

[Gellar]

Tennessee turns out to be a grind. Between four hunters over two days we hear exactly one gobbling bird. For the second year in a row, we drive back empty handed and pretty exhausted but still happy to be out hunting.

I also have a cooler full of turkey meat and I have a recipe I’ve been wanting to try. My wife eats very “clean” but we both have a soft spot for Chick Fil A nuggets. She once told me that if I could make my game birds taste like Chick Fil A, she’d send me on more hunts. I’ll take that challenge.

My research seems to suggest that pickle juice and sugar helps to make their chicken taste so good. I take my time and trim so breast meat up nice. Cut it in chunks and on a hunch I hammer it a few times with a mallet because if any bird were to be tough this one would be it. I also saved the heart, liver, and gizzards. The heart and liver get trimmed and cut up. The gizzards get trimmed, sliced, and the meat mallet treatment.

I make up a brine of Wickles pickle juice, water, salt, and sugar. I give it all a 20 hour soak. The next evening everything gets a really good rinse. I then into an egg wash that’s eggs, milk, and Chick Fil A sauce. Then in a breading made of flower, bread crumbs, and seasoning. Everything gets a quick shallow fry in avocado oil on an awesome two burner my neighbor’s dad gave me because he knows I’m a man that isn’t afraid to fry fish and game.

All I can say is wow. If these things aren’t the best game I’ve ever made they are top five. Might be top five things I’ve ever made period. And I’ve made a lot of good stuff. My wife and I made ourselves sick eating them. She declared them better than the fast food nuggets. She asked we save the rest of the breast meat specifically for nuggets. The giblets turned out amazing. I basically atView attachment 325635View attachment 325637View attachment 325638View attachment 325639

My wife was away for work the night I killed my turkey. The kids (8 and 5) and I ate one entire breast cut into chunks and fried. We love fried turkey nuggets!

 

[7mm08mo]

Nice bird, definitely got some great hooks.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Great bird! The spurs look awesome and damn sharp. Thanks for sharing, you guys will figure out tennessee next year.