Any tips on processing turkey?

[mitrapline]

Hey Swamp, I'm getting some live birds from a friend and I'm not sure if there is a "proper" method of dispatching and processing turkey. I'm just wondering if I need to sharpen my hatchet. Any tips are much appreciated. Thanks everyone.

[hogkiller]

I usually process my birds with my 10ga. lol
I suppose a hatchet would work too though.
Wild birds i just breast them out for jerky and take the drumsticks for some great soup.
Farm raised you'll probably gonna want to leave the skin on right for whole birds?
Thats alot of plucking unless you do like cj and me did with the chickens we butchered but on a bigger scale.

[mitrapline]

Sept 8, 2013 7:06:46 GMT -5 hogkiller said:

I usually process my birds with my 10ga. lol
I suppose a hatchet would work too though.
Wild birds i just breast them out for jerky and take the drumsticks for some great soup.
Farm raised you'll probably gonna want to leave the skin on right for whole birds?
Thats alot of plucking unless you do like cj and me did with the chickens we butchered but on a bigger scale.

I thought about penning them up and getting the shotgun.......just thought might not be the best solution. I would like to keep them whole so that they can be used for the holidays. I've dunked my chickens in everything from boiling hot water to hot wax to help with the plucking. Not sure if the same approach is used on turkeys. Thanks HK

[trapnys626]

If you want to vet technical you do turkeys the same as chickens . Use either a cone or just hang them up by the feet , take a sharp knife slip it under the feathers and slit their throat, most just kinda hung there till they expire some flop a little. Then scald and pluck like chickens. GOOD LUCK

[bowhunter]

Sept 8, 2013 9:31:25 GMT -5 trapnys626 said:

If you want to vet technical you do turkeys the same as chickens . Use either a cone or just hang them up by the feet , take a sharp knife slip it under the feathers and slit their throat, most just kinda hung there till they expire some flop a little. Then scald and pluck like chickens. GOOD LUCK

Exactly what i do with my turkeys.

[mitrapline]

Thanks for the help fellas.....I appreciate it. I may take some photos of the process and post them if it's ok so that anyone else that may need help can reference them. I wasn't sure about the dispatching part......didn't want to risk filling the meat with shot. I keep you guys posted. Thanks again!

[determinator]

Powerful pellet gun, with a pellet to the head would work pretty good. I'd use my dad's old Benjamin .22 pneumatic if it was me, or one of my .25 custom rebuilt Crosman pneumatic pistols. Not talking from experience, though. I do lean to the larger calibers.

[ninedeer]

Yep I do them just like my chickens,too

[trappingtime0]

take a good shard knife and we use these "cone" that sit in a 55 gallon barrel so all the blood go in that have an open area for you to reach in and cut off the head put in bird in head down and pull its head through the cone and cut it off its not to hard to do just gotta get through the spine which isn't much of a task