I have a client that is looking for a place to go turkey hunting in the Winchester area. Any one aware of any public and or private places?
I dont know what state Winchester is in. All I can say is I have so many turkeys at my place they attack my truck coming up the driveway. I never understood all the camo etc. If I want a wild turkey I can walk out in my back yard with a piece of bread and whack one in the head with a baseball bat. Still I never do that because you have to then clean it. Turkey is CHEAP at the grocery store. I get maybe 60 turkeys who hang out in my back yard each winter just destroying everything. Would love someone to come harvest a few of them. Just dont shoot my cat and plan on cleaning the damn thing yourself!
They really are not hard to clean if you don’t treat them like a domestic bird. Just make a small cut through the breast skin and peel the skin back enough that you can filet each side of the breast.
I like to cut the breast meat into 1/4" thin slices, put a bit of cream cheese, blu cheese, chopped green onion, on the slice, roll it up wrap some thin sliced bacon around it (use toothpick to hold together), grill these and add BBQ sauce just before removing from grill.
The leg/thigh is tough to eat. I skin, then cut them off, Boil in a very large pot, with some salt and pepper, until the meat will pull off very easy. Let the the leg and thigh cool and then pick the meat off much as you would pulled pork. Strain the cook pot contents and save. Use this saved stock, meat, add veggies and noodles, to make the best turkey noodle soup you have ever had.
Sure wish I had a few of your turkeys!
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I should add that for those who have never tried wild turkey (not the bottled kind) it has a completely different texture and taste than your store bought bird. I much prefer the wild bird to the domestic bird.
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Yes, turkey stock makes a great soup base. I have boiled the carcasses of the Thanksgiving turkeys many times and froze the broth in quart containers. I haven’t cooked a turkey for Thanksgiving in several or more years now, though. I have also saved the liquid after cooking artichokes, that, too, makes a tasty vegetable-based broth.
What state are we looking at @Deez?
Will,William, if you are in the Pacific Northwest and purchase a license you would be most welcome to harvest turkeys from my place. Only have 5 large males right now, come nov there will be 60 of them in my yard. They run uo to within 4 feet of you. I take my leftover toast or other table item and toss it into the blackberry bushes. After a couple weeks they have those blackberries all tromped down for me. Win/win. I caught a couple in my chicken coop helping themselves t oa gourmet dinner. I just scared the hell out of them and let them escape hoping they would stay out moving forward.
One ear I bought a license and with one shot poped 2 of them right through the head. Made cleaning/skinning easy. I cooked the meat wrond but the cats loved it. And I lovd the liver and gizzard. If I ever harvest another I will make sausage with it.
Have a huge cougar problem this year. MAybe cut down the turkey population. Already made a difference in the deer and elk population. Have had 6 cougar encounters within one mile of my place just this past month. Neighbors have lost a couple sheep and several goats. Several years ago we had a predator control unit out here for a few weeks. May be time for them to come back. I dont have sheep or goats so no big deal to me. I do worry about my 2 cats, but they are being good and staying near the house.
Also haveing a coyote problem. Ranch across the street from me took out 40 acres of brush and trees alond the river where they all hung out. Now they hav come to my side of the road to camp out. Love listening to them, but do make me worry about the pets. EVERYONE in the area has started carrying a firearm in case of an encounter. One guy was hunting, sitting nest to a tree and heard a “hiss”. Was a full grown cougar about 30 ft from where he was sitting. He fired but in all the evcitement and adrenaline rush missed.
I see an occasional deer and elk in the yard, but so far have never hunted or taken one. I enjoy watching them. Thin ot the cougars an coyotes and let more deer and elk prosper and I wold get a license and ppt on n the freezer. Otherwise just happy to enjoy their company.
This year I also hav LOTS of Quail running around. A covey of maybe 40 of them? Love watching them. Darn cat caught and killed one… Was still warm and fresh so I cleaned and froze it fr a future meal. Also many doves and ring neck pidgeons here and there.
I keep wanting more mushrooms. Have gotten several ink-cap mushrooms, but afraid to try without a positive ID. 99% sure I am correct. Also getting some morels and others. I have been taking them and trying to spread the mycellium (?) around the property. Also get a 1000 other mushrooms, I love mushrooms but afraid to try without an expert ID. Unfortunately the experts are a 100 mile round trip away.
SO MANY RESOURCES HERE ON MY PROPERTY. I need to learn what is good and bad. I read books, and am confident I an correct, but not going to take a chance eating w/o an living person expert opinion. Is a bit frustrating knowing I have all this bounty but afraid to eat without expert analysis/identification.
They really are not hard to clean if you don’t treat them like a domestic bird. Just make a small cut through the breast skin and peel the skin back enough that you can filet each side of the breast.
I like to cut the breast meat into 1/4" thin slices, put a bit of cream cheese, blu cheese, chopped green onion, on the slice, roll it up wrap some thin sliced bacon around it (use toothpick to hold together), grill these and add BBQ sauce just before removing from grill.
The leg/thigh is tough to eat. I skin, then cut them off, Boil in a very large pot, with some salt and pepper, until the meat will pull off very easy. Let the the leg and thigh cool and then pick the meat off much as you would pulled pork. Strain the cook pot contents and save. Use this saved stock, meat, add veggies and noodles, to make the best turkey noodle soup you have ever had.
Sure wish I had a few of your turkeys!
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That’s a wonderful offer and I would have taken you up on it in my younger years. I’ve always enjoyed going to new areas. I have a fair population of wild turkeys on my place and when I say wild I mean WILD.
Quail hunting was also a passion, I’ve had some fine bird dogs. I still make the trip from Alabama to the Dakota’s each Nov. / Dec. to hunt pheasant. BTW-- try the turkey noodle soup recipe. It’s REEEAL GOOOD on a cold winter night.
I’ve only seen one of the big cats in the wild. It was in CO. and I was backing on a archery mule deer hunt. Impressive creature. Would not want one close to my home though.
Thanks again for the offer!
Virginia
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I am going to conclude he means Virginia, but that is only a guess.
Is there still any open land up there? They keep developing and building.
Public land, parks may be open to hunting, not sure about up around Winchester, but Thompson Wildlife Management Area may be open to hunting, not sure if it is deer or turkey or both.
@Deez First I would recommend starting here to see if he or she can get a hunting license.
[
Hunting & Trapping Regulations | Virginia DWR
](https://dwr.virginia.gov/hunting/regulations/)
You can pick up a hunting pamphlet at any sporting store, they have hunting areas and seasons.
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Agree. If you skin them it just takes a few minutes. Its the plucking that is so tedious if you want to keep the skin on. I have tried the dip in boiling water method etc… just messy and tedious.