we're heading into the second turkey season in nb. 450 tags province wide spread over 4 zones. Fingers crossed I draw a tag. heard of a few people that got birds last spring. They all said the breast meat was really good but everything else was so stringy they could hardly eat it. Do people only eat the breast or is there a good way to cook the bird to avoid the stringyness?
Another vote for slow cooker. Trying to shave tiny strips of meat off of the leg tendons is something you won't do more than once. Drop it in the slow cooker with an onion and some spices and in four hours you just pick the bones and tendons out. Then you can do what you want with the meat.
Who uses a Turkey vest?
I've considered them, just not sure if they would be useful or not.
Normally, I am hunting up north in the mountains, and even in May at 5:00 AM is it cold as a witches t!t out there. I normally have a t-shirt, sweater, parka, and sometimes a rain coat over that. Then as the the morning heats up, I remove layers. In Quebec, we have to stop at noon, I am usually down to a t-shirt by then and have to lug all the layers back in my bag. If it was always t-shirt weather, then perhaps the vest would come in handy, but with the parka and backpack I have plenty of storage. There is no fall season for Turkey in my area, or else that might also work.
No vest. I use an eberlestock rocky mountain elk pack. I've got about a 1 km hike from the car to the blind. The pack has lots of pouches, including on the waist belt. that and a shirt pocket and I've never needed more storage. space.
Managing layers on the spring hunt is a bit of an art. I often have -3 to -5 on the way in and plus 15 on the way out.
In Ontario you have to be 400m from any location bait is being used, unless it has been free of bait for at least 7 days. So yeah, they're being trained but the bait should be removed a week before the season/hunt.
Does a 400 acre corn farm count as bait?
Im very excited to get out and give it a go! Got some gear, but still need a gun that patterns well. Thought my grandfathers Beretta A301 semi would do it, but at 20yds the pattern sucked using Challenger turkey loads
What kind of choke you got it in the shotgun? Generally for turkey you want the tightest choke you can get your hands on.
That brings up a good question I've often had. Turkeys tend to hang around farms, since there's always left over feed they can eat. I've been told to just go see the land owner to get permission to hunt on their land. My question is, do you immediately offer them money for the right to hunt their land, and if so, what do you offer? Is it contingent on your getting your gobbler? Do you offer a $20? Do you just say please and thank you? What kind of arrangement do you try to make? I am a bit intimidated to walk up to a stranger's door to ask for access to their land. It is also not always obvious who owns what parcel of land.
I've never offered money to hunt land. I think most farmers would find it offensive and any amount of money you offer would be insignificant against the liability they are assuming for letting you on.
I had a friend with a 100 acre wood lot surrounded by three farms. We hunted the wood lot for two seasons and just waved at the near by farmers for months, until they came to see us as inoffensive regulars. Then we started stopping in when they were about, mindful not to interupt them while they were working. We'd stop in and ask them for local intel. Seen any birds? where do they go? Asked for nothing more than that for a full season.
Eventually, once the relationship is well established, wed ask them if they hunt, or if anyone else hunts their land. If they seem standoffish then you know to not ask the next question, and keep it friendly.
My hunting buddy and I have developed relationships over years, and now we have permission to hunt 5 farms totalling over 900 acres, mixed corn, cattle, other grain crops and some hard wood forests.
We've never offered nor been asked for money. The cattle farmer in particular though is very thankful when we report back to him on signs of trespassing, fallen trees taking down a fence, sign of a Coyotes etc.
In the end, consider what kind of relationship do you want to have. Are you a customer paying the farmer for a service they never intended to be in the business of selling. Or are you more like a helpful neighbor.
