Uncle Nicky

Younger birds- pluck all the feathers (yeah, fun times).Place 1 small apple quartered and 1 small onion quartered in the cavity. Lay 5 or 6 strips of bacon across the breast. Place in roasting bag, roast at 375, make gravy out of the liquid that collects in the roasting bag. Boneless Breast meat-1). Cut in cubes, marinate, wrap in bacon, cook on BBQ grill- excellent! 2). Slice into cutlets, pound with a meat hammer, bread, and make parmesan style or chicken fried turkey with cream gravy. 3) Cut into strips, bread, deep fry, serve as "fingers". 4) Simmer in water or roast in the oven until cooked through, cool overnight, make into turkey salad. Boneless thighs-cube, make into stew or goulash. Or grind them up for sausage. Skinless pieces: Cacciatore, coq au vin, fry and simmer in mushroom soup, arroz con turkey. Obviously, you have to pre-cook the pieces until almost tender before using in typical "chicken" recipes, turkey is leaner & tougher, just the nature of the beast. Hope this helps. And make sure to watch for BBs, #6 are hard to find sometimes, easy to break a tooth or crown.

It all depends where your head is at, I would think. If you want to think of it as hunting and brag on your accomplishment, then let her walk. If you want to think of it as a shopping trip with a little work added in, hurry up & get your bow before she leaves.

I used to run a deer processing business. Unless requested otherwise, I would grind the shanks for customers. Over 200 deer/year, never had my grinder clog, mid-size commercial equipment. I just sharpened the blades & plates after the season was over. But if you are going to braise the shanks, the majority of the cartilage will melt by the time the meat is tender enough to eat.

You did the right thing, sounds like the deer had been suffering a while. Not sure about NY, but I know in PA you can sometimes get another tag if a CO determines the deer you killed was unfit for consumption. Might be worth looking into?

Yes, the work involved for the yield of maybe 15 lbs meat doesn't justify killing smaller deer in my mind. The term "brown it's down" never bothered me, it was a pre-hunting show era term that guys who put on drives would say, and usually meant guys who were desperate to fill tags. I'm more puzzled when I read guys on the internet talking about their "target buck", "hit list", "making the deer take a dirt nap", "BBD Baby!!!" and "smoked a big doe". Really??? Sounds like they should spend less time watching Lee & tiffany or Michael Waddell, and spend more time in the woods. Nobody I know in the real world says things like that.

I think he's asking about the shank portion.

Grind it up.

For many, it's a trade off. If you want the highest chance of success, want to make sure that you can stay in touch with civilization if needed, don't plan on making multiple trips across the country to scout, don't want to wait a lot of years building preference points, and want to cut out a lot of the planning & research, a guide is a great option. I wouldn't think twice about a DIY trip out west for antelope or turkeys, done a few myself (alone and with friends), it was challenging, but filled the majority of my tags. If you want to hunt in New Mexico, I'd try Bob Atwood/Blue MountainOutfitters.http://www.bluemountainoutfitters.com/elk.htm He runs a good camp, and is a straight-shooter. He offers everything from semi-DIY to fully guided hunts, in some of the most beautiful country in the lower 48.

Oddly enough, a friend of mine is going through this right now. He received a certified letter at his house, signature required, saying the landowner was terminating his hunting rights. He figured something was fishy when he looked closely and saw a computer generated signature, so he called the landowner, who denied sending the letter. This is going to get mighty uncomfortable when he runs into the guy who really sent the letter to his house....

Bummer, welcome to the club. I've found that "exclusive permission" is a temporary situation at best. The only way that anyone has complete control over land is to lease or buy their own, which then comes with it's own set of expenses & problems.

As a general rule of thumb, they will start flocking up heavily in the fall, usually groups of hens and yearlings stay together, and groups of gobblers stay together. I've heard gobbles in the fall, it's more a re-grouping call than the loud early mating gobbles that you hear in the spring.

Congratulations.

Well done!

The dog was cold and wet, suffered a 250 mile ride, and had never seen a live bird as big as a turkey before. She's still a pup, hopefully she'll warm up to the whole thing.

Tagged out for 2014.

IMO, finding the flock is the toughest part of fall turkey. Having a network of guys who can tell you where they've been seeing birds is a huge help. It's mind boggling how groups of 20+ birds can disappear into thin air sometimes...

I believe he's originally from Florida, and now lives in Kentucky. I'm surprised he didn't list his home state, Florida is a real sad deer hunting state. Anyway, it's just another useless article, I've killed quite a few nice bucks in NY.

Yes, it's true, Tenpoint/Wicked Ridge bought out Horton, but are NOT honoring any Horton warranties, nor selling replacement parts. After the nightmare I went through with Barnett, I'm a little hesitant to dump my current Horton, considering it's in great shape, and super reliable. But thanks for the tip, I wasn't aware they were offering vouchers for trading up. Christmas is around the corner, maybe I'll put a bug in Mrs. Uncle Nicky's ear.

I have a Horton, which is a budget crossbow, unfortunately they stopped making & servicing them. No problems with it, shoots great, rugged, dependable. My first crossbow was a Barnett, a true lemon. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. Wicked Ridge is Ten Point's economy line. I will probably get one of those when my Horton dies.

I'm no expert, but I've been on a handful of hunts (mulie and pronghorn) where long-range shots were the norm. 500-600 yards is definitely stretching it, most guys don't have the equipment or ability to make shots like this, and if they do, often they end badly. But, given the terrain & eyesight of these animals, getting closer than 200 yards is pretty difficult (not impossible, but not the norm). Anyone who does go on a hunt like this should practice until they're able to hit a deer-sized target in the chest at 300 yards.

Double post.

Good luck, I'm jealous!

I can't ever remember having to defend why I hunt, most people that know me don't engage me in these conversations, and unless someone's a true vegetarian, I'm not going to bother with a stupid debate like that. I DO recall a kook of a co-worker trying to give me a hard time because my kids were in the Boy Scouts of all things, she said it was a far-right wing orginization that shuns atheists, teaches kids archery and firearms (and therefore,violence),and was homophobic. Takes all kinds I guess.

I have much more faith in estrous scents than I do in other gimmicks like calling, rattling, & grunting. I don't know so much about tarsal glands or other pre-rut scents, I've never tried them. I've had multiple bucks come into a scent wick with estrous scent, but I've only tried this during prime-time rut (last week October-first 2 weeks November). I will also say the overwhelming majority of bucks I've seen fooled by commercial estrous scents are smaller, spikes & forkhorns. I DID observe a huge buck a few years ago, he circled downwind of the scent wick, didn't see what he was looking for, got on a rise, laid down for a while, again didn't see what he was looking for, and eventually moved on. He was obviously wise to the game.

I've seen guys in Maine use combat field stretchers to walk a bear out, but you'd need a minimum of 2 guys. Best bet's to skin & quarter out in pieces if you don't want to deal with dragging it out, a long drag might damage the cape if you plan to have a rug or mount made.