Thanksgiving Roadkill

As the supposed meat provider of the family, I’m a little disappointed by how little food has been gathered with my bow and rifle. Okay, so I’m not Miles Standish, but maybe I’ve been using the wrong tools. Judging by how much meat we’ve gotten as a result of anonymous motorists’ bad luck, I’m beginning to think my ’95 Toyota may be the best weapon in my arsenal.

Just kidding. But really, the road has been good to us, most recently by providing a perfectly un-mangled wild turkey. As Haley said, we can thank my friend Dave for this one. Thanks Dave!

Step one, pluck the turkey.

This is also steps two, three, four, etc… It takes forever.

Pull from the feet towards the head.

Once the turkey (or at least the tasty parts) are de-feathered, cut off the feet and head. I also cut off most of the wings because those feathers don’t come out easily, and the tip of the tail for the same reason.

I didn’t get any photos of me removing the innards, because my camera isn’t water or gore proof, but did get a shot of this. It’s the bird’s crop, where it stores all it’s recently gathered food before digesting it. It’s weird, just a fleshy sack full of seeds, dirt, and dead bugs. Crazy, huh?

After gutting and a good rinse, it looks like food. It was a small turkey, almost like a big chicken.

After spending a week in the freezer it’s now thawing in the fridge, getting ready for the big day. Because of it’s small size, it’s going to be part of a two-turkey dinner. I’m curious to see how it stacks up against the store-bought bird. But I’ll be happy as long as it doesn’t taste like asphalt and diesel.

Happy Thanksgiving!