{"id":12440,"date":"2024-03-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/?p=12440"},"modified":"2024-03-05T12:48:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T17:48:12","slug":"turkey-hunt-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/?p=12440","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Hunt 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By Cecil Cherry<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In the 1950\u2019s the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission began relocating wild turkeys to North Carolina to restock the wild population that was on the decline due to a change in logging and agricultural practices.\u00a0 The program initiated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission saw a jump in numbers of turkeys of approximately 2000 birds in 1970 to approximately 270,000 in 2020.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

In the early 1990\u2019s several buddies called me and advised me they saw one or two large flocks by our bass pond. Naturally, I thought they were pulling a wire job on me (a practical joke). It would be a couple of years later before I saw a decent flock of turkeys when I was deer hunting one afternoon. After that first encounter, I made several futile attempts to bag one of these wonderful birds.\u00a0<\/p>

I did not kill my first turkey until 2015. Once the big old Tom was dressed, he went in the freezer for Christmas. I smoked him on my Weber grill. All I can say is he was delicious. I love the Field to Plate philosophy. The first time I ate wild Turkey was at the \u201cPiney Green Community Meat Center for Higher Education and Learning and Gentlemen\u2019s Social Club\u201d in Jacksonville, North Carolina in the mid 2000\u2019s.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I had not been turkey hunting in approximately eight or nine years until this year. I am very fortunate to have a family farm to hunt and fish on. The farm has been in our family since the early 1920\u2019s. I am still a novice turkey hunter and will take luck over skill when I am hunting these wary birds. And, yes, I see turkeys more often than not during deer season.<\/p>

There were a couple of avid long beard hunters in our midst and they would share the bounty of their adventures. The way the Charter Members of the \u201cPiney Green Community Meat Center for Higher Education and Learning and Gentlemen\u2019s Social Club\u201d liked to cook their turkey was to deep fry them. They would cube breast of a wild turkey, bone out the legs and thighs and cube them, then soak the meat in buttermilk overnight.\u00a0 The next day, they would dredge the turkey meat in spicy Cajun breader and deep fry until done. The sides to this may have been fried potatoes, French fries, or some sort of veggie. The turkey tasted like cotton candy after being marinated in buttermilk. It was simply delicious.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Fast forward to the middle of April 2023. I went home for a few days to try to score a big bird for the table. I set up in an old pack\/feed house left over from when we raised hogs. I arrived just after sun up and waited. And waited. I could hear hens off in the distance, maybe even a gobble. I continued to wait until around 9:30 a.m. when a danged old coyote walked in. Well, there went that hunt, I thought. I eased my Stoeger .410 over under up, loaded with 3-inch Federal TSS 9 shot rounds and shouldered it. I took aim and shot that dastardly villain and he ran off.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I figured my hunt was over but thought, \u201cnothing ventured, nothing gained.\u201d I waited some more. Approximately 10:30 a.m., a Tom with a 9-inch beard walked in. Buck fever struck. Holy cow, there he is, about 25 yards out. I hoisted my shotgun and placed the bead where his neck met his body. I squeezed the trigger and the bird folded like a cheap suit. Success!\u00a0 I had a turkey on the ground. I retrieved him and got photos, then breasted him out, keeping the thighs and legs and boning them out also.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I went hunting again two mornings later after I treed some turkeys the evening before. I arrived in the cypress swamp before sun up and waited. Just at the crack of dawn a bird flew off its roost. I figured he was a good 40 or 50 yards away. He walked around and strutted and did not appear to be getting any closer. Nothing worked. It was now or never. I was behind an old cypress. Would the TSS rounds perform as advertised at this range? We\u2019ll see. Pop! The turkey folded and I could not believe it! I was a good distance away and I got my second bird in two days. I was in sucking the bottom of your boots off mud and swamp. I finally got to my kill and it was a nice Jake. I dressed him much as I did the first bird. When this hunter returned from the hill, I packaged and vacuum sealed my meat. I kept some of the breast meat out to cook as a celebratory meal.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I cut one half of the breast of my bird into chunks and soaked the breast meat in buttermilk overnight. The next evening, I dredged the turkey breast in Spicy House Autry Chicken Breader (with heavy black pepper and chili powder added), and fried golden brown in peanut oil. I served the fried turkey with speckled or colored butterbeans, Stove Top Stuffing, and gravy my wife graciously prepared. The meal was paired with a very nice Chardonnay courtesy of Mrs. Cherry.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This was the very best turkey I have ever eaten. It was very mild in flavor and better than any Butterball or any other wild turkey I have eaten. And no, the turkey did not taste like chicken or pork, it was a very subtle turkey flavor. The wine was a perfect choice with the meat and sides. Thanks to what I learned from the \u201cPiney Green Community Meat Center for Higher Education and Learning and Gentlemen\u2019s Social Club,\u201d I will always soak my turkey in buttermilk if I am going to fry it. \u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCecil Cherry\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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is a retired law enforcement officer and is originally from Eastern North Carolina. Cecil grew up on a tobacco and hog farm and still loves the rural life. He enjoys waterfowl, upland, and big game hunting. He loves the idea of field to plate and enjoys cooking and eating all of his harvests and cannot wait until the next hunt. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAll Posts\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 1950\u2019s the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission began relocating wild turkeys to North Carolina to restock the wild population that was on the decline due to a change in logging and agricultural practices. The program initiated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission saw a jump in numbers of turkeys<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169,4],"tags":[317,77,111],"class_list":["post-12440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-hunting","tag-conservation","tag-hunting","tag-wild-turkey"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Untitled-design-5-copy.png","acf":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12440"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12480,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12440\/revisions\/12480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}