Kinda dumb ques...? Home grown turkey vs wild turkey??

[Oregon Blues]

Your home raised domestic turkey should be much better tasting than a store bought bird. For one thing, it won't be injected full of "broth" like the store birds.

It should be very much like the difference between a home raised chicken and a store bought chicken.

Wild game flavor is influenced by what it eats, and you will control what your turkeys eat.

 

[blueskylen]

i was just going to post about the sliced / fried wild turkey - a neighbor gave us the recipe - which is very simple - and it is wonderful! by far the best way to cook a wild turkey.

i also think that it is what the wild turkey has to eat and what season you are hunting - spring or fall. i would much rather have a fall turkey than a spring one, as they have so much more to eat and a greater variety.

i agree that the handling process after the kill is most important - example - we have a couple of friends that come in to hunt deer in November. A couple of years ago one of them got a nice spike ,and what he did with that deer is a prime example of what not to do. He did trail clean it properly, but threw it in the back of his truck for 2 days and when he went to butcher it, i had to leave the shop - the smell was horendous. i would have just thrown the whole thing out, but he took it home for the freezer - YUK . that would certainly turn anyone of of wild game.

 

[viciousaz]

Just getting into raising Turkeys. Tried a broad breasted white, he was eating good, looking tasty. Went out to feed him and he was dead. I have since learned that he should have been harvested at 18 weeks, I was waiting till Thanksgiving and he was at 27 weeks. Best I can determine is his heart gave out. Now I am looking at Bourbon Reds and would like to try brooding them. My question is this: After the Tom/Hens have brooded for say 4 years (I have read this is their prime) how will the meat be? Is that too old to try to harvest?
Thanks for your help,
Victor

 

[flowerchild59]

I personally love wild turkey, and my DH and sons know how to properly kill and dress out what they shoot. If I never ate pallid store bought turkey again, it would be too soon.
I have considered getting some domestic turkeys like the midget whites or the such and raise them. I have to research and research on what I want to venture into.

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

I have since learned that he should have been harvested at 18 weeks, I was waiting till Thanksgiving and he was at 27 weeks.

Even 18 weeks could result in a turkey much larger than many would want plus the efficiency of feeding goes down and health problems increase.

I processed some BBW at about 14 weeks, hens were 15 to 17 lb and toms 20-25 lb dressed.​

 

[Bucky182]

A wild turkey does not look anything like a tame turkey, if you pluck it you will think it just got our of some concentration camp. LOL it will look nothing like a butterball. If it is wet when killed it will stink. They are not bad to eat, I just us the breast meat as the leg and thighs is very dark and I am just to lazy to monkey with them. LOL I have killed alot of them and like to turkey hunt, but as my dear wife says why pay 10-12 dollars for a tag, how much money for shells, gas, time when and not have to pick ticks off of you when you done when you could have bought a butterball for half the money and had better eating? I often tell her for the same reason I keep you.....Cause I love it! :LOL

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
Which breed did you like the best? I've been considering raising turkeys when we move, although I'm a little concerned about my husband getting attached, too. I'd like to get something non-white, able to free-range ( depending predator pressure on where we move, of course), and sustainable. Have neen looking at the Narraganset, Bourbon Reds, and BBBs.

 

[TexasAggieOfc]

I'll be processing my own home grown turkey tomorrow, never had one before, but looking forward to it.

As far as Wild Turkey, it is excellent. Good color, goes down smooth, mixes with anything... oh wait, you were talking about meat wild turkey not liquid Wild Turkey? Never mind, then.

 

[TexasAggieOfc]

Quote:
Which breed did you like the best? I've been considering raising turkeys when we move, although I'm a little concerned about my husband getting attached, too. I'd like to get something non-white, able to free-range ( depending predator pressure on where we move, of course), and sustainable. Have neen looking at the Narraganset, Bourbon Reds, and BBBs.

I have two BBWhites and one BBBronze. My wife got attached to the Bronze and refuses to let him meet the knife. In the future, I guess I'll have to go with BBWhites!

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[[[[[[[........After the Tom/Hens have brooded for say 4 years (I have read this is their prime) how will the meat be? Is that too old to try to harvest?..........]]]]]]

Just like chickens. As they get older you use slower cooking methods. Crockpot, soup, stew, shredded for enchiladas, ground to make whatever you make with ground meat or to make sausage. Flavor should be lovely, but the meat will be tough if not properly cooked.