Wild Turkey legs!

Shot a 3 year old first season 2 weeks ago tomorrow. I usually grind up the legs and make meatloaf or burgers. Tried the legs last couple years in the oven or croc pot. They were OK but nothing great. This year I put them on the grill for 45 minutes flipping ever 5 minutes. From there they went right into my croc pot on low. Let them in there for 24 hours and added orange chicken sauce. MAN!!! They were awesome...and soft! Still had the charcoal flavor as well. The upper part of the leg was as tender as chicken.

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Nice! Great, now I'm hungry...

Looks mighty good!

Holy cow!!! Those look awesome turkey man!!!!

Well, what do you know? I went through my freezer today looking for beaver meat that apparently I am out of except for scraps for trapping and found two pairs of turkey legs from the Tom’s I shot last year. They’re getting thawed out in the fridge and are going to go through the same cycling that the one I posted here did.

I think I noticed something that made me take notice and I'll pose it as a question...
Do turkeys in the north have longer legs than turkeys in the south?

I couldn’t tell you, but the bird these came off of were a little over 26 pounds. It was 26 lbs. 13 oz. If I remember right it just kept fluctuating up and down a few ounces. So it was bigger than most. I think the largest I ever shot was 28 pounds. I’ve shot quite a few that were 28 and a couple that were 26 ish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Good Cheer

I think I noticed something that made me take notice and I'll pose it as a question...
Do turkeys in the north have longer legs than turkeys in the south?

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There are different breeds of wild turkey around the country...

We have Eastern Wild Turkeys here.

Easterns are bigger than Rio Grandes, Merriams, and Osceolas.

Four more just hit the grille. Then into my slow cooker. They are from last year's birds. Had to get a fresh bottle of orange stir fry sauce.

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Alright....so that's how you need to cook them. I got my first turkey 3 years ago...the legs were so tough I couldn't eat them. Since then, I've only kept breast and thighs. I cube the thighs and put them in my chili receipt. Breasts get cubed into 1" pieces and go in my ala' vodka sauce over penne....or into my recipe of turkey/broccoli alfredo.

I guess I should rethink keeping the legs from here on out....they really look good.

redhawk

I’ve kept legs on and off through the years as well. I got to the point where I was keeping them every year and then I would cut all the meat off and run it through my hamburger grinder I’d make burgers and meatloaf out of it. I couldn’t tell the difference between light and dark meat when I grind it up into hamburger. The issue was the blades are dull on my meat grinders so I don’t even try to grind it anymore. I need to figure out how to sharpen them or something. I’ve tried several times and they’re still dull. I tried making a complete turkey years ago. Haven’t done that ever. I don’t think. The hardest part is plucking the darn thing and getting it clean of pinfeathers. I put it in the oven complete hole. I did a post on it here. It “looked” awesome. The breast meat was good to go, but the legs were tough. Literary like chewing on super balls. I put those two legs in my crockpot overnight and the meat fell apart on them and they were super good. I figured I wanted to give it a charcoal taste this time around so it was just an experiment that worked out really good! Part is if you miss any pinfeathers or whatever is on the outside of that meat gets burnt off while your charcoal in it for a half hour or 45 minutes flipping it per side before you put it the croc pot. I just leave them on low overnight. I think I left them in for almost 2 days on low for the post here originally just cause we were eating them on and off. I can’t believe I jammed all four legs in the crockpot last night. lol. Stay open about a half inch until they cook down and I tried to put tinfoil over it. I woke up at 2 AM and the smell was so strong in the house. It kept me awake.Lol. Smells like a good cooked ham lid pulled itself down at least like I knew it would during cooking, but it’s still smelled the house up in the process. It will make one heck of a lunch and whatever’s for leftovers. I’ll cut up and mix with mayonnaise, cream cheese, and sour cream and some little pieces of pickle and maybe some little pieces of celery if I’ve got it laying around it’ll make a really good sandwich spread or for crackers.


I figured I’d just basically try and sear them on the grill and get some good smoky flavor while burning off any type of “whatever” I missed in the cleaning process. It sure gives it a great strong charcoal taste as well. It doesn’t cook out in the crockpot.


The top part of the thigh is as soft as chicken. The legs are soft as well but not like the thighs. The thighs are awesome!!! I’m sure the orange stir fry sauce helps but that’s my favorite fry sauce. They had general Tso sauce as well but it was on the spicy side. Also had sweet and sour but it didn’t mimic the good taste as the local restaurant I’m used to. The orange is the bomb!

Went out yesterday to try and get one more, but I had a trespasser and a lot of drama with two different sided stories told to the warden in the officer after I called in, and the guy almost got me in trouble with a bunch of lies. I learned from the DNR to take pictures of the trespassers and their vehicles on my property and try not to alert them from now on…anyways it screwed up my turkey hunting. I had a gobbler coming to me and then my phone silently rang that there was an officer sitting down by my vehicle and he wanted to talk to me. Long story short, the trespasser was a Marine that was trying to intimidate me and said he could fish anywhere he wanted and I couldn’t post my land. Told me to F off several times and leave him alone and to have a “good day”. Said he didn’t need permission and could fish anywhere he wants without permission and no one was going to stop him. He saw me taking pictures of him. I headed back to my vehicle and immediately called the sheriff’s office for trespassing. While was in the phone he came out of the creek and ran across my property running up to me and screaming where are the no trespassing signs. There were 3 within 10 feet to 10 yards of his vehicle. He then started to try to fight and tried to take my gun from me and told me he was gonna kill me three times if I would ever pull a gun on him and literally chased me up into my woods. He kept saying you don’t know who your Fn with. The guy ran up to me and tried to grab my gun as it was pointed in the air and heading into the woods. He definitely wanted a confrontation and looking for trouble. The guy was insane. Then he videotaped me and said that I was threatening him with a firearm on my own private property heading while I was heading into the woods. Unbelievable! The deputy apparently didn’t believe me. He was a young kid. I think the deputy knew him or was buddies with him and said that he had saw a videotape of me holding a gun straight up in the air. I told him I was heading to the woods ( as I said while he was taping me) and luckily I called dispatch twice and asked if I could just get away from the guy who was threatening me and just go hunting so they have both my phone calls on record, long story short, I called the warden because he called the warden as well and painted a picture. She luckily believed me and we put together a few pieces of the puzzle that this guy that supposedly lived hours away actually lived up the road with his dad at one point…and his dad tried to kick me off my property four years ago when he was trout fishing and parked on my property “full on trespassing”. He did this when I pulled on my property up to cut trails. I booted the dad and that’s when I put up my no trespassing signs. The dad told me his kid was a Marine and has fished down here ever since he was born after he mouthed off like he was trying to intimidate me with his kid. This guy obviously had a vendetta against me apparently that’s what he told the deputy in so many words. I also had a letter he left on my vehicle that the Marine threatened me for a fourth time and the deputy didn’t even want to take it. The deputy said he read it and put it back on my truck and smiled in the process. That deputy to me was worthless. I told the deputy I said don’t you want to keep this in your file since it’s a written threat after the guy told me he was going to kill me three times I said I’d like to file charges and have them arrested and he just kept smiling. I told the deputy I took a picture of it so I have evidence and he obviously saw it as well so he’s my witness then he decided to take a photograph of it and then keep it. I sent a copy of the of photographs with the letter it to the DNR so they have it along with the photos of him standing on my property and the vehicle on my property where there’s three no trespassing signs. Apparently had troubles with the DNR before because he knew it was a lady, and he kept referring to her as my effing girlfriend and asking if I kept calling my effing girlfriend which he put in the letter so that’s what helped the DNR figure out his lies that I supposedly intimidated him with a firearm and making up lies to cover his butt after he told me he was going to kill me 3 times and tried to grab my gun. I’m sure it registered in his brain finally that he threatened me so pulled out his phone and videoed me loading my gun heading to the woods to go hunting and said was trying to intimidate him with a firearm. Luckily I asked dispatch if I needed to wait for an officer or if I could just get away from the guy and go hunting…it’s all on recoded conversations with dispatch. The marine said I’d been harassing fisherman for years and wanted to get me for “Hunter harassment” which is what my neighbor ended up (from me) because they harassing me for the last three years on opening morning. The DNR gal figured they got together and had a pow wow about me and more or less were trying to figure out how to “get me” in so many words. Luckily the DNR person finally figured out my story wasn’t a story…the truth. She told me to just take pictures next time and don’t confront the trespasser and they’ll take care of the rest. She also told me I don’t have to post my land in our state. It’s the person’s responsibility to find out if is public or private land. Luckily, he left that threatening note on my vehicle like an idiot, so I have it in writing that he threatened me (for a 4th time) besides the photographs. Can’t believe the deputy isn’t want the letter… which tells me he’s not doing anything and not gonna file report and was either lazy or protecting his buddy. What a mess!


In my opinion all “the locals” that go down and trespassing and will park and walk across my land and go down to the river because they know I don’t live down there to watch over it. Kinda reminds me of the wild West. There’s been a few people that have been ticketed for trespassing 3 years ago after I put signs up and they all had the same types of attitudes when I told him they were trespassing. Apologies just told me to get lost and they were not trespassing and could fish there. I know at least least two out of the three ended up with trespassing tickets so I would assume they all must’ve all got together to “bitch” about me, which is why this guy who don’t think I “think” ive only seen this guy once down there years ago, because I recognized the truck, fishing with a couple buddies tossing beer cans while they fished (and didn’t kick them out but told all of them to pick up his their cans at the time and haven’t seen him since)…so the marine who lives 3 hours away was in the middle of know where fishing my private property said I’ve been harassing him and other fisherman for years. Ok…im done venting. I’d post a nice letter he wrote me, but I figured I better keep it private in case we do end up going to court.

I have a fair list of stuff I do not eat, I usually will try it once, but am smart enough to not fool with it again. Turkey legs is on that list. They remind me of some girls I have known, look good, small good, but I wish I had never met them.

Your missing out then!!! I just made something new with them. I took my Ulu knife and cut up the upper thighs and mixed up with orange stir fry sauce. That's after the same process of overnight slow croc pot cooking. Basically 24 hours in the croc pot after grilling for 45 min. I made homemade mashed potatoes and home made air fries for some crunch. I packed two full plates for the parents and super small one for me to try since potatoes habe tons of carbs. All the plates were littlerally licked clean! Still have 2/3's of the cut thighs left I'll use for sandwich spread. All four legs are still waiting to be eaten as well.

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I used to cook turkeys in the slow cooker. When I started brining and spatchcocking turkey's, the cooking took less time and the taste improved significantly. I brine them for about 4 hours first, then start the cooking process. The brine helps a lot.
Look up spatchcocking on the internet. I learned it from watching Martha Stewart's method.

Had some more of the chopped up left overs turkey tonight. Mixed it right up with the leftover potatoes and fried it up like a burger. MMMM!!! I’ll have to eat those legs tomorrow.

I just took the last of the pile that I had all chopped up and mixed it with about a cup of mayonnaise and some pickle relish. Man that stuff taste good. I’ll have to make some. “Tuna style” Turkey melts with it. I also put the legs wrapped up in tinfoil and barbecue sauce in the oven to warm up. Looks like that’ll be my supper.

Finished off the legs last night. Every once in a while I'd get a little gamey taste. I figured out it was from the outside layer that was exposed to the grille. The outer Lauer was a tough texture as well. I just made sure to either ear it last or save it for my dog. Tuna style melts with the spread when I get home from turkey hunting today. I had a hen sneak in and stand up at 25 yards away in the thick green weeds on my first call this morning. She didn't habe a Tom with her unfortunately.

Well, I went out this morning and just packed up for the season about an hour ago. This was the weirdest year turkey hunting in the longest time. Normally, I have at least a dozen or more gobblers that will come in and either I can’t get a shot at them because it’s too thick of brush or they’re dropped down on each side of my ridge far enough I can’t see them. This year I never had one vocal Tom respond to me on my property. They were on everybody else’s as usual but normally I’ll catch them quite a few times on my own property. I never had one Turkey on my property in the last month and a half that gobbled. Ended up shooting a Tom first season that came in completely silent and went full strut by my decoys. Probably had over a dozen hens came over the season (just a single hen each time) and hang out by my decoys. Well, for the last day, I got to experience something special. I felt bad though because the polts scattered. When I was gettin in my blind today a hen was laying down 10 feet from me. She was so flat I didn’t see her in the grass. It got up and started screaming and running around like it was special needs, running back-and-forth up to me with its wings down beating and flapping them and wouldn’t leave me alone, it acted and sounded like it was getting ripped apart by an animal. I was wondering if it was hurt, wounded, or had a weasel hanging around its neck??? It Literally was running back-and-forth within three or 4 feet of me screaming and after a couple seconds of me getting my composure together I looked where it jumped up and there were a bunch of fuzzy little turkey babies that looked like they just hatched. She then Started running around me in circles a 100 mph and squawking. I slowly grabbed my decoys and walked away about 20 yards and put them out. I figured tha5 would aloe her to walk bsck over to her babies and take them away….nope!!! Instead of her going back and grabbing her babies and taking off she chased me to the decoys and kept running right up to me. She had to be 6 to 8 feet away from me at max when I pulled the decoys out of the bags. She saw my DSD Jake and freaked out worse than when I jumped her with her babies. She saw that decoy in my hands and started screaming bloody murder.Lol!!! I just about died laughing, then I slowly walked back to my blind and got in it and shut the door. As soon as I went in the blind so she couldn’t see me, she settled down and started calling in her babies. She’s stuck around at 15/20 yards or so for probably a good hour and a half going back-and-forth in plain sight calling the babies in. I heard three polts peeping in three different directions. One was 2 to 3 feet from the tent walked right by me. It looked like it basically was a day or two old at the most, then another loud peeping polt walked right by the tent looking for the other one. The mom knew I was in the tent so she kept staying back a good 20 yards and kept going back-and-forth calling to them. I think the two by me eventually got to her. One was way down the hill on one side of my ridge and another way down the hill on the other. The one to my left, I think eventually got to her. The one peeping on the right I could tell it was going the wrong direction and getting super far away so I started making hen yelps and called it back to the tent. I’m pretty sure she walked around and got it because all of a sudden the three little peeps in different directions all quit at once along with her light yelps and purs. That was a couple hours before the storm hit so I would assume they all must’ve finally got back together…Knock on wood. Saw a bunch of deer as usual, checking out my decoys and right before the storm a giant possum came running full throttle through the woods. Tail pointed straight out and snowball white. I figured something was chasing it, but it must’ve been scared from the storm coming. I was guessing a coyote or some other rotten predator was probably chasing it so I let the egg eater/nest raider get a hall pass and get out of sight waiting for whatever was chasing it but nothing else was behind it. I’ll get that nest raider another day!