Kansas Turkey Adventures

My dental office celebrates birthdays on/near the actual date with a "themed" lunch with everyone pitching in something for the meal. For my birthday, they don't even ask what the theme will be, they know that it is "Chef Salad". Mrs kansasdad usually gets the deli turkey, ham and roast beef, someone else brings lettuce, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc etc. This year I told them that I would be bringing in something extra from the usual, some "free range, hormone free turkey" which gave me all sorts of inquisitive looks.

A trio of Hank Shaw books now reside in my library (clicking on the Amazon link residing somewhere to the right of these words brings a little kick-back to Big Finn and company) and I was looking forward to doing something with my most recent tom's legs/thighs.



Hank's recipe for carnitas caught my eye, and so off I went.




When I do this to my next dark meat legs and thighs, I will separate them to allow them to nestle into the slow cooker a little bit easier.





Mix up the dry spices, and dump them in on the water just now covering the meat.





Set it and forget it...... for hours. Hank estimated 3 hours minimum, an old tom will take longer to get tender. I ended up going lower temp, longer time and kept it up going overnight.








Second half post coming soonish....

Talk about falling off the bone.....this was easy to pull apart and shred. The tendons for the most part stayed attached at the joint of the leg.



And quick as you'd like the first one is done. The texture of this turkey is nearly identical to a really good pot roast that has been shredded, but nowhere near as greasy.



In Hank's recipe, he says the meat is good for a week in the frig. When it's time for a meal, he says his favorite way to finish the meat is with a hot skillet and lard (the good stuff, not Crisco) and drizzled with a honey-lime dressing. He hits the heat long enough that some of the ends are crispy, while other parts are still soft.

I was very surprised that everyone at least tried some on the side. Several comments about how surprising the texture was (beef like) and how mild the taste of the meat was, and compared very favorably to a slightly overdone, dry Thanksgiving turkey most folks might use as a reference.

I didn't weigh the harvest, but I would imagine that there was somewhere in the neighborhood of over two pounds of free range turkey dark meat that made it to the office. Much less came home, and one assistant asked the next day if she could take some home for her husband to try.



A final thought: clean up after yourself in the kitchen!! As in camping, I try to leave the place nicer than when I found it.





In the interest of full disclosure, I need to note that at the three hour mark, i pulled one of the legs out of the slowcooker and tried to whittle off a little bit for a taste. To describe the texture as rubbery is too generous. It felt like cutting into a bouncy ball from a gumball machine. It needed much more time to get where I needed it to be.

Modifications that I will consider for next time:

Turn the heat up, shorten cooking time,

As already mentioned, separate leg/thighs for easier placement in pot.

Ditch the cinnamon stick and the cloves in the spice mix. Mrs kansasdad says those are best placed in pumpkin spiced cookies. She has requested a garlic/onion base for spices next time.

Serve as the original recipe calls for with a taco/fajita style presentation.

Some video from my hunt
https://youtu.be/rieJQaceUqk

Looks good. I've still got two sets of dark meat from our turkeys in the freezer.

Just got this picture from my dad. A Kansas Rio which gives him a grand slam this year and really this is his first Rio ever. A little bummed I got off work so late today as I was planning on heading over. Either way pretty cool

Well he went from not being able to buy luck to 2 days in a row.

Velveteen shotgun.

Congratulations to him!

kansasdad said:

Velveteen shotgun.

Congratulations to him!

Click to expand...

About 20 years ago now when he first really started hunting turkeys, he got this bright idea that the guns were too shiny. He did this to his and mine...needless ro say I lost my shit when I saw mine... nothing you can do. The blue is coming off when you peel the tape off...was such a nice looking gun

Last weekend the tail-ender (youngest) kansasdaughter graduated with honors from high school. Various family members were in town for the weekend, and Aaron (kansasson) was jonesing for a turkey hunt. We were happily surprised to learn that lifetime license holders who live out of state get to pay resident fees for turkey permits.

The severe thunderstorms that rolled through south central Kansas meant business with straight line winds and heavy downpours. I'm sure turkeys on a roost had a miserable morning, and woke up quite grumpy. That translated to us leaving the house much later than normal, so much so that we arrived after sunrise.

Walking in, we didn't hear any gobbling on the public hunting area that has been my (almost) private playground this spring. I knew that my old hunting boots weren't waterproof anymore, and within 50 yards of walking, I was squishing in soggy socks already.

We set up within yards of where I killed my second tom of the season and got comfy, as the plan was to not put out any decoys, and not attempt to call these hard pressed turkeys. We waited in vain, as we never saw or heard a bird in the now filling with vegetation dry lake bed.

We decided to sneak out of the lake bed and peer onto the field we call "Applecore field" for the multiple applecores once found behind a log blind in a long ago turkey season. Standing in the trees that ring the field, we could see a half dozen birds working the far side of this huge ag field. Corn had been planted on the uphill portion of this field, and I suppose that once the ground allows, soybeans will be planted on the lower 3/4 aspect of this field. These birds were heading towards the east side of the field, and we decided to get moving with lightspeed to intercept.

Arriving at the field edge and poised to strike, we were disappointed to find that the expected tom was nowhere to be seen. The cut corn was playing tricks with our eyes. Birds kept appearing and then disappearing, and finally we had to come to the conclusion that if there had been any toms or jakes on first sighting, they had given us the slip. Binoculars confirmed that none of these hens had a beard, which would make them a legal target, and we watched these hens begin to split up and head back towards their supposed nests.

The temperature was fast approaching uncomfortably warm, and the sun was now high in the sky. Aaron wanted to go check out the ag field on the other side of the watercourse, so I watched his progress via the "Find a Friend" app, After checking out the field and finding it void of birds, he started back to where he had left me keeping watch over Applecore field. I knew that he was heading back towards me and i figured he was practicing his ninja skills. Had I been a turkey, I would have been a dead turkey, as kansasson has learned his sneaking lessons well.

We decided that we would go ahead and check out one more ag field before we had to call it a day. Peeking around the shrubs that have grown up at the periphery of this cut soybean field, I saw birds feeding at the far end of the field. I looked long at these birds, counting four of them. And all of them were sporting a red head of legal birds. kansasson and I had a discussion on tactics. Our options discussed were decoys v no decoys, stay put v move, call v no calling. In the end we decided to move closer, which meant we had to belly crawl across ten yards of open field, and then work our way up the timber to hide our advance.

Figuring we were halfway up the field, we sneaked into position under the Russian olives that line this part of the field. The four jakes were walking at a moderate pace, nearly even with us, and heading towards the bottom of the field that we had just left. A last ditch attempt at calling, only sped up their rate of travel. DOH!

This is the face of a turkey junkey who realizes he has just been had by a bird with a brain the size of a pea.




We tried to figure out where these birds might have gone once they walked within 20 yards of where we would have been tucked into the bushes, hiding, waiting malice in our hearts.

On the way out, we did find a beautiful example of Kansas state reptile, the ornate box turtle.




Although we didn't get a turkey today, the fact that Aaron got to flick his safety off as the jakes strolled by at a safe distance was a great bonus. I figure any day you get to spend with your favorite hunting partner is fantastic!

Great writeup! I had the same expression after a couple of encounters this spring.

I'm digging the pic of the box turtle. They are quite common around our cabin. Have had to teach the boys about letting them be as they like to "collect" them.

If the suburban flock has produced any poults this year, they remain quite hidden.

In other news, Mrs kansasdad and I went to an area wildlife area in a fruitless search for sand plums (pun intended). A timely freeze has very nearly wiped out any plums, with most thickets totally void of jam precursors.

The low growing bushes had almost no plums on them, and most of the tall growing plums were also void of fruit. We did find two islands of tall growing plums that will produce some fruit that is more oval than round, but they had only a few that looked ready to pick. Next weekend would be just about right.....

In other, other news, Ducks Unlimited and the WIHA access program have secured some access adjacent to the "regular" Wildlife area, including some very interesting riparian area. Visions of fall turkeys and whitetail deer danced in my head as we drove the county roads trying to see where the property boundaries lay. A feeding flock of turkeys in the wheat stubble, but headed towards the river and a roost furthered the dream of fall success.

Finally caught the hens with their young of the year birds. Three young ones in the morning with a hen......




.......and then 5 slightly younger ones with a different hen later that afternoon.

Kansas summer temperatures have generally been less than hellish, with less than normal windy conditions, and more moisture than usual. The horse pasture in the suburban turkey haven is quite green for mid August, and the boys have been doing quite well it seems.





His fan is quite a wreck right now.

Hah, he's down to like 6 feathers!

Mrs kansasdad was out of town for the weekend, so I went round two with the turkey legs/thigh and the slow cooker. Jointing them did help with positioning in the bottom of the braiser. This time it was salt, pepper, garlic and several onions added to the liquid for the cooking. I kept the setting on high for the first 2 1/2 hours, and then on low for the next 4 hours.

I found the meat fell off the bone easily, and it was extremely easy to shred, and once again about the same texture of a nice crockpot chuck roast. Without the cinnamon/cloves added, I think Mrs kansasdad will like this future carnitas ingredient much better.

After a straight week of highs in the low 80's, the heat returned to south central Kansas with a vengence today. A gusty wind from the south brought heat and humidity with heat indexes over 100.

Every turkey I saw this afternoon was carefully in the deep shade whether they were loafing or feeding.








I was a bit surprised to find this hen hanging with the bachelor group. I surmise she didn't have a successful nesting this spring.

Dove opener today with southerly Kansas style wind and Texas style heat and humidity. No gun powder was burned, but I did windburn my face and neck.

The best part for me was walking a new-to-me gem of a WIHA. Timber, CRP, and soon to be planted winter wheat (I presume that's what the farmer is preparing the big fields on either side of the watercourse). Fall and spring turkey options, along with deer possibilities. Let's go fall!!

It seems that the bearded hen has pulled off another successful hatch of young poults. She and two other hens were spotted with 15 poults headed towards a horse pasture for an evening meal.

Fall season now underway in Kansas. Once again, only one bird allowed in my neck of the woods.
These birds are fully safe, living inside city limits

Are you going to stick with the crossbow this fall?