Wild turkey or store bought?

[azsnowman]

OK....how many here HUNT their Thanksgiving supper?

*me, me* I do.......I VERY seldom cook a store bought turkey, we have SO many WILD turkeys up here (NO...not Wild Turkey 101 Liquor either ) "if" I buy one it would be a Norbest brand turkey! I've harvested a wild turkey every year for 35 years now! I am also cooking some Elk, venison, wild duck and a Blue Grouse (and a Partridge in a Pine Tree!)

Also, what brand of turkey do you buy IF you don't hunt?

Dennis

[Skywatch_NC]

This year...restaurant bought.

Eric

[Kim_in_MN]

Store bought; although there are wild turkeys around here that are being reintroduced into the area.

I don't know what brand - my mother doesn't consider me old enough to host a holiday dinner or else she actually likes cooking dinner

Kim

[fwbbreeze]

Usually hunt our own!! But not this year. I have a family ranch around Defuniak Springs, FL and it is loaded with wild turkey also. Probably the most rewarding kind of hunting I have ever done...simply becasue its so difficult!!!

fwbbreeze

[arkess7]

store bought.......good old BUTTERBALL!! but I have heard that wild turkeys are more flavorful..

[TexasStooge]

Store bought for my family.

[DaylilyDawn]

Not a store bought but one that was given to us. My oldest son's employer gave all the employees a turkey last week. Son gave his to us.

[weatherlover427]

This year...restaurant bought.

Eric

Same here. We've done that for 3 years now (including this year).

[Forecaster Colby]

<--- This is a disguised turkey.
<---- This is the turkey before we cook it.

[DaylilyDawn]

Deep fry that turkey till well done!

[therock1811]

Wrong thread, Daylily.

Anyway, we buy ours at the store. But, I forgot what brand, because we only buy turkey one time a year: the week before Christmas. Yes, we have turkey on Christmas.

[DaylilyDawn]

I was referring to the the turkey in the cage above my post!

[therock1811]

Talk about confusing. Sorry. Didn't realize that in time.

[Vandora]

Yes, we have turkey on Christmas.

Me too, all my life. Although sometimes, we had turkey AND ham. My SO's family is all about ham on Christmas (sometimes beef of some sort), no turkey. They find it weird that I had turkey Thanksgiving AND Christmas. But hey, I find them weird, so we're even.

To answer the question: Store bought, but I don't know what brand.

[angelwing]

Store-Lancaster! Can't hunt in Philly fir turkey

[Persepone]

We have wild turkeys running around (after years when you never saw them), but they are fairly tame, so it seems sort of unsporting to hunt them unless you were really hungry and did not have the money for the store-bought turkey... Not only are the ones around here fairly tame, but pretty stupid as well. You would not have to "hunt" them--you could go up and grab one! I've gotten out of my car to shoo them off the road and you can walk right up and actually touch them!

For many years we had a huge come-as-you-are turkey day party for 35-65 people--everyone was invited with no RSVP required--got everything from foreign students to firemen fighting a nearby blaze to nurses coming off shifts to college kids too far from home, to local elderly from the community and, of course our friends, etc.

The night before, we had a turkey day preparation party--and for that we served Wild Turkey (the liquid kind)... it was a "sleepover party" with sleeping bags, popcorn, movies on TV, etc. The Wild Turkey was required for shelling chestnuts (pounds and pounds of them) and other unpleasant chores in preparation for the following day. And we always had 2 HUGE storebought turkeys--one with chestnut stuffing and one that we called a "taco" turkey--a meat stuffing, tons of garlic, etc. etc. And this got various supplements--some Chinese turkey (think duck a l'orange), some smoked turkey, and rice and beans, regular rice, Pad Thai, etc. etc. etc. But we would go through about 50+ pounds of turkey--with no leftovers...

Good party... Often featured marathon Monopoly game.

Wild turkeys would have added feather removal to the chores. That would have been interesting. I can just imagine how 30 people would have 30 different ideas about how that would be best accomplished... I can imagine it now! We had enough trouble getting out storebought turkeys ready, the pies cooked, all other foods prepared, etc. etc. Since everyone had a different idea about what was "essential" to Thanksgiving, we had simply amazing variety. There were sweet potatoes (or were they yams?) with marshmallows, without marshmallows, salads, turnips, brussels sprouts, creamed onions, sushi, 3-4 different kinds of rice, tuna fish sandwiches cut in turkey shapes (for a kid who did not like turkey), etc. etc. etc. etc. But we did have lots of fun...

[azsnowman]

We have wild turkeys running around (after years when you never saw them), but they are fairly tame, so it seems sort of unsporting to hunt them unless you were really hungry and did not have the money for the store-bought turkey... Not only are the ones around here fairly tame, but pretty stupid as well. You would not have to "hunt" them--you could go up and grab one! I've gotten out of my car to shoo them off the road and you can walk right up and actually touch them!

For many years we had a huge come-as-you-are turkey day party for 35-65 people--everyone was invited with no RSVP required--got everything from foreign students to firemen fighting a nearby blaze to nurses coming off shifts to college kids too far from home, to local elderly from the community and, of course our friends, etc.

The night before, we had a turkey day preparation party--and for that we served Wild Turkey (the liquid kind)... it was a "sleepover party" with sleeping bags, popcorn, movies on TV, etc. The Wild Turkey was required for shelling chestnuts (pounds and pounds of them) and other unpleasant chores in preparation for the following day. And we always had 2 HUGE storebought turkeys--one with chestnut stuffing and one that we called a "taco" turkey--a meat stuffing, tons of garlic, etc. etc. And this got various supplements--some Chinese turkey (think duck a l'orange), some smoked turkey, and rice and beans, regular rice, Pad Thai, etc. etc. etc. But we would go through about 50+ pounds of turkey--with no leftovers...

Good party... Often featured marathon Monopoly game.

Wild turkeys would have added feather removal to the chores. That would have been interesting. I can just imagine how 30 people would have 30 different ideas about how that would be best accomplished... I can imagine it now! We had enough trouble getting out storebought turkeys ready, the pies cooked, all other foods prepared, etc. etc. Since everyone had a different idea about what was "essential" to Thanksgiving, we had simply amazing variety. There were sweet potatoes (or were they yams?) with marshmallows, without marshmallows, salads, turnips, brussels sprouts, creamed onions, sushi, 3-4 different kinds of rice, tuna fish sandwiches cut in turkey shapes (for a kid who did not like turkey), etc. etc. etc. etc. But we did have lots of fun...

It takes SKILL and desire to hunt wild turkeys up here, they are VERY sly and VERY fast. I prefer wild turkey over a store bought, antibiotic loaded anyday. The elk, venison was GREAT as always and so was the Green Head Malard I shot about 2 weeks ago.......the dogs had a BLAST seeing who could swim and be the first to bring me back the ducks. I also shot 2 Pintails and one Canadian Goose which by the way WILL be Christmas dinner, "Your GOOSE is cooked!"

Dennis