Turkey Hunters

[mikeshotrodshop]

Where do you hunt Mike?

I hunt mostly in NJ. I live in Mount Laurel and hunt a friends farm near home for deer and turkey. I also have a sweet spot in Salem where I get the big birds.

I'm a meat hunter. I eat what I harvest and I don't waist my time hanging it on the wall. Not that there is anything wrong with it, I actual like to see all kinds of mounts. I just prefer to eat them...

BTW - I made Venison Bacon and scrapple last month. If you haven’t tried it; you must! I can hook you up with a recipe for the scrapple if interested.

Mike

[turktrax]

Good looking birds. One heck of a shot with a bow. I like your Thompson. I hunt with one also. Mine is a blued 15" .270 caliber with a 2.5x7 Weaver scope. Been deer hunting with it for 6 or 7 years now. Wouldnt trade it for nothing.

[turktrax]

Never heard of scrapple. What in the world is in it?

[mikeshotrodshop]

Never heard of scrapple. What in the world is in it?

LOL!!!!!!! I forgot the rest of the world doesn't get to enjoy it. Typically this type of food is found in the north east. We call it lips and hooves :0) because the butcher throws in anything and everything that is left over from scraps. They even scrape the scull meat and throw it in; YUMMY...

I make mine from trim meat (the stuff you would use to make ground meat).

Cook them until crisp; we like ours well done. Basically it has a crispy outside with a soft center. Give it a try - it may have a different texture than you are used to at first, but it will become addicting.

Scrapple
Ingredients
• 1 pound loose meat
• salt, pepper and sage to taste
• ½ quart water
• ½ quart chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 1/4 cup flour


Directions
1. Stir meat and seasonings into boiling water
2. When mixture returns to a boil, slowly stir in cornmeal and flour. Stir constantly until thickened. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
3. Pour into 2 1-pound loaf pans. Cool thoroughly, then refrigerate.
4. When scrapple is set, cut in 1/2 inch slices and fry in hot greased skillet, until both sides are brown.


Some other recipes you might enjoy.

Hot Venison Italian Sausage Recipe
When it's hot, it's hot, and this one is as hot as you want it to be. The amount of crushed red pepper can be adjusted to suit your taste to a "T".
• 2 pounds ground venison
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/2 c. water
• 4 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoons basil
Combine all of the ingredients. This recipe is best if it is kept refrigerated for 24 hours for the flavors to blend and the spices to soften and mellow.

Venison Breakfast Sausage Recipe
This is a really nice recipe for breakfast sausage. Very simple and really tasty. It's best if you trim all the fat off of the venison before it's ground. Some venison suet has a strong flavor that just doesn't agree with some people. For this breakfast of champions recipe, you need...
• 1 pound ground deer meat
• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 teaspoons ground sage
• 1 Teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Put the pork and the venison into a large bowl and mix it up. Combine the spices and seasonings, and then sprinkle the mixture over the meat. Work the seasonings into the meat with your hands. Fun, isn't it?

[Fishing Dude]

Scrapple is like pawnhause which is made with pork.

[LongbeardExpress]

I agree with ya on the bacon. Not too sure about that scrapple bit, but I'll take your word for it.

Alright Turk, you should be home by now. Where are the turkey pics? Upstates season opens here tomorrow. I will hopefully have some pics to post. If we dont get rained out.

[LongbeardExpress]

Well the good news is we didnt get rained out. Still no turkeys though! My son saw a head in some brush next to him in the morning. It would have been a left handed shot across the property line so he decided not to shoot. I couldnt pull the bird over. We then went out to the power lines and I climbed a tree stand to see down the lines and saw a longbeard at about 200 yds. Me and Jesse chased that one but couldnt turn him around. In the afternoon I saw one cross the powerline in front of me headed to some friends. I gave them a heads up, but he never showed up. They also saw one more bird and couldnt turn him around. All day we never heard a gobble at all. We did hear a couple yelps and I got into a purring match with some hens but that was it.

[Admiral Nelson]

Well 3 days before Turkey season and the wind is blowing about 30 and gusting trying to rain/snow sure could mess with our turkey hunting. Have Admiral Nelson Turkey express about ready to go. Wahooooooooooooooooooooo

[Admiral Nelson]

No Turkey for me but my hunting partner got two longbeards I can't shoot straight I guess. Hit him at about 25 yards with Number 4s and he flew away. Opening day was great weather but the birds weren't cooperating with us not much action ,my Tom came in quiet late afternoon and was getting spookie so I shot and no bird.

The Second day was terrible 30 to 40 MPH wind and reached about 50 degrees but **** miserable to out, I did notice that the birds were very active and talking a lot in the bad weather which surprised both of us. The wind blew the top of our tent off and about blew the tent down so we had to take it down and set up in some evergreens. We had lots of Birds around us and it seems like some of the Toms were leaving the hens in early PM.
We were sitting in the tent the first evening and heard something and we had two hunter right over the property line fence and I think they spooked the birds away. They were quiet and left and I believe they didn't have permission to be on that land, the nasty day one of the hunters showed up again and walked about 20 yards from my partner and never say him.

I have hunted turkeys for several years and always thought they stayed closer to the creek cover but they were all over in the wind and light rain. Made mental note to remember that as we saw more and heard more in the wind. Couldn't make it out of bed Friday and stayed in and it turned out better than the weatherman had stated. Having so much fun and out in nature sure can wear a guy out

[turktrax]

Me and a buddy of mine ,Brady, took a trip to Texas for our first try at some Rio's. We got there early Monday morning and met up with the landowner. He took us out and showed us a piece of property that seemed to be a little on the small side. He left and we started walking the property and doing a little calling. Well we found no gobbling birds or sign that they were anywhere around. Finally we found a pond with some sign. I sat there that afternoon and hoped a bird might come through. About 7:30 I figured my box call just wasnt enough to get through the wind but a bird finally popped up over the hill. He came down towards me and started looking around. I'm still not sure if he heard me or if he was just thirsty but it doesnt really matter. Dropped him at 28 steps. My buddy was covering the other side of the pond but didnt get to see the bird till he was flopping. He ended up scoring 51.75



The next morning we got on some henned up birds and just couldnt get in front of them. That afternoon Brady sat back at the watering hole. He called in a bird with a call I made him last year. It was his first Rio also. It had some pretty sharp spurs but not a whole lot of beard. All in all it was a good bird though.


Wed. morning we took out onto a highline to get on some birds that I had roosted the night before. Perfect plan gone wrong and the hens led the 4 gobblers away from us. Got way ahead of them on the highline and sat down to wait on them. Brady pulled out his call and started doing some soft calling. A hen started yelping to our left in the mesquite and headed towards us. She got to the opening and knew something was not right. Didnt take her long and she was running past us down the highline. I seen something out the side of my eye and new it was a strutter without looking directly at him. Well he got spooked and starting getting confused on which way to run. I was ready to swing and shoot if he ran back the same way he came from but he decided to follow the hen. He took off running and as soon as he cleared Brady I gave him a load of #5's at about 15 yards. I couldnt believe I hit him running that close. The wad landed at head level with a limb sticking through it! It couldnt have worked out any better if we had planned it. With the wind constantly blowing between 10-25 mph and the temperature going from the mid 20's to the mid 80's in the same day it turned out to be a pretty good trip. Of course I have a cold now that is kicking my butt but it was all worth it.
This bird scored 54