Show Notes:

Field dressing and preparing a turkey to cook is a fast and easy process, it is something that any beginner can do and there is lots of margin for error. On today’s episode I talk about the actual process, how you can overcome any “yuck” factor, and the best way for beginners to approach cleaning a turkey. You do not need any special tools or skills, once you’ve shot the turkey the hard part is over. 

Take Aways:

• Field dressing a is a misnomer, you do not need to do anything to a turkey in the field under normal circumstances.
• If it is very hot and you have a long way to go home, then you can remove the entrails, wash out the bird, and stuff it with ice. 
• Normally you can just take the bird home and prepare it there.
• It is popular to pluck a turkey and preserve the skin to cook it whole. That is a great approach, but beginners do not need to invest that kind of time unless you want to.
• The fastest way is to skin a turkey, then quarter it, and cook each quarter for separate meal. With this approach, you don’t even need to remove the guts.
• A turkey is just like a big chicken once you start to work on it, thinking about it like that can help you get past any yuck factor.
• Keep the beard and the fan, and use some borax and/or salt to dry out the little bit of skin still attached. 
• The beard is a nice trophy. The fan is also a good trophy and it’s something you can use to decorate future decoys.
• If you are a beginner then you do not need to keep the ends of the wings with the feathers, but some expert hunters do keep these to use for simulating turkey fly down sounds in the woods.

Field Dressing Videos: