Field Dressing and Processing

How to Process a Wild Turkey

Transcript of video:

I'm Carter Heath and I'm the Regional Director  for the National Wild Turkey Federation here in  
New England and we are going to go through the  process of taking carrier bird once you get it  
on the ground and first thing that we're going  to do is remove the beard some people will cut  
that out I prefer to do the the direct pull if  you pull directly up here you pinch behind here  
and you go ahead and pull and that comes out  nice and easy just like that so we end up with  
a very nice memento of the hunt that you you don't  want to set down on your table that you're going  
to be processing your bird on so we're going to  set this aside so that it doesn't get mixed up  
with with the rest of our bird there are several  ways you can process your bird some people will  
pluck a bird it for the way I'm gonna personally  cook this bird this time we're gonna skin it and  
before we get started I'm gonna say gloves some  people wear them some people don't for today I'm  
gonna wear them and now we're gonna start with  our first cut we're gonna go from about where  
the feathers meet the legs and we're gonna  cut up to basically what would be the sternum
we're gonna get that skin separated
work around there we're going to bring this  so I'm keeping my knife blade pointed up and  
very carefully so that we're not digging  into the meat I'm gonna pull that aside  
and we're going to work that make sure  you're very careful with your knife
having a good sharp knife is very  important working like this with  
a dull knife is not only frustrating  but can be dangerous so always keep  
your knife blade kind of know right  where you're right where you are
pull a little of this back kind of use the  knife so that you're not cutting the meat itself  
some people don't take the time to scan  out and use the legs I've found the legs  
to become one of my favorite parts good  slow-cook on these gonna be wonderful
and you can kind of do some of this with your  fingertips so I'm gonna get up to here and there  
so I've just pulled this up to where the scale  meets the feather and now I've got this free  
and easy get our feathers out of the way and so  now we have exposed that part of the leg so it's  
the drum okay we've got the first one done so  now we're going to move on over to the second  
one and we're going to do the same exact thing  we're going to start a cut and we're gonna work  
our way up again think about turkey leg meet  it has a reputation of being very tough and  
full attendance but that doesn't mean you can't  eat it slow cook really helps break down those  
tissues and makes just a really really delicious  flavored meat very carefully pull the skin away
anytime I'm gonna do work with that I don't  need to have the knife in my hand I'm not  
going to have the knife because again I want to  be very very careful knife control is critical  
get right up underneath there separate to the  what would be the back of that drumstick and  
pull against it and so you pull right up to  that joint and that comes off nicely like that
there we go okay so now we're ready to start  
cutting our little Y incision up to  what would be the sternum right now
so we're going to take this Y incision and we're  going to go from where we just left off with our  
drumstick here and we're just going to cut the  skin and this hopefully makes sense we're going  
to cut underneath so that we're try not to  cut feathers we're just cutting skin we're  
gonna make this Y incision that's gonna go up  to the sternum and we're gonna try not to cut  
into the breast meat which is right attached to  it so we just did that cut right there now what  
we're going to do is get a finger under that  skin and just work that connective tissue very  
very gently back down and we're gonna get to a  point probably right about here where we can set  
the knife down get a good grip on that sternum  and just pull that back for now so that gets us  
that area nice that's exposed and ready to go  and we can see here's that breast meat right  
there what we're gonna do is we're going to cut  this and go right up this sternum right up this  
keel so now we're gonna take our knife holding I  like to hold the tip of that knife kind of up to  
my index finger just so that I have total  control just like you're feel dressing a  
deer get right up under there and before we  do that I just want to show you right here  
you see that patch that has no feathers on it  that's his keel and that's that's from breeding
he is a one of the dominant birds and so  that shows that he was kind of wearing  
off feathers from engaging in the springtime  activity of making new turkeys so now we're  
going to continue this cut and as we go  I'm going to just work very carefully to  
keep clean meat and I'm going to come  on it up and we'll get both of the the  
pectoralis major on the turkey the turkey  breast we'll get that exposed here shortly
again put the knife down hold on to that  keel and just pull that away and I'm going  
to do the same thing over on this side so  it's really not that intimidating if you  
can take care of a Thanksgiving turkey  you can do this even a roaster chicken  
so now we're just going to get this all the way up  and this exposes his crop which is always sort of  
interesting I would not open that with a knife  that you have intentions of of using on meat
so that gets us kind of exposed for our breast  meat and our thighs and legs that we're going  
to be able to pull and that will get that right  about down to where the wing joint comes in which  
is right here I don't know if well we'll see that  once we kind of remove some more and I'll do the  
same thing on the set so now we've really want to  make sure you can see this we really opened up a  
good portion of our of our turkey okay so at this  point we're gonna get ready to take the first of  
the breast meat off so I'm just gonna reach over  and grab a a gallon ziplock bag and just get that  
open and ready and I'll set that aside and now  what we're gonna do I'm going to start here again  
on the sternum and cut right in right along there  and you'll feel that up against that that sternum  
you want to just let that go against until you  feel that just that little bit of resistance let  
the knife do the work and just kind of scrape away  and then I'm going to come over to here and I'm  
gonna start cutting up against this this bulbous  knob right there which again is the keel or the  
sternum we're going to cut in and kind of use that  knife to go up against try to stay up against the  
bone as much as you can it's almost like filleting  a fish we're not going to be getting into any any  
intestines or guts or anything like that next step  so now that I've got that cut made we can work our  
knife edge against what would be the that belly  in there so very careful it's a thin a thin wall  
between there and the insides so we don't want  to really gut get into that if we can so now I'm  
going to come up here and I'm going to pull on  all this this yellow material right here this is  
all the crop so I'm going to start a cut so I can  get some get some purchase on that you don't want  
to cut into the crop but you want to just separate  it you want to just kind of find that point where  
it'll separate out from the breast meat and it  looks like we've got that right there so now I'm  
going to move that like that a little bit we have  that available to us and I'm just going to work  
ever so slightly to pull that away and you can  see how easy that comes away from that breast meat  
again I'm going to set that down and I will get  this other side and here's another good good view
nice sharp knife helps out a lot
and again you can do that with a pole so we'll  keep getting as much of that that yellow that's  
all fat so now we're going to come right here oh  there's almost a seam we're going to cut right up  
under there and work around to our initial cut so  that hopefully you can see we now have the breast  
meat laid over and there's there's an artery in  here that I want to actually get some paper towels  
for because when it once we take that breast off  it's going to start to bleed a little bit and I  
want to make sure that we don't have blood getting  all over the place especially on our nice cutting  
surface here we're going to actually finish our  cuts here and I just want to point out this right  
here this is what's called the Tenderloin careful  because we don't want to cut into the thighs or  
the legs there's a dividing line right there  between that kind of light and dark meat that's  
going to show us where to cut just a very gentle  you don't want to go too deep just enough and what  
this will do this will take this turkey breast  right down to the wing but where we will remove
and there is our artery so I'm just going to be  a little pre-emptive with that and then this will  
work down over that that wing knuckle which is  right there try to make sure everything we can  
see there and now we'll just come at it from right  there and there we have one very nice delicious  
looking turkey breast so now what we're going  to do is throw that in our gallon ziplock bag  
you want to make sure that we take good care of  the meat it's a nice cool day today so you know  
we're doing everything right but this is going  to go right into this ziplock and go right into  
the fridge and hopefully get cooked up very soon  now we're gonna get going and we're going to start  
you do the exact same thing on the other side  and just work right down the sternum and right  
along that that little cage trying to to make  sure we get all the meat and again you can use  
your knife blade to kind of scrape almost it's  kind of a fine little way to do that so that  
you use your fingertips and that knife blade to  kind of hold everything out of the way and then  
we're going to work down and it practically does  it for you you just follow follow right along
and again we're going to get down to bout the  wing but there and there's our little vein  
I'm just gonna stop up vein or artery maybe the  brachial we don't know there we go just because  
I don't want to get blood on my turkey breast  if I can help it work very hard to keep it clean
and there we go next we're gonna do we're gonna do  the legs but before we do I like to put I like to  
keep a good edge on my knife so I will just use  a steel it doesn't really sharpen it just kind  
of kind of dresses that blade up a little bit so  that right there will do a lot of good for you so  
now we're going to go right to the legs I'm going  to start with this leg first now we're going to  
pull some of these feathers just do a little bit  more cutting of that connective tissue pull some  
of that skin away and now what we're gonna do I'm  going to put my knife down right out of the way  
I'm going to put hand on the keel and take one  hand on the leg get right down on that on that  
joint and we're going to push like that until you  hear that little audible pop and that's going to  
expose the hip socket right in here I'm gonna pull  away a little bit more feathers and skin keeping  
that knife right out of the way so what this is  right in here this is this is all the innards  
so you don't want to cut into this otherwise it's  going to get stinky real fast you want to go take  
that knife and just go right up along what would  be the back right to that joint right there and  
I'll get that so you can see and I am going to  take my handy paper towel here and just get that  
so we don't have a gruesome scene and then I'm  going to cut right along here try to get as much  
of this good meat as we can there now I'm gonna  pull all these all that skin right away just like  
that so I'm using my thumb instead of the knife  right now just because it makes it a bit easier  
and that shows that has popped out right there so  now it's as simple it's taking that knife finding  
that which is the pelvic bone and we're just  going to cut in and then right up along and try  
to get as much that good back meet right there  as possible they're ready for the crock pot or  
the braise or the oven or however you want to do  it and now that we got that first side off we're  
going to repeat everything do the same thing we  just did on the other side and again we'll get  
the feathers out of the way just a little bit more  here just a couple of little cuts just to get this  
cleaned all the way down and I'm going to set my  knife down and put one hand on the keel one hand  
on the leg on the thigh here and just pull right  down until you hear that pop now we are good to go  
and I'll just repeat what we just did on the other  side get as much of this delicious turkey meat
I always like to keep keep the knife out  of my hands if I don't need it there just  
like that off and then just work this back around
we are going to be taking the lower legs  off will show you that in just a minute but  
I find it's a little easier to wait and do  it afterwards because it gives you a little  
bit more leverage there we go so now we've  put our legs aside for now and we're going  
to work on just taking the wings off so I'm  going to take this piece of skin right here  
poke through and just cut like that to  separate and just more so I can show you  
where that where that knuckle is that wing  shoulder almost so there's a tendon right  
there which we're going to just cut and  that frees that joint up quite a bit there
and again just be very careful I like to save  my wings I know a lot of people that use the  
feathers whether it's for archery or whether it's  for making the wing bones one thing that you can  
do if you're not going to make wing bone turkey  calls is you can cut this out as clean as possible  
and use these for soup stock and now we're  just going to the same thing on the other side
and just again I like control that  knife keep that right up and then  
that separates it good shape there if  you are so inclined and quite crafty  
you could take these feathers right  here and use that as a fly down item
so I'm gonna just cut right around that
and cut the skin and there it is and there's  our other wing beautiful aren't they amazing  
creatures so we've got our wings detached now and  we're gonna work on taking the tail off now the  
tail is a pretty easy do itself do-it-yourself  project that you can preserve your memory of  
your turkey hunt with uh I like doing it I  love the way the tail looks so when you're  
doing your tail fan one thing I like to do is  keep a little bit of what I call the back or  
the cape feathers and kind of the way to do that  is once you've gotten gotten everything removed  
you can kind of put a little tension on this  this is pretty delicate skin we're gonna work  
our way right through to the other side that  we've already done okay so I'll show you that
see so we are all the way through what  I'm going to do next because I we're not  
going to use all of this but I want a  certain amount of the back feathers so  
I've a little like to be prepared with  a little little more so I'm going to  
cut right down on my cutting surface and  that will take that will remove the skin
there we go
there all right so now we have all this nice  these pretty back feathers that are ready to  
pull right up to the Parsons nose or the base of  the tail there and so you'll find that there's a  
joint right here so we're going to carefully not  cut any of the the skin but we're just going to  
find that little little area and give it a little  little twist and twist I think we have a little  
connective left over there there we go and I'm  just going to cut some of the feathers in the  
back here the skin we don't need that attached so  now so now we have this very pretty very nice fan  
with all the feathers so now we've got the bird  all dressed out the breast meats in the fridge  
and we're just working on the leg meat here I'm  going to show you now how to take the knuckle  
off of the of the thigh and the drumstick very  very simple you just start with this cut right  
here where you're going to want to just make a  cut and be very careful and cut all all the way  
around very gently and that will kind of expose  that so that spot right there open that up and  
just cut right down and then the last little bit  of of tendons so you don't need to use a saw which  
is handy because usually you don't have a saw  when you're out in the woods and that's a nice  
clean right at the joint cut I'm going to do  the same thing for the other one so I'm pretty  
wonderful about the wild turkey not only is it  a lot of fun but it's a tremendous tremendous  
good tasting source of protein that comes right  from your right from your own new hampshire woods
I'm Carter Heath Regional Director for New England  with the National Wild Turkey Federation and I  
hope you enjoyed this this video I hope it brings  you some information on how to process your wild  
turkey one that you know it's a resource that  we're very passionate about hopefully this will  
allow you to get the most out of your your  harvested bird I would like to just say that  
n wTF is a conservation organization that's  been around for quite a while and we do a lot  
of a lot of good things especially here in New  Hampshire we work closely with New Hampshire  
Fish and Game to do a mentor learn a turkey  hunt program which is near and dear to my  
heart so if you are interested in becoming a  member of the National Wild Turkey Federation  
please contact me and we'd love to love to get  you involved in what we do stay safe out there