Transporting the carcass

[mcw3734]

My turkey hunts are often multi-day camping events a long ways from home. With two tags, I sometimes have to keep one on ice for a few days. For folks in a similar situation, how do you keep your birds before getting them home?

I realize this is also a Fish & Game question. For my state "The beard or leg of a wild turkey must be left naturally attached to the carcass while being transported."  (beardless males are legal) 

I prefer to leave the carcass in the woods. I'm wondering how I can clean/cut up the bird to meet legal requirements and take the least amount of space in my cooler.

[simpzenith]

Of course regulations vary by state but when I can, I process my turkeys at my vehicle and vacuum seal them. Makes it much easier to transport in the cooler and I just have to toss them in the freezer when I get home.

[Gooserbat]

Sounds sarcastic but eat it.  We've eaten a lot of our bird while we were camping.  A lot can be done with a dutch oven and a tailgate grill.

[Yoder409]

Buy a big cooler and be ready to just comply with each state's regs.  If ya gotta leave the carcass intact, then you do.  If you can butcher & bag the bird up, then great.  Just don't get in trouble.

I take a cooler on every out of state hunt that will hold up to 4 complete birds (totally intact save for the tails) and a decent quantity of dry ice.

[Dtrkyman]

Leave the beard attached to the breast meat, I also will leave the feet attached to the thighs and drums.  As long as you only have the amount of turkey parts to match how many beards you have attached your good.

That way you do not need the main carcass and save space easily.  If you like to keep the bird whole you can Spatchcock it.

Keep tags with the meat as well, I always pack each bird into a single bag so it can be easily identified.

Contacting local wardens is always a good idea!   

[mcw3734]

Contacting local wardens is always a good idea!

It is, and I've done that in the past specifically for the area I hunt. He is a traveling turkey hunter as well and advised to leave the beard attached to one of the breast. Which, I found to be rather cumbersome and so I'm kinda pleased they changed it to "male turkey or bearded". Trying to figure if there is a way to do it just with the leg.

And yes Yoder, bottom line, don't get into trouble. Not worth the mental overhead of worrying about bumping into one of the Game cops. Which, I see regularly in my area.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Trying to figure if there is a way to do it just with the leg.

I'm not a traveling turkey hunter so take this for what it's worth, but if I were just trying to keep evidence of sex by legs and I wanted to do so taking up as little room as possible, I'd skin out the legs, cut off the feet, and bend the tarsus back up toward the thigh before rigor set in. Could even just sever that tendon in that joint but not cut all the way through so that the tarsus could bend up but stay attached. You do that and it's taking up about the same amount of space as a cleaned bird. If you're vacuum sealing like Shane said, something I have done on traveling big game hunts (great; as it also wet ages the meat), you could get the big expandable bags and load both breasts and both legs in one bag.


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[Treerooster]

To easily bend the lower leg of a turkey you can just partially cut to leg at the joint where the scales end. It is still naturally attached. Cut the front part way with a knife, nothing else needed.

[GobbleNut]

Regardless of how far you break down your bird, if there is any time between the kill and storage or consumption, it is all about "ice, ice, baby"...that is, keeping that bird cold enough so that it does not start deteriorating.  That is a fairly simple task if there is no desire to preserve the cape intact. As others have stated, it is basically a matter of understanding the regulations of the state one is hunting in and abiding by the requirements needed to ensure legality.

It can get considerably more complicated if the bird is going to be mounted.  For some reason, a lot of hunters have this innate fear of caping a gobbler themselves and as a result feel like they have to keep the entire bird intact until they can get it to the taxidermist.  That fear is, quite honestly, unfounded.  I have said this many times before..."it ain't rocket science".   

Skinning (caping) a turkey is easy, even if you plan on having your bird mounted.  Learn to do that and you can break down your gobblers into manageable parts, regardless of the conditions and timeline under which you are hunting.  Have an adequate supply of ice and a decent icebox, some zip-locks to store the meat, a box of borax to preserve the cape and a trash bag to put it in (and keep it cold, as well), and you are set for even an extended trip.   

[Kybowhunter12]

Buy a big cooler and be ready to just comply with each state's regs.  If ya gotta leave the carcass intact, then you do.  If you can butcher & bag the bird up, then great.  Just don't get in trouble.

I take a cooler on every out of state hunt that will hold up to 4 complete birds (totally intact save for the tails) and a decent quantity of dry ice.

What kind and size of cooler do you have?

[High plains drifter]

Contacting local wardens is always a good idea!

It is, and I've done that in the past specifically for the area I hunt. He is a traveling turkey hunter as well and advised to leave the beard attached to one of the breast. Which, I found to be rather cumbersome and so I'm kinda pleased they changed it to "male turkey or bearded". Trying to figure if there is a way to do it just with the leg.

And yes Yoder, bottom line, don't get into trouble. Not worth the mental overhead of worrying about bumping into one of the Game cops. Which, I see regularly in my area.

that's crazy.

[Yoder409]

Buy a big cooler and be ready to just comply with each state's regs.  If ya gotta leave the carcass intact, then you do.  If you can butcher & bag the bird up, then great.  Just don't get in trouble.

I take a cooler on every out of state hunt that will hold up to 4 complete birds (totally intact save for the tails) and a decent quantity of dry ice.

What kind and size of cooler do you have?

It's a Coleman.  Bought it at HEB in San Angelo, TX several years ago.  I don't know off the top of my head how many quarts.  But it's almost the width of my pickup bed.  It does a very good job.

[JohnSouth22]

I often given the meat away to gas station/resturant workers ect. when on the road you can only eat so much turkey. I discard the fans and spurs too to avoid any headache when a GW checks my cooler. much more simple that way sadly

[JohnSouth22]

Leave the beard attached to the breast meat, I also will leave the feet attached to the thighs and drums.  As long as you only have the amount of turkey parts to match how many beards you have attached your good.

That way you do not need the main carcass and save space easily.  If you like to keep the bird whole you can Spatchcock it.

Keep tags with the meat as well, I always pack each bird into a single bag so it can be easily identified.

Contacting local wardens is always a good idea!

good tip on the beard attached to breast meat, if in a state that requires a leg as well it would require a serious d bag to stroke you for that