Bush turkey for dinner

Beth54 · Guru

Bush turkey for dinner

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Make a stew out of it Beth that shouldn't be as tough and will get rid of it and you can get rid of the nuts it is driving you too by eating them during happy hour. Have a good and safe xmas.

Happywanderer · The Master

Shes got to catch it first Doug.

Beth54 · Guru

Good idea!

Landlord has just come home and hunted it away. So I have a reprieve...for now...I'm sure it'll be back.

Yes Marj, can you see me chasing it around the yard?

-- Edited by Beth54 on Wednesday 21st of December 2011 06:50:59 PM

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Let us know when you are going to catch it Beth and we will all come around (for support only off course)

Beth54 · Guru

I can picture it...all standing back watching the show!

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

chasing turkey

Beth54 · Guru

Thanks wombat...I think. confuse

Happywanderer · The Master

I can picture it Beth. lol
When I was a kid on the farm in NZ we had to catch the turkeys for our Xmas dinner, they lived up in the bush too behind the house but they were our own, not wild.
THEN we had to pluck and gut them. Don't remember if I ever ate them though.
When I was older and we had moved farms, it was ducks and geese.

Beth54 · Guru

We had chooks, but no turkeys, wild or not.

I can remember plucking them..Mum must have done the gutting.

I was at my NQ friends place several years ago, and watched her catching chooks to trim their wings. I always thought she was a city girl. I laughed so much, I nearly wet myself!

-- Edited by Beth54 on Wednesday 21st of December 2011 07:10:14 PM

bill12 · Guru

You put it in a big pot with all the vegatables , and a brick. When the brick is soft, you eat the brick with the veg......Actually, they aren,t too bad. Just a bit gamey(like me).Merry xmas. Bill

Beth54 · Guru

Yes, I've heard that one before too Bill. wink

Merry Xmas to you too.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Do you know where it roosts at night Beth? Its easier to catch "chooks" while they are roosting, saves all that running about and flapping etc. The blighter probably sits up in the highest tree though. disbelief

Beth54 · Guru

No I don't know Gert. There's a big reserve down the back, so could be anywhere.

I won't be chasing it, that's for sure. Knowing my unco luck, I'd trip on the slope and do my ankle again! disbelief

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Gerty Dancer wrote:
Do you know where it roosts at night Beth? Its easier to catch "chooks" while they are roosting, saves all that running about and flapping etc. The blighter probably sits up in the highest tree though.

Don't spoil all the fun GD. Could prove good entertainment. It could be during happy hour.

Beth54 · Guru

I can see that it would be entertaining...if it was someone else chasing the turkey! biggrin

gerard gue · Senior Member

the last time we had an encounter with a bush turkey it broke our side mirror cost $400!!!!!! not happy campers were we.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
CHEERS
GG

Travel Bug · Guru

I know that they are protected...but they are a menace!!!!

I have had them completely shred an entire garden.

At my Son's house they ate/destroyed 20 solar lights that were lining the driveway.
It was very fortunate for the turkeys that my Son was away on a business trip at the time. smile

-- Edited by Travel Bug on Wednesday 21st of December 2011 10:00:31 PM

Elle on Wheels · Guru

Hi Gerry and Christine welcome to the forum.

I love all types turkeys - crazy ecentric buzzards they are but very noisy and the bush turkey can be very destructive. I wonder if there is some sort of olfactory deterrent you can use Beth- dingo urine or eau d'bunyip

golivers travels · Guru

Actually thought they were called brush turkeys, but could be wrong. We first encountered them in 1991 when we ventured north from Victoria to FNQ. Our youngest son, 5 at the time took a fancy to them and tried to befriend them whenever the circumstance presented itself. Consequently they became known as Cain's turkeys to us.

Just recently we were in the Iron Range in Cape York and came across a brush turkey with a lilac wattle instead of yellow. We took a photo and apparently it a sub species that may be one day be decalaired a species of its own. Just a little piece of useless information!

gold dandelion · Senior Member

if you hang them for about three days they are good, used to do it when it was legal, used to be hundreds of them in the table lands around wittenoom w.a.
a $3000/5000 fine now per bird.

Elle on Wheels · Guru

golivers travels wrote:
Actually thought they were called brush turkeys, but could be wrong. We first encountered them in 1991 when we ventured north from Victoria to FNQ. Our youngest son, 5 at the time took a fancy to them and tried to befriend them whenever the circumstance presented itself. Consequently they became known as Cain's turkeys to us.

Just recently we were in the Iron Range in Cape York and came across a brush turkey with a lilac wattle instead of yellow. We took a photo and apparently it a sub species that may be one day be decalaired a species of its own. Just a little piece of useless information!

That's an amazing story - well done

Beth54 · Guru

How interesting Goliver. I've been to the Iron Range too. Missed the turkeys though.

I've also heard them called scrub turkey.

A friend on the Atherton Tablelands had them getting into her chook pen. They were living in next doors rainforest yard. They'd try to rape the chooks and they ate the eggs. They ended up putting wire netting across the top of the chook pen, and the rainforest was cleared a bit so they moved onto somewhere else.

It's actually been quiet out there today. Maybe landlord is cooking it for his dinner! biggrin

goinsoon · Guru

Here is a brush turkey recipe

1 whole bush turkey , (try to catch it quickly as a stressed turkey can tun out to be a little tough.)
1 tablespoon Wildfire Spice
100g (3.7 oz.) salted butter
30g ( 2 tablespoons) tamari
Salt flakes

Riberry and Macadamia nut stuffing

500g (2 cups) fresh breadcrumbs
150g (1 cup) Riberry Confit
80g (3 oz.) macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
30g ( 2 tablespoons) Lemon Myrtle Sprinkle
2 eggs

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
Start by making the stuffing by combining the breadcrumbs, riberries, macadamia nuts and lemon myrtle in a bowl. Add eggs and mix until combined.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Sprinkle the skin and cavity of the turkey with Wildfire spice and salt flakes. Then stuff the cavity with the riberry and macadamia nut stuffing. Truce the turkey with butchers twice and place breast side up on a rack in a large roasting tray. Add a little water to the roasting tray and roast for 45 minutes.

While the turkey begins to roast, make the turkey basting. Heat the butter in a medium sized saucepan, then add the beer and tamari. Begin basting the turkey every 15 minutes. After the first hour remove, baste, then cover with foil and return to the oven for a further 60 minutes or 90 minutes depending on the size. Continue to baste every 15 minutes.

To check when the turkey is cooked, use a meat thermometer into the deepest part of the turkey. Ideally the internal temperate should be 82°C. When cooked, removed from the oven and allow to rest in a warm part of the kitchen for approx 20 minutes before carving.

_________________________________

beiffe · Guru

If you cover the area HE is scratching they will go away. He is in fact trying to make a nest to attract a / some females so if there is no litter around he will go somewhere else to make his mound. This mound can be quite large so he needs lots of leaf litter so this is his main concern. I had them when I lived in Strathpine QLD and like the little buggers as they cleaned the area and then when the chicks hatched I had ready made composted leaf matter for the compost bin.

Next door neighbor used to shoot them with a slug gun so not many of the little ones grew up to get a way worst luck.

It is their land so we should give them a bit of latitude but they do make a big mound and they dont care where they make it or where they get the leaf matter from.

Regards
Brian

Beth54 · Guru

I know about the big mound Beiffe, he made one a couple of years ago. Landlord put a piece of corrugated iron on top and that put a stop to it.

There is a huge amount of leaves etc down the back, lots of trees. It's a nice bushy backyard actually, which then leads into a bushy reserve. Hence the leaves and the attraction to the turkeys.

goinsoon · Guru

Did you know that brush turkey chicks ane almost the only chick that is self sufficient once they are hatched, they leave the nest and can fly.

Beth54 · Guru

goinsoon wrote:
Did you know that brush turkey chicks ane almost the only chick that is self sufficient once they are hatched, they leave the nest and can fly.

NO, I didn't know that. You are just a fountain of information Brian. biggrin

Cruising Granny · Guru

They are so messy around Cairns. In people's backyards, across neighbourhoods, especially where they meet the rainforest.
I don't know if you could use this recipe, but someone cooked bustard, or scrub turkey on a cattle station in the Kimberleys for Christmas dinner.
They boiled it for a while then jointed it and baked it in a marinae of soya sauce and tomato sauce and a few other necessities. It was delicious!
But all these species can be tough if you chase them before you catch and kill them.
Bon apetite!

goinsoon · Guru

Beth54 wrote:
goinsoon wrote:
Did you know that brush turkey chicks ane almost the only chick that is self sufficient once they are hatched, they leave the nest and can fly.
NO, I didn't know that. You are just a fountain of information Brian.

Yes, but my child bride recons most of it is bloody useless, I can't help myself I just love trivia

-- Edited by goinsoon on Friday 23rd of December 2011 07:30:01 PM