Tag: #WILD TURKEY

Stuffed Smoked Turkey Breast Recipe, Easy with Hi Mountain Seasonings

Posted on by Dave Barus
  • This recipe produces a moist and tender breast that’s absolutely scrumptious.

By Karen Lutto

With spring turkey hunting season kicking into high gear all around the country, successful gobbler getters looking for a delicious new way to prepare their turkey breast should try this Stuffed Smoked Turkey Breast recipe from Hi Mountain Seasonings. It’s easy.

“A lean wild turkey breast can be difficult to prepare without it coming out on the dry side,” said outdoor writer Bob Robb, an accomplished turkey hunter. “That’s why they’re often turned into fried turkey nuggets. This creative recipe from Hi Mountain Seasonings is a game-changer. It produces a moist and tender breast that’s absolutely scrumptious. It’s easy and sure to please family and friends.”

The recipe is centered around two popular Hi Mountain Seasonings products – the Hi Mountain Seasonings Game Bird and Poultry Brine Kit and Hi Mountain Seasonings Rib Rub. The Game Bird and Poultry Brine Kit is a mixture of salt, sugar, brown sugar, sodium nitrite (.85%), maple syrup, caramel color, and less than 2 percent glycerin added to prevent caking. Each brine package contains two packets of the mix, which make one gallon of brine, for a total of two gallons of brine (two brine bags are included), and easy-to-follow instructions. It has a suggested retail price of $9.99. Hi Mountain Seasonings Rib Rub features a blend of paprika, dehydrated garlic, salt, dehydrated onion, honey granules (refinery syrup, honey), black pepper, mustard, silicon dioxide (for anti-caking), cayenne pepper, and soybean oil (refined to be allergen free). It comes in a 10 oz. bottle, with a suggested retail price of $10.99.

Stuffed Smoked Wild Turkey Breast Ingredients:

  • 2 skinless wild turkey breasts
  • 1 packet Hi Mountain Seasonings Game Bird and Poultry Brine Kit
  • Hi Mountain Seasonings Rib Rub
  • 1 apple, peeled and cubed
  • 1 onion, peeled and cubed
  • 4 tbsp butter in four 1-tbsp slices
  • Olive oil

Directions:

Brining: In a non-metallic bowl, mix one pouch of Hi Mountain Seasonings Game Bird and Poultry Brine with one gallon of water. Add six cups of ice to the brine. Place the brine bag in a large pot and add the turkey breasts, breast side down, to the brining bag. Pour the brine mixture over the turkey, then place the turkey breasts in the refrigerator to brine for 24 hours.

Roasting: Remove the turkey breasts from the brining bag, rinse under cold, running water, then pat dry with paper towels. Air dry the turkey breasts for at least 30 minutes.

While the turkey breasts are air-drying, cube the peeled apple and onion. Lay the turkey breast flat on a cutting board. With a sharp knife held parallel to the board, cut a pocket into the turkey breast, leaving a section uncut – like a hinge – on the thicker side of the breast. Stuff half of the cubed apple and onion inside the pocket of the first turkey breast and season the mixture with Hi Mountain Seasonings Rib Rub.

Place two 1-tbsp slices of butter on top of the apple/onion cubes inside the turkey breast pocket. Fold the turkey breast over to seal the pocket. Brush both sides of the turkey breast with olive oil, then season all sides of the turkey breast with Hi Mountain Seasonings Rib Rub.

Repeat with the second turkey breast.

Preheat a wood pellet grill that has a smoke/grill option to 200 degrees. Smoke the turkey breasts for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes of smoking, increase the heat to 350 degrees and continue grilling until the turkey reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Remove the turkey breasts from the grill and let them rest for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Please note: A meat thermometer is an essential tool for this recipe.

This mouth-watering recipe is just one of the many free recipes found on the Hi Mountain Seasonings website, www.himtnjerky.com. HMS is America’s premier manufacturer of kits for homemade jerky and sausage, Western-style seasonings, bacon cures, snackin’ stick kits, dressings & dips, delicious recipes for meat, fish and fowl, and much, much more. Why not check it out today?

More about Hi Mountain Seasonings: Located in the heart of Wyoming, Hi Mountain Seasonings was founded in 1991 and is America’s premier manufacturer of homemade jerky and sausage kits. Hi Mountain Seasonings has successfully captured distinct, traditional Western flavors in its jerky cure & seasonings, Western-style seasonings, bacon cures, snackin’ stick kits, dressings & dips, and much, much more. The company also offers field dressing and prep and cooking tools. For additional information, write Hi Mountain Seasonings, 1000 College View Drive, Riverton, WY 82501; call toll-free 1-800-829-2285; or visit the company website at www.himtnjerky.com.

 

TURKEY HUNTING SECRETS: “Tag Them” – Part 3 of 3

Posted on by Jim Monteleone
  • Read the Bird, Listen to his Gobble
  • Understanding Gobble Talk and RESPONDING, or NOT
  • Over-Yelping, Biggest Secret to a Wise Old Bird
Some of the biggest turkey can be fooled with one simple trick that you can learn, see below. Jim Monteleone Photo

By Jim Monteleone

You can read a bird by listening to his gobble and I want to explain the different types of gobbles that you might hear.

A “volunteer gobble” is one where the bird gobbles on his own. Generally, that means he is searching for a hen.  If all is quiet you use an owl hooter before good light or a crow call at first light to elicit a gobble. YouTube has examples of owls hooting and crows calling if you need to hear the realistic sounds of either or both.

If he gobbles it’s a “shock gobble” and you are ready to do business when he hits the ground.  You can tell when he has come out of the tree by hearing wingbeats or when his clear gobble becomes muffled by the trees and brush. 

A “strutting gobble “is when the bird gobbles repeatedly to your calls but seems stuck or only moving ten or twelve feet and never gets closer.  He is in a strut zone and nature is telling him the hen will come to him when he displays.  In the natural order of things, this happens every season.  This is especially true when he has already been breeding receptive hens.  

A “going-away gobble” is when he gobbles frequently and you can tell he’s moving away.  He probably has been joined by a real hen who will lead him to her territory.  You might as well look for another bird or you can wait him out, but it’s going to be a while.

The “come here gobble” is when he gobbles every time you call.  Don’t be fooled.  Go silent on him and make him gobble on his own several (two or three) times before calling again. I call this a “breeding gobble.”  Repeat the same calling sequences and alternate some clucks and purrs with your yelping.  If he stops coming, start cutting if you are well hidden or blending in and have a hen decoy (or hen and jake in the early season), then you’re in business.

If he is cutting your calling sequence off with a gobble or a double gobble before you finish he’s committed to coming.  I call that a “hot gobble.”

No sudden moves and try to restrain yourself from over-calling.  I use only clucks and purrs for the last fifty yards of his approach to gun range. This is where a diaphragm mouth call is my go-to tactic.  A slate or “pot” call is my second choice in avoiding too much hand movement. Patience is your greatest weapon, other than your shotgun now!

Without any doubt, my greatest success and most exhilarating hunts have come after a prolonged sequence of back and forth calling.  My nature is not one of great patience, but turkey hunting has taught me to work to lure turkeys in with sweet talk.  Over-calling causes a bird to stay put, and as fired-up as he and you can be.  Slow and steady is the best advice I can offer.

There are those times when a bird will rush in, but this isn’t the norm for mature birds. They have experience in gathering hens and also instinctively seem to know when something is unnatural.

If you follow the earlier tips, knowing the bird is closing the distance and your gun is on your knee waiting, watching and calling sparingly increases your odds dramatically.

There are those times when a bird will rush in, but this isn’t the norm for mature birds. Read what to do. Joe Forma Photo

I use two “secret” tactics for my toughest birds.  The first is yelping over a gobbler when he tries to gobble. As soon as the first note comes out of his beak I cut him off with some fast yelping or cutting.  Do this after you have him fired up if he stalls.

The other “secret” is the mock challenge of two hens cutting at each other.  It simulates the scene of two hens sparring for dominance over the right to breed in the territory.  I use one box or slate call and a mouth call, and cut like two girls arguing.  I do some alternating cuts on each call or some cuts like they are trying to “yell” over each other simultaneously.

I hope there’s something in here for hunters from “newbies” to veterans with decades of experience. Think safety in every move you make and never take chances.

You now have the “secrets” and you’re ready to experience. 

Good Hunting and Great Memories!

      

Turkey Hunting Lingo – Tom or Hen? Keep this handy pocket guide! FREE

Posted on by Dave Barus
  • Did you know what they call a SNOOD of the turkey? 
  • What are Turkey Caruncles?
  • Tom or Hen? Easy way to tell is illustrated below

By Forrest Fisher

As hunters, we never stop learning.  Folks in different parts of the country call turkey by different local slang terms at times, not counting the different turkey breeds, but overall, turkeys are turkeys. Their parts have names and as a veteran hunter or beginner, it’s a good thing to know what I what. Feel free to print this illustration from the NWTF out and keep a copy handy in your pocket.  We get smarter every day.

Good luck in the woods!