Turkey Requirements??

[cehorn]

So I have always breasted out turkeys, put the tag in the ziploc with the breast and taken the breast in a cooler, beard and spurs home with me. Sometimes I freeze the meat before leaving and sometimes I don't. Recently, I have started cutting the spur part of the leg off and only have 1/2" to 1" of leg including spur with me (no foot, etc.). I do this as I have started putting them on necklaces similar to a sharks tooth necklace. Have I been doing this wrong?

According to the annual proof of sex is leg attached with spur and beard. So should I be transporting the whole carcass with the whole leg attached that I typically throw away at the ranch? Is de-boning the breast legal? I know it isn't for deer but I don't see anything on turkeys. As a follow up, does it make a difference if you freeze the meat prior to going home? If I have been doing it wrong I want to make sure I do it right in the future. Thanks

[.243 WSSM]

So I have always breasted out turkeys, put the tag in the ziploc with the breast and taken the breast in a cooler, beard and spurs home with me. Sometimes I freeze the meat before leaving and sometimes I don't. Recently, I have started cutting the spur part of the leg off and only have 1/2" to 1" of leg including spur with me (no foot, etc.). I do this as I have started putting them on necklaces similar to a sharks tooth necklace. Have I been doing this wrong?

According to the annual proof of sex is leg attached with spur and beard. So should I be transporting the whole carcass with the whole leg attached that I typically throw away at the ranch? Is de-boning the breast legal? I know it isn't for deer but I don't see anything on turkeys. As a follow up, does it make a difference if you freeze the meat prior to going home? If I have been doing it wrong I want to make sure I do it right in the future. Thanks

I asked similar question on JFT turkey thread and was completely ignored. Maybe you have more street cred to rouse a response

[tadmaryperry]

Everything I have read and been told is that you are required to transport it with a leg attached (proof of sex). I always just ended up with a carcass with one leg attached and tagged, never had an issue.

[Dillakilla]

Yea I wonder the same thing. looks like the legal way as described in the book is gonna smell pretty bad by the time you get home. Seems almost impossable unless you live very near where you hunt.
Only way Ive seen it done is as you have described how you have been doing it all along.

[88 Bound]

I do exactly as you do and will continue to do so unless the law tells me otherwise. As far as I'm concerned, you have proof of sex with the beard and spurs along with the meat. I could be wrong, but I'm not transporting a turkey carcass anywhere off the ranch unless I absolutely have to.

[jerp]

I go ahead and breast it out and get the meat on ice. I put the carcass in a trash bag and throw it away when I get home. (only a little over an hour away) I've wondered if you could technically get popped on a wasting game ticket for not keeping the legs/thighs in an edible condition.

[Smart]

I do exactly as you do and will continue to do so unless the law tells me otherwise. As far as I'm concerned, you have proof of sex with the beard and spurs along with the meat. I could be wrong, but I'm not transporting a turkey carcass anywhere off the ranch unless I absolutely have to.

Same....I zip tie the tag to the beard stob and place it and the spurs in a quart ziploc. That quart ziploc is with to the gallon ziploc of breast meat in the cooler.

[topher]

Attach the tag to the leg, remove the breast meat and put in a cooler and leave everything along until I get home

[Dale Moser]

This has always been part of the reason I don't shoot them anymore. The way I read it the beard is supposed to remain attached to whatever you bring home. All I bring home are the breast fillets, legs, and beard, and I'm not leaving the skin on the breast.

Supposedly we have a new young GW, and I'm betting he'd just love to write up something stupid like that.

[droebuck]

Am I reading this right that some of you throw the legs and thighs away? Maybe I've been doing it wrong (according to the book) but I skin out the breast, thighs and legs and put them in separate gallon zip lock bags with the foot still attached to the leg and sticking out of the bag with the tag attached near the spur. Seems like such a waste to throw the leg and thigh away.

[AntlerCollector]

I do exactly as you do and will continue to do so unless the law tells me otherwise. As far as I'm concerned, you have proof of sex with the beard and spurs along with the meat. I could be wrong, but I'm not transporting a turkey carcass anywhere off the ranch unless I absolutely have to.

Same....I zip tie the tag to the beard stob and place it and the spurs in a quart ziploc. That quart ziploc is with to the gallon ziploc of breast meat in the cooler.

Have either one of y'all ever been stopped by a Game Warden while doing it this way? I'm guessing not.

[Smart]

Am I reading this right that some of you throw the legs and thighs away? Maybe I've been doing it wrong (according to the book) but I skin out the breast, thighs and legs and put them in separate gallon zip lock bags with the foot still attached to the leg and sticking out of the bag with the tag attached near the spur. Seems like such a waste to throw the leg and thigh away.

Used to but I’m not a fan of the legs. .... at all...

[jerp]

Used to but I’m not a fan of the legs. .... at all...

X2 - try as I might, I never came up with a way to make them edible.

[Smart]

Have either one of y'all ever been stopped by a Game Warden while doing it this way? I'm guessing not.

Why would guess that? How do YOU do it?

Yes.... in 2007 on the way home from my Lipan lease at a convenience store in full camo. No issues. He looked at my license, the meat, legs with spurs and the beard. I never heard of any of this attached stuff with turkeys until this thread.

I’m not advocating the way I do it FTR. But I’m not dragging home a turkey carcass and sometimes 2-3 for a 5 hours after a 4 days weekend. I’ll process them and leave the meat to be eaten at camp as a final destination if I have to do that.

[DRettele]

Why would guess that? How do YOU do it?

Yes.... in 2007 on the way home from my Lipan lease at a convenience store in full camo. No issues. He looked at my license, the meat, legs with spurs and the beard. I never heard of any of this attached stuff with turkeys until this thread.

I’m not advocating the way I do it FTR. But I’m not dragging home a turkey carcass and sometimes 2-3 for a 5 hours after a 4 days weekend. I’ll process them and leave the meat to be eaten at camp as a final destination if I have to do that.

x2