Like set-and-forget trees, almost set-and-forget food perennials,
set-and-forget wild turkeys should have a place in your semi-wild
meat-on-the-hoof food supply.
Caney Mountain Refuge, http://www.watersheds.org/outdoors/caney.htm
a few miles from Heartwood, is where Starker Leopold, son of Aldo Leopold,
counted about 25 wild turkeys in 1940 and 41 and thereafter administered a
program that became so successful that Missouri has for decades traded
Missouri turkeys to other states for river otters, ruffed grouse and other
critters we desired. I have photos of turkeys eating acorns in our front
yard, before we got the dogs.
Most Ozark hillbillies use the breast and throw the rest to the hogs. If
you wish to eat the legs, use pliers to pull the tendons. Turkeys would
much rather run than fly and they have the legs to prove it.
It would not be prudent to depend on wild turkey meat as emergency food.
The harvest is more than a bit of a challenge until you learn the tricks.
And, oh yeah, they are delicious.