Road kill for supper!

Mar 25, 2010

By Lorraine Julien

It was mid-February and time for my brother’s annual Boys’ Weekend. This regular get-together has been going on now for about 25 years and has become a real tradition. The “boys” range in age from about 21 to about 61 and may number as many as 16. It’s a good thing there is a little bunkie for the overflow. Little did they know this year would be a bit more interesting than usual!

On this year’s trek to the lakeside cabin, my brother was a passenger in his friend’s pickup truck. It was a dismal, gray afternoon, almost dusk, when my brother spied what appeared to be a large bird just off the highway lying in the ditch. Assuming that the bird was dead, he asked his friend to stop the vehicle and hopped out intending to retrieve some of the beautiful feathers. On closer inspection, it was a wild turkey that had been hit by a car, but not run over, and it appeared to have died of a broken neck. The accident must have happened shortly before they arrived as the bird was still quite warm.

The turkey was loaded into the back of the truck and they continued on to the cabin – not entirely sure of what to do with their find. Luckily, one of the guests who planned to arrive the next day had some experience in cleaning and preparing wild turkey. The “expert” was due to arrive the next day but, in the meantime, he was contacted by phone as to what to do. It was fortunate that the weather was cold and the bird could be chilled quickly.

My brother was instructed to chop the head off, clean the insides and hang the bird to drain after being rinsed out with cold water. The wings and only the breast feathers were removed. We learned afterwards that the bird could have been skinned (not an easy task for a novice). This method would have removed all the feathers at the same time. The turkey was in amazingly good shape, well-fed with a good layer of fat and a full crop loaded with corn, oats and other grains, grass, pine needles, etc. I think the secret to their survival is that they scrounge and eat almost anything that is edible. Turkeys must have an ironclad digestive system as, I understand, they love to eat acorns. If they eat them whole, it seems to me it would be like eating rocks!

We were told the bird was a male turkey almost two years old and about 20 lbs. It had a “beard” under its chin and spurs on its legs. Most of the meat was very sinewy, especially the legs, so the only meat they used was the breast meat, approximately six or seven pounds. I suppose there are ways of cooking the rest of the meat so that it would be relatively tender but, needless to say, the cook had not planned on having wild turkey as the main course! It was prepared the next day in a kind of stir-fry and all 14 of the boys had their first taste of cooked “roadkill”. The breast meat was darker than that of a domestic turkey and I’m told it had the taste and texture of pork, rather than something wild. I guess it depends on the way it’s cooked but, in any case, it was a new kind of treat for them!

The beautiful wings were saved – a regular layer of long feathers with dark brown bars and white striping and then an over-layer of colourful bronze, iridescent feathers. During the courting season, the tail feathers would probably have grown a bit longer and be fanned out in an impressive display to attract his harem of females.

All in all, it was an interesting weekend but a real shame that this bird made it almost through the winter only to be hit by a car. The problem with wild turkeys is that they like to scratch for grit on the sides of roads and, unless you are very careful, it’s easy to hit them.

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.