HOW TO FIELD DRESS A TURKEY Easy Way in 2021

how to field dress a turkey

If you have got your lucky shot at a Turkey after all your hard efforts, it is not the end. Now, it’s time to field dress it .

What is field dressing?

Field dressing is the removal of all the internal organs of a hunted dead animal which is edible and desired for the meat. Gralloching is another term used for this. What is different when someone says they can skin an animal in a few minutes but field dressing needs a technique. You see, skinning is the removal of the skin from the whole body, exposing the carcass without its fur, or outer skin while no effect on its internal organs. On the other hand, field dressing keeps the meat healthy, which we will discuss here, for consumption and removes the meat providing internal organs from the dead body just right after hunting on the field. Yes, that’s where it got its name from! You guessed it right.

Why do we need to field dress Turkey?

This small word question is the most important thing to ask, isn’t it? Yes, there are reasons and are plenty to make you feel the urgency to make your hands dirtier by inserting a knife into its body. So here they are:

• Field dressing is the way of preservation of meat from bacteria and other microorganisms.
• Removal of internal organs rapidly cools down the carcass and hence reduces bacteria growth to further happen.
• You do not need to take the whole big bird home, do you? You were there in the dirt just for its meat. So field dressing will allow you to take home what you ultimately wanted and worked hard for leaving the unnecessary stuff out there only. So it helps with transportation.
• Field dressing in which internal organs are separated from the body stops the body flow to the organs or in processed food to the organs of Turkey.

Now, if you are satisfied with the reasons and justifications for the purpose to fulfill by Field dressing, we can proceed to delve deep into further details.

What do we need?

When you stepped out in the morning with a ‘dream’ to hunt down a Turkey, you had a heavy ‘responsibility’ on your shoulders. Oh, no, we are not talking sentimental stuff. You carried a lot of weight already with the hunting gear for Turkey. Hence you need not need too much for field dressing. After all, one purpose of Field dressing is to reduce your future efforts, isn’t it? Many professional hunters use a sharp blade or knife for the process. While some can also utilize an ax or a saw. But, for Turkey, a knife is enough. Along with it, you will need nice medical hand gloves for hygiene and disposable aid.

How to do it?

While asking why is the fodder for your curious brain, asking how pays you off in reality with actions and its consequences. Here are the tips on how to field dress a Turkey in steps:

• First, you need to decide a point where you can comfortably make an incision with your knife. In the case of Turkey, you can choose the bottom part of its breasts and perform incision there with a sharp knife just below to the skin.
• After the incision is made, you can insert you two fingers to rip off the skin and feathers from the carcass of dead Turkey.
• Now, you need clean cuts from the knife to separate out its desired parts.
• People usually prefer the breasts area where the meat is most abundant in a turkey’s body.
• You can also take out its leg pieces for a fine gravy recipe by breaking first the bone of its socket then dissecting two legs with the sharp tool you got.

Field dressing is just an extra effort with a lot of health, logistics, and other benefits. It is not that tough to do as it sounds, right? What were your first experiences while field dressing a turkey? Were you able to do it or ended up with a complete mess and is even dead!! Well, Good Luck!