Big Red’s First Turkey
About two weeks ago my friend Rex Carr had, what looked like, one hell of a fun weekend. So, I reached out and wanted to get the details on where he was and what he has been up to.
Rex was down at a cattle ranch outside of Sarasota, Florida. He was invited to go down with a couple of his buddies from Wake Forest whom he had not seen since he graduated. They enjoyed a few beers, great food, and a few days outside. “The ranch is absolutely gorgeous. Consists of acres and acres of lush pastures, forest, and swampland. It's also off the beaten path, so it felt like an entirely different world out there. Completely peaceful and quiet. The stars also shone brighter than one could have ever hoped for,” said Rex.
On the first day of the trip the guys went fishing by Anna Maria Island, where they were successful in catching local fish, such as Sheep’s Head and Redfish. With great success fishing, they had an ample supply of meat to make fresh fish tacos for appetizers at dinner. Throughout the weekend they also enjoyed steak, pork ribs, and twice-baked potatoes from a local butcher shop. However, while this all sounds great, what I really wanted to know was how his turkey hunt went.
I have known Rex for a while, and I remember when he purchased his first rifle for deer hunting. I had never known him as a turkey hunter.
Rex told me that they woke up at 5 am, leaving the house around 5:30am. “From there, we drove the Ranger to one of the empty cow pastures, where we found a nice spot underneath an oak tree, with plenty of palm fronds to provide decent cover. For the first hour, it was extremely quiet... minus the roaring sound of mosquitoes trying to bite through the netting of our camo. My buddy put out some quality turkey calls, and eventually we started to hear a lot of noise from the creek north of us. We noticed some deer, and soon some turkeys off in the distance, but did not think much of it. Then, three gobblers came flying out of nowhere from behind a tree and headed towards our decoy.”
“It happened so quickly that the shotgun was still resting on my leg when they were about 25-30 yards in front of us, staring us down. Eventually, they got a little spooked and started to slowly walk away. My friend kept whispering to me, “Rex, shoot! Shoot!”. I waited a good bit until one of the turkeys turned its head the right way, and I took the shot. Our hearts were pounding out of our chests and just like that, we were done by 8am.”
Anyone who has harvested a turkey knows that they taste so much better than a Butterball. Rex cooked the bird just as many hunters do: “We cut the meat into flattened nuggets. Then, we got some flour, eggs, panko crumbs, and we fried the turkey in some vegetable oil. Served it all with some garlic broccoli and brown rice. It tasted great. Extremely juicy and full of flavor.”
Up until this point, Rex had only harvested a pig, and the turkey was the second animal he had been lucky enough to harvest. One thing that I couldn't agree more with about Rex’s story is the abrupt end to the adrenaline rush when the hunt is over. The anticipation when calling a turkey gets my heart pumping, and up until the gun shot, your entire body is tense and at full focus. And just like that, boom... it's over.
I was glad to see Rex out in the woods, and he said it best: “Nothing like a bird to end an incredible weekend.”
