Hunting in North America mostly takes place in the fall and winter, but there is one main exception: wild turkey. Wild turkey seasons are ending in the South and Southwest and will continue through June elsewhere as the highlight of the spring hunting season.

If you鈥檙e going to partake in the pursuit, now鈥檚 the time to do it: turkey populations are booming in much of the country, thanks to a decades-long conservation effort that has led to open seasons in 49 states; only Alaska lacks one. But while you might have seen some clever turkeys who have learned to live in hunting-free suburbia, getting a real wild turkey鈥攍ike hunting any animal鈥攊s challenging.

If hunting a wild turkey isn鈥檛 in the cards, buying a heritage turkey will be your next best option, as it鈥檚 been illegal to buy wild turkey meat in the United States since the North American Model of Game Management made commercialization of wildlife a crime in 1918.

When you are lucky enough聽to bring one聽home鈥攅ither by hunting it or procuring a heritage bird from a specialty butcher鈥攜ou鈥檒l want to do it justice. Here鈥檚 how that鈥檚 done.

Sourcing Your Turkey

You can get very, very close to a wild bird by buying a heritage breed like a bourbon red or a Narragansett. Check to see if your local farmers鈥� market sells them鈥攜ou might need to reserve a bird for later in the year, though, since they grow slower than industrially raised birds.

If you do decide to hunt wild turkey, you鈥檙e only allowed to shoot males in the spring (both males and females are hunted in the fall in states that allow it). Males have a beard鈥攁 long cluster of hairlike feathers on their chest. A small number of female turkeys grow a beard, and those, too, are legal game. This beard is your cue for how to cook your bird, should you聽bag one.

Jakes Versus Old Toms

A short beard usually means the turkey is young, a 鈥渏ake鈥� in hunter鈥檚 parlance. That鈥檚 not so fantastic for serious turkey hunters who are looking for old toms, more mature birds (also called 鈥渓ongbeards鈥� or 鈥渞ope draggers鈥�), mostly for the challenge. The oldest toms can live to be four years old if they survive being hunted each spring. They be wily.

Jakes are fantastic if you are, like me, a meat hunter. Unlike old toms, younger jakes can be plucked whole鈥攋ust pull the feathers out; there鈥檚 no art to it. Their skin won鈥檛 be leathery, and the meat won鈥檛 be overly tough, although remember that wild turkeys work for a living, so they鈥檙e not going to look like the fat, couch-potato birds you buy at your local mega mart. Wild turkey meat is darker and tougher, but it has good muscle tone, which means that you鈥檒l need less of it to fill you up.

The breasts are聽narrow, too. Almost all farmed birds鈥攅ven some heritage breeds鈥攁re double breasted, which means they were bred to have a wide, meaty breast. This feature聽isn鈥檛 terribly helpful in the wild, where you need to flee your enemies or fly high into a tree to sleep at night.

Old toms are best , since that leathery skin is聽not nice to eat even after cooking for a long while. Every so often you鈥檒l find a fat one, and you can mince and to make schmaltz, like you would for a chicken. But this is rare.

How to Cook Your Turkey

Rather than cook it whole, I tend to break down my wild turkey into component parts鈥攊t鈥檚 exactly like , only larger. Each part has wonderful potential in the kitchen.

Let鈥檚 start with the breast, the money cut for聽most people. Because a wild turkey鈥檚 breast is so narrow, it鈥檚 hard to cook with the skin on. If I haven’t already, I pull that skin off and fry it in a little butter or oil until crispy, then either eat it as a snack or put it in a tortilla for crispy turkey-skin tacos.

The breast is shaped like a teardrop鈥攖hick at the round end and thin at the pointy end, which tapers toward the tail. Because those ends cook differently, I like to slice the breast in half horizontally, leaving me with a thin, trapezoidal cut and a fat, football-shaped cut. The thin part works very well pounded thinner as cutlets in recipes like , or piccata, or . The thick part can be sliced lengthwise to make more cutlets, or you can poach, roast, or .

The wings, thighs, and drumsticks are a bit more interesting.

In most cases, you鈥檒l need to do the 鈥渢wo step,鈥� meaning tenderizing聽the pieces by gently cooking them slow and low in a liquid before finishing with another method. (Cook them in water and you can make a quick batch of .)

Once tender, wings are epic soaked overnight in your favorite sauce, then , grilled, or broiled until that sauce caramelizes. It鈥檚 basically the world鈥檚 largest buffalo wing. Thighs鈥揳nd I always separate thighs from drumsticks鈥搈ake phenomenal聽, braises, or, if you shred them, tacos.

Remember how I said that wild turkeys work for a living? Well, it鈥檚 more accurate to say they walk for a living. Several miles a day, actually. So the drumstick tendons are bone-like and will never break down. The answer to this problem is to slow cook the drumsticks until the meat falls off the bone鈥攁nywhere from 90 minutes for a jake to up to four and a half hours for a really old tom鈥攖hen shred it away from those nasty tendons. Once shredded, wild turkey legs 聽or can be simmered in your favorite barbecue sauce.

Finally, don鈥檛 forget the giblets! Wild turkey giblets are every bit as good as store-bought, so go ahead and make your grandma鈥檚 famous giblet gravy. Or mince them fine and make . Or add them to the stockpot with the carcass. Or, if you鈥檝e been really successful and have brought home several turkeys, make a to impress your friends.

Author of five cookbooks, Hank Shaw is former chef a who writes about foraging, fishing, and hunting at the James Beard Award-winning website .

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