I thought I would respond to the thread about processing large turkeys here instead of the Turkey forum since so many folks keep turkeys for pets hang out there...
I butchered my 50 pound BBW today. I used a deer dressing stand, a rope, an axe, and a chopping block. I tied the rope around both feet and hoisted it just a bit. I was surprised the turkey seemed to calm down almost immediately. Here is a pic of the setup and the turkey. You can see my scald can on my little camp stove, the rope on the dressing stand, and the chopping block right next to the stand. The idea is to tie the turkey's feet, hoist it up a bit, pull the head over the chopping block, do the deed, place the bleed bucket under the turkey, then hoist again into the scald can for a good scald...
Here is the tom with his feet tied. He remained remarkably calm once his feet was tied. I don't know if this was normal, since this is my first ever. Note the scald can is gone. Long story short, I had bought a canister with the wrong size for my camp stove and didn't want to run into town to buy another one so I skinned him. But, the concept is there...
Hoisted up next to the chop block and tied the rope off to hold him up. As you can see, he is plenty close enough to pull the head over and chop. If you are a slitter, obviously at this point you could slit instead of chop. Again, he remained remarkably calm after the initial startle...
And the deed is done, the bleed out bucket moved under the bird to catch the blood. I did get whacked a couple of times by those massive wings when I chopped, but that was about it...
Anyway, you get the idea. I did the whole thing by myself, using my rope to hold and move this 50 pound bird around. The stand could have as easily been a tree limb or a swing stand or just about anything else you could drape a rope over. Just make sure you tie the rope nice and tight around the feet, and that you use a good strong rope.
I butchered my 50 pound BBW today. I used a deer dressing stand, a rope, an axe, and a chopping block. I tied the rope around both feet and hoisted it just a bit. I was surprised the turkey seemed to calm down almost immediately. Here is a pic of the setup and the turkey. You can see my scald can on my little camp stove, the rope on the dressing stand, and the chopping block right next to the stand. The idea is to tie the turkey's feet, hoist it up a bit, pull the head over the chopping block, do the deed, place the bleed bucket under the turkey, then hoist again into the scald can for a good scald...
Here is the tom with his feet tied. He remained remarkably calm once his feet was tied. I don't know if this was normal, since this is my first ever. Note the scald can is gone. Long story short, I had bought a canister with the wrong size for my camp stove and didn't want to run into town to buy another one so I skinned him. But, the concept is there...
Hoisted up next to the chop block and tied the rope off to hold him up. As you can see, he is plenty close enough to pull the head over and chop. If you are a slitter, obviously at this point you could slit instead of chop. Again, he remained remarkably calm after the initial startle...
And the deed is done, the bleed out bucket moved under the bird to catch the blood. I did get whacked a couple of times by those massive wings when I chopped, but that was about it...
Anyway, you get the idea. I did the whole thing by myself, using my rope to hold and move this 50 pound bird around. The stand could have as easily been a tree limb or a swing stand or just about anything else you could drape a rope over. Just make sure you tie the rope nice and tight around the feet, and that you use a good strong rope.
