Gobble Gobble: Self Sufficiency

WARNING: The posting contains dead and bloody turkey pictures.

Considering the environmental message of this blog some of you may be surprised that we're a hunting family. However most environmentalists eat meat and if they didn't hunt it it's likely that the animal lived in the inhumane conditions of a factory-farm. Whereas the turkey Dad shot probably lived a wonderful life. As I said, in my Earth Day Entry, the meat will cut our Carbon Footprint. You may not hunt and my have never even shot a gun, but Dad had almost no hunting experience last year when he shot a cow elk. After I take Hunters Safety class this summer I hope to shoot a Blacktail Buck.

Dad bagged a Rio Grande (wild) Turkey who tipped the scales at over 20 pounds. As I write this, dinner is about to be served (it looks & smells delicious).

Dad had several failed attempts. The weapon is a Remington Model 11-48 16-gauge Sportsman. The shotgun was my Great-Grampa's and was passed down through the generations.

We followed an old native-American tradition and told him why we killed him. He was very proud.

By coincidence our neighbor Todd Hanna caught a giant Chinook Salmon and gave us half. Tomorrow we plan to have Turkey & Salmon(surf & turf or cast & blast as Mr. Hanna put it). Mr. Hanna is fishing guide and outfitter.

We nailed his skull to a fencepost to dry. It will be an excellent addition to my skull collection!

The chickens hopefully will start laying eggs soon.

My grama's very very old caplock shotgun.
We've also been working in the garden. This summer we hope to have meals where everything, from the meat to the veggies, is from Maggie.