Plucking Feathers

[Catch&Keep]

How do you go about plucking a turkey?
I have heard that if you dip the bird in scolding water for 3 min the feathers will fall out. Do you cut the wings and head off first?
I assume leaving the skin on would be the best way to smoke a bird to avoid it drying out? Have always skinned them and cooked in a bag, but would like to try smoking or deep frying one.
THANKS

[Salmonsmoker]

Catch&keep,

I have never tried to pluck a turkey. Just skin it then brush on Olive Oil prior to smoking. The oil will keep it from drying out and also readily absorbs the smoke.

Salmonsmoker

[BOSSTOM]

To prepare the bird for table (no mounting) I begin by placing the bird, breast side up, on a sturdy table and begin plucking around the beard. I work my way down and around to the backside. Don't be concerned if you notice either aviary mites or lice on the bird. Most turkeys have them and they don't present a problem for humans. After all of the feathers are off, I burn the pinfeathers using a benzomatic torch. It's OK if the skin shrinks a little during this process. Then I cut the tips of the wings off at the last joint followed by the feet at the knee. The beard is next, followed by the tail, and the head is last to go. Most of this can all be done using a sharp 6-8" butchering knife. A steak knife can also work.

I then gut the bird starting at the anus. There are two small bones that normally need snipped using diagonals in order to get your hand in the whole way. Also, don't forget to clean out the front part of the bird that contains the crop yellowish fat. In recent years, most of mature toms in MI have had very little if any fat (bright yellow) in this area; however, most mature toms this year do have some fat in this area. Another thing commonly overlooked is the removal of the lungs. Follow all this by a thorough rinsing with cool water and they dry the bird with a towel. If I'm not going to eat it right away, I wrap the entire bird in Saran wrap followed by butchers paper and then place the whole thing in the freezer.

Good Luck.

[Fuzzz]

Catch&Keep,
i've never done it to a wild turkey, but we used to raise and kill 10 or so turkeys and 25 or more chickens every year (butchered all at one time). we used an old water heater cut in half with the bottom heating element still in tact and working. we'd fill it up with water and add a cup of detergent (like tide- it cuts through the grease and oils) and plug it in (we also wired it to a plug, and i believe it was set as hot as it would get). after it was warmed up we'd get started. we'd put the birds in orange road cones with the ends snipped off, so the heads would stick out the bottom (the cones were placed between two boards so the square bases would rest on the boards). we'd cut the heads off and when they were done moving, we'd hold them be the legs and dip them in the hot water, pulling them out every so often and pulling on the feathers to check how easily they came out. when they do come out easily, get to plucking!! when you get it right, the feathers come out by the handfulls and the skin won't rip. after you've got all you can get, use a hand torch to singe the small hair feathers. then we cut them open and removed the insides.
and there you have how we did it.
i don't know if i would put the bird in boiling water for 3 minutes, as it seems the bird would start to cook. i understand you're probably not going to go through the trouble of the hot water heater and cones and everything else, but i was just showing how we did so maybe you can get something out of it. hope this helps:)