WILD TURKEY

 

WILD TURKEY at the Goliad, Texas Ranch

Native Texan Janell Matula, is an artist who uses different mediums from oils, acrylic and   water color when she creates her many different paintings seascapes, still life's or Texas scenery. She not only enjoys taking her brush to the great outdoors, but is also an avid hunter.  Over one Thanksgiving holiday, she even discovers the art of cooking Wild Turkey Flautas.

 
At the family ranch in Goliad, Texas, Janell and children took some extra vacation days to enjoy quality time together before the remaining family would join them on Thanksgiving day.  Spending days exploring the 80 acres of various oak and mesquite trees, lush grasses and country side is always a pleasant escape from Corpus Christi, Texas where Janell resides.

One morning her son Cory, who was 13 years old at the time, got up before day break to check out the wild life on the ranch. Each year they spend time hunting deer and wild boar though this was going to be an unexpected hunting season. As Cory explored away from the cabin, he found a group of wild turkeys. Unlike the term flock, turkeys are referred to as rafter. The turkeys in a five acre clearing near the cabin where feeding as they moved through the grassy pasture. Cory, with excitement, quietly moved away from the area before running to the cabin entering where he cried out "Hurry.  Hurry, get the gun, there are tons of Turkeys outside," states Janell.

Janell, who is very safety conscious, would not allow Cory to use a gun unsupervised and woken from Cory's excitement.  She quickly slipped on her boots with her night clothes, grab the 12 gauge shot-gun and shells and the two headed outside to the porch. She handed Cory the gun and shells as he loaded the weapon and quietly approached the rafter of turkeys in the clearing shaded by a few mesquite trees.

Janell watched Cory sneak towards them. He took aim with a deep breath. As he slowly exhaled, he squeezed the trigger firing into the rafter beading his sight on a large gobbler. The turkeys startled from the exploding sound of the shot gun quickly disappeared through the nearby Mesquite trees. Cory moved through the tall grass finding the stifle turkey.  As he carried it back towards his mom, Janell could see that the gobbler was near as big as her son.

Unknowing of Cory's hunt, his dad brought a fresh store bought Turkey with him for the Thanksgiving holiday, now giving Janell one more for a feasted meal.  Janell use the store bought Turkey for the dinner using a deep fried turkey recipe, and used the Wild Turkey to make the Flautas.  "I couldn't keep up with the demands as I fried batch after batch," states Janell. "The family came back for seconds, then thirds." 

Turkey Flauta recipe:  
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