gettin thinner...time for turkey dinner..... help please

well the tukey the hawks.... or more likley the eagle......tried to snag finally did die from its wounds somtime last night......i was sure she would make it but whatever.......this is the first time ill be plucking gutting and cleaning my very own turkey as we bout em to eat em....but ive never done this before and i got some questions

can i still eat up this turkey even if it died between last night and this morning

and well in what order should i begin the breakdown process......head and leggs feathers gutts ect.
and how do i go about with cuting and plucking and gutting and all....

any help would be great thanks

mat

How sad. I know you have to bleed them out--but I don't know how quickly. Maybe someone else can help?

hi mat, there is a site that gives specifics for chickens, mayb have it for turkeys as well.... with photos too, you could print it out to follow step by step...

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Poultry.html

tf

Unless it's very cold, I don't use anything that dies before we butcher it. The internal organs break down very fast in warm weather and even though the meat its self is not spoiled, it had an off taste.

We do the head first, let the blood drain, then dip in boiling water. They pluck really easy and fast (If you can cram them in the boiling water, if you can't then pour it over them). As soon as they are plucked, we do legs and guts, wash them well with the garden hose and dump them in a big cooler of ice water. Once it is inside and totally clean we cut it up or leave it whole and chill it over night. The chilling over night is VERY important to make it tender. sometimes I chill it in a sweet brine, but always chill. If it isn't already packaged in vacuum bags, I do that and then freeze or cook.

since the bird died from an attack wouldnt that mean an infection?