Plants to Forage While Turkey Hunting

By Luke Oswald, host of Publicly Challenged Podcast

When I started foraging, I realized that I now could maximize even more of my time while in the woods.  There is no better feeling than salvaging a hunt that would have otherwise ended up going home empty handed!  Let’s face it turkeys elude us often!  Here are 4 easily identifiable plants that help take away that tag soup, or at least make it taste better.

First on the list is Garlic Mustard.  Alliaria Petiolate (Garlic Mustard) is a flowering plant in the mustard family. In its first year it is low to the ground reaching 6 or 8 inches high off the ground in a basal rosette pattern with round leaves.

In its second year its leaves become elongated and it flowers. Just like other plants in the Brassicaceae, they have four petals on each flower. One other distinguishing features of garlic mustard is its unmistakable smell of garlic when the leaves are rubbed and rolled in your hand.  It is a very versatile ingredient in the kitchen and can be used in anything from soups and stews to pesto for pasta, or toss the leaves in a salad. Pesto with garlic mustard and lambs’ quarter has become one of my favorites in the spring time. Once you learn this plant you will see it everywhere! Pick as much as you can even if you can’t eat it all, as it is an invasive plant that spreads quickly and takes over limiting growth of native plants.

Now that I’ve already mentioned it, let’s talk about lambs’ quarter. I absolutely love this stuff! Chenopodium album (lambs’ quarter) is also often referred to as wild spinach.  If you are a spinach guy this one is for you for sure. This plant should be labeled as a super food! It has roughly 15 times more calcium and 8 times more vitamin c than spinach does. It also contains healthy amounts of copper, iron, and manganese! Did you know your body needs copper to utilize zinc and magnesium? Just one more reason to learn to identify and eat lambs’ quarter. It is identifiable by its characteristic shape of leaves that look somewhat like an arrowhead and have a powdery film on the leaves. When it is young there is also a pinkish hue radiating out of the middle towards the leaves as well. Lambs’ quarter can be eaten raw or cooked and utilized in any dish that spinach is used.

Next on the list is milkweed. That’s right!  The same plant that the butterflies love to eat! The whole plant is edible and you can use the floss for a wind check when deer hunting. You didn’t know you could do that? It’s okay.  Just remember that for fall and get yourself some for the approaching deer season. Milkweed is awesome, when I say you can eat the whole plant, I meant the whole thing! From the shoots to the buds (unopened flower clusters), to seed pods when they are young and tender. Word to the wise asclepias syriaca (milkweed) contains a white milky latex substance that is toxic and acts as a cardiac glycoside, therefore it must be boiled before consuming! Only common milkweed is edible, not the other varieties. There is also a plant that is a look alike (Dogbane) to the untrained eye, and only in the spring when there are just bare shoots emerging. Don’t let that scare you though.  It is quite delicious and has a unique flavor that I imagine would occur if green beans and broccoli had a love child.  It has quickly become one of my favorites in spring time. The entire plant is delicious and is boiled before eating. A few minutes in boiling water is more than enough time to neutralize the harmful compounds. The rule of thumb for boiling is twice the amount of water as the amount of plant you put in your pot. After the boil you can eat as is, add to stir-fry or simply sauté in a pan with butter and a seasoning.

Then there is Ramps or Wild Leeks (allium tricoccum) is a perennial plant that tastes like garlic and a green onion in one wonderful leaf! I have only a few spots that I know of, but always keep my eyes peeled in the spring just in case I spot a big patch of these wonderful ephemerals! There is quite contentious debate on whether the bulbs should be harvested or just one leaf per plant. You should definitely do your own research on this one! However, I can tell you that a healthy ramp patch needs to be maintained and thinned to leave room for more bulbs to grow. However, if it is a heavily trafficked area and multiple people forage there and there are only a few plants, maybe be the sensible one and leave them alone.  Ramps can be eaten raw or added to dishes. I use them in a variety of different dishes, but there are a few that are my favorite.  Trust me when I say they are so freaking good, you won’t care how bad your breath is. Making a compound butter and putting it on a venison steak is on the top of my list.  Another one I tried last spring was making a ramp salt.  It tastes something like garlic and onion salt combined giving it a one-of-a-kind place in your wild spice cabinet. I have also used it in stir fry, pesto, and soups. One I am looking forward to trying is fermenting them with some chili flakes.

Now that you know what to look for during turkey season, get out there and get some! Before you do there is a few things you should know. Always be 100% sure that you have positively identified what you are about to eat!  I can’t say this enough.  Always make certain you identified it correctly before consuming. There are many ways to do that including using apps on your phone or utilizing a foraging group on social media to help confirm what you are about to eat. You should try and identify it on your own and use third parties for confirmation to help you further yourself along, rather than just go off what someone else tells you. Another thing to keep in mind is the legality of foraging. Every state, county, and sector of public land seems to have their own rules or opinions about it. Just check ahead of time so you don’t end up on the wrong side of the law. One final piece of advice I can offer up is to carry gamebags with you. I carry Grakksaw game bags in all my vehicles and on my person when in the field. Game bags make a great way to carry all the bounty you collect and allows air to circulate around the plants or mushrooms to allow them to breathe. Plastic bags are not recommended for foraging because they don’t breathe.  They trap in heat and moisture causing many items I mentioned to wilt long before they should. Lots of foragers carry baskets to collect all their harvests.  Baskets are also great, but not so much when you are in pursuit of big ole gobblers.

Luke Oswald is the host of Publicly Challenged Podcast, where he and guests talk about hunting, fishing, foraging, herbalism and all sorts of other lost and forgotten skills.  He also loves writing about foraging and designing hunting products and apparel for the Publicly Challenged website. Check out the Publicly Challenged Podcast on the Waypoint Podcast Network.