wild turkey

the ancestral species of the domesticated turkey. Compare turkey(def 1).

Origin of wild turkey

An Americanism dating back to 1605–15

We found some wild-turkey tracks, and a few feathers, which put our hopes high.

Tales of lonely trails |Zane Grey
After that, we shall give you some wild-turkey broth and a bone to pick.

The Lone Ranche |Captain Mayne Reid
"We've got all the wild-turkey meat we'll want on this trip," came from John Barrow.

The Rover Boys In The Mountains |Arthur M. Winfield
The deer and the wild-turkey are nearly as abundant on the Atlantic slope of the Alleghanies as they ever were.

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Vol. XV., No. 85. January, 1875. |Various

Its the same difference as it is between the first flushin of a wild-turkey bunch an the second.

Short Stories of the New America |Various