From Alden's Fields to the Thanksgiving Table

Ask around Alden where the Thanksgiving turkey comes from, and you might get a better answer than "the store."

For one Alden family, the answer is out back. Justin Pautler has farmed this land since about 2015, just up the road from the house he grew up in, on property his father still owns.

Starting with hay for local horse farmers, the farm expanded into corn, turkeys, pumpkins, and a farm stand.

Rudy's Farmstand on North Road is named for a farmer down the road Justin worked for growing up. "He was a fantastic guy. That's why I named my son after him," Justin said. These days Justin's son Rudy and his wife mostly run the stand. "I mainly do the turkeys, although they help when it comes time."

The farm raises Broad Breasted turkeys, the big, meaty birds most families picture on the Thanksgiving platter, and the poults come from a hatchery. With their big scaly feet, they really do look like little dinosaurs, and part of the job, he said, is just to "keep them out of the road."

Most customers find him through word of mouth. Harvest is one long day, and processing about 50 birds takes everybody. "It's a whole family affair," he said.

For some local hunters, putting a wild turkey on their Thanksgiving table is their ultimate goal. Aiden Zagoda has been trying to hunt turkeys for about eight years on land between Alden and the outskirts of Lancaster, and he has yet to take one. "I'll see 15 hens to one jake if I'm lucky," Zagoda said. Last year a friend called in a tom to about 60 yards. "All I did was move my pinky," he said. "Their eyesight is incredible." He missed.

"I have grown up in the streams, on the lakes and the woods, and I've never found something as difficult as turkey hunting," Zagoda said. So why keep at it? "It's just a new challenge to learn." He knows hunters who have had better luck, including one he called "a very successful turkey hunter."

There are fewer birds to chase than there once were. New York's wild turkey population peaked around 2001 at an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 birds and now stands at about 180,000, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

If anyone is interested in getting a turkey from Rudy's Farmstand, call Justin at (716) 289-0347. Birds are going for $4.75 per pound, and pickup is the Sunday before Thanksgiving.