bnhcomputing

OK Guys:

I sent my dog to training camp. He went in on June 3, 2005 and I just got him home. The last thing the trainer did, was have us (me, dog) go on a pheasant hunt. Flushed two, got two. Dog did well.

I'v never hunted birds before, so I now have two decent birds with the feathers still on. How do I prepare the bird?

The wife have a book with some interesting receipe's, but the book doesn't say how to "clean" the bird.

Do I skin it,pluck it, what?

Please advise.

Swede 57

I guess you could pluck the feathers - but I never had that much patience.

I always skin them.

Get a decent knife - Cut the feet off & cut the wings off at the first joint from the body. Put the bird on its back - pop your thumb through the skin at the base of the breastbone (near the pelvis) - tear the skin straight-up the breastbone to the neck - peel the skin back off of the breast, peel the skin over the wings, loosen the skin up to the neck and cut (so you leave the head plummage) and peel down to the tail - pop the legs out - twist off the tail and you have just skinned the pheasant - and the pelt sould all be in one piece.

Remove the visera and you have a dressed Pheasant - soon ready for wild rice and mushroom gravy!

winchester_1300

umm i just step on its head pull it off, then i step on the wings and pull the bottom half of the bird off leaving only the wings and breast, the i cut the wings off then take the meat off like a fish.

bnhcomputing

I Skun 'em. Nothing to it, made a little cut to get started, and the skin came right off. The wife has picked a recipe out of her wild came book. She'll be cooking them up for dinner tomorrow.

Thanks for the advise, and please weigh in on my other question.

Jackson_q

Theres really nothing to prepare if thats what you mean by advice on the other part of your question?Once a bird is skinned or plucked it depends on what recipe your using as to whats left as far as preparation goes.If you ever want to bake a pheasant,then take the time and pluck it,for all other recipes I skin them.Take care,Paul..

ed3592

i basically do the same thing as winchester 1300, little different though----step on the wings as close to the body as you can, grab the legs and pull........breast will pop out..........just cut off the wings, and you're in biz.

GSPsnFORDs

Get some Gerber game shears....they are great for dressing birds. What I do with pheasant and quail is to cut off the head, legs, wings, and tail/butt. Then I skin it. Then I'll take the game shears and cut on both sides of the back bone and remove it....you don't have to pick around all the vertabrae when eating it. Then I remove the insides and it's ready for the crock pot. Just to be safe, you might want to check your local laws...some require a head or wing to still be attached when transporting/storing wild birds.

PABowhntr

Game shears are great for pheasants. I simply gut the bird, pluck the feathers and rinse the inside of the body cavity and external surfaces out. Then into the freezer it goes until I am ready to make something from it.

cardeer

Skin it bread it and deep fry it

rbrunty

A really good way to clean birds is dip the bird in hot water about 160 (turkey deep fryer works well), dip him in about three to four times, once the bird gets hot the pores open up and those feathers come right off.

Cut the head off ainch from the bodyand the feet turn the bird on his back make a cut from the top of the rib cage to the top of the rectum (do not cut through the rectum) reach inside the bird to the neck wrap your finger around the wind pipe and pull out. You can use a spoon to clean the rest of the inside of the bird along with cold water.

This is a good way to clean a bunch of birds very quicklyand you are not wasting any meat.