bird knife?
 

what is everyones favorite knife for cutting up a pheasant?

I like the Browning outdoorsman fillet knife. Its not too thin for cutting through wing bones, and cuts pretty nice. I used it on my South Dakota pheasant hunt this year. I cut probably 40-50 birds without even the slightest sign of becoming dull. The big perk was that it was not too expensive.

You can find it a few places on line such as www.knife-depot.com ,www.thesportsmancave.com, or www.discountsportsmanstore.com. Just do a search and you should be able to find it at a good price.

Sizzors work better for me than knives. Snip, snip, snip, snip, head wings and one leg gone. Snip, body cavity opened and then cleaned. At home, snip, snip remaining leg gone and body cut in half, thighs seperated and breast removed. Only problem is having to pluck or skin. On quail or other fowl. Put sizzor tip into side of back and cut through back and halving breast bone, seperating in two halves, then do same to remaining side, detaching entrails, back bone and tail. Neat if you do it properly.

i just cut out the breasts and the legs, i put the bird on its back pull the feathers and skin off then cut the breast out.

I grab hold of the tail feathers, pull out the feathers below the breast which pulls the other layer of skin along with it. Grab the breast and the tail feathers and pull until it opens a cavity. Stick two fingers in the cavity and pull out the gizzard carefully. Everything should come with it except the heart. Reach in and pull the heart out. No knife required. No stepping on wings required. In the kitchen that's another story. One in which I'm fairly clueless. I just skin and slow cook.

Any of you ever do the method with the bird on its back, spread the wings, step on the wings as close to the breasts as possible. Grab the legs and pull up? Gives you a breasted bird, then we just use a scissors to cut off the legs after you have pulled the skin back on them.

I've got a bone handled Remington upland knife that I like. Also have a set of game shears. Basically, I snip the wings, the head, and the tail (save the wings for dog training and the tail for my wife). Then I skin the bird (pull feathers and skin comes easily). I then use the knife to slice open the bottom and the gut hook to pull everything out.

I can clean a bird in about a minute.

I would imagine these would be awesome for birds. They are called Havalon Knives. They worked like razor blades (havalon are basically surgical scalpels that are a little thicker than razors)

This is why we started carrying them, it might not be something you are interested in but they are fair priced, blades are cheap for as long as they can be used and it is really nice not to be able to not have to spend a whole night sharpening it. Needless to say, i replaced my heavy knife with one of the new lightweight havalon.

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http://www.bugsnbullets.com/Havalon_...g_mid_102.html

This is the only method I use for pheasants.
For small birds, I bend the head back so that the head and tail are between my thumb and pointer finger in one hand. The ribcage protrudes which I slide my thumb under and lift the breast right up, clip the wings pullthe skin off with feathers attached and done.

This method works extremely well with any and all Upland birds (except Quail, which are too small).
Once you do this, you'll never use another method.

What do you guys do with the "rest" of the bird (the parts you don't eat, like the neck, back, etc) ?
We save them up, then the wife boils and simmers them for a few days and cans the broth.



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