Meat handling while traveling

[HS Strut]

Probably been covered before but I can’t find it...

What do you all do with the birds that have a wing attached when traveling across state lines?
Do you remove the wing when you get home before freezing?
We typically keep them on ice till we get home (9-12 hours) sometimes I cut the wings off and clean them up before freezing them. But I’m usually dead ass tired and just wanna go to bed. If you freeze them with a wing they always look nasty when you thaw them out later.

What do the rest of you do with them?

 

[airmedic1]

In the states that I hunt you can leave the foot with spur attached. That provides sex identification.
I do a good job cleaning them up, put them individually in a high quality ziplock and then submerge the ziplock in water to get the excess air out of the bag and then freeze them. I break the joint above the foot so it folds flat.

 

[benelli-banger]

I normally have a fridge available, I chill birds whole, untouched, and bring home in a cooler and clean them when I’m home. I like the aging that occurs, I think it tenderizes them. Once the season has advanced, it’s colder out, my pheasants are placed on a 4’ x 8’ piece of raised plywood in a garage…they cool nicely and I transport home in a cooler, whole and untouched. Have done thousands that way when group #’s are included. Works well for me.

 

[HS Strut]

I normally have a fridge available, I chill birds whole, untouched, and bring home in a cooler and clean them when I’m home. I like the aging that occurs, I think it tenderizes them. Once the season has advanced, it’s colder out, my pheasants are placed on a 4’ x 8’ piece of raised plywood on in a garage…they cool nicely and I transport home in a cooler, whole and untouched. Have done thousands that way when group #’s are included. Works well for me.

I agree with the aging and when I’m by myself thats how I do it. The rest of my buddies look at me like I just ate one raw when I tell them about aging them whole

 

[dawgs14]

We clean birds at the end of each day, leave whole with leg intact, and ice. We transport home, wash birds thoroughly, cut off leg, and vacuum seal for freezing.

https://www.cabelas.com/p/cabelas-12-commercial-grade-vacuum-sealer?ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Cabelas%7CShopping%7CPMax%7CProprietary%7CGeneral%7CNAud%7CGoogle%7CNMT&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19584965424&gclid=Cj0KCQjw58PGBhCkARIsADbDilybWVrqhaFWbD2LcqRIGQV63ypn22aW9lc9ctDqEgjGoDNEvpcp8OAaAgDiEALw_wcB

 

[John Singer]

I used to clean pheasants after a day of hunting. I dreaded that chore at the end of a long day of hunting.

I do not do that anymore, unless I plan to eat pheasant on the trip, I leave the birds whole as long as I can keep them below about 40 degrees.

I clean the birds after I get home. If temps are right, I too age them on the work bench in the garage.

I no longer dread a chore at the end of each day's hunt. I do not have to package meat with a wing or foot attached.

 

[GladHunter]

I have aged my pheasants the last couple years and not being a connoisseur myself I cant say I can tell a difference, but not having to clean birds after getting back from a hunt is very freeing.
I'll be travelling to ND next month and I'm hoping to have a mixed bag, Does anyone know if you can age Sharpies and Huns the same way?

 

[benelli-banger]

I have aged my pheasants the last couple years and not being a connoisseur myself I cant say I can tell a difference, but not having to clean birds after getting back from a hunt is very freeing.
I'll be travelling to ND next month and I'm hoping to have a mixed bag, Does anyone know if you can age Sharpies and Huns the same way?

Yes, did it last week, and for many years prior…

 

[AtTheMurph]

I used to clean pheasants after a day of hunting. I dreaded that chore at the end of a long day of hunting.

I do not do that anymore, unless I plan to eat pheasant on the trip, I leave the birds whole as long as I can keep them below about 40 degrees.

I clean the birds after I get home. If temps are right, I too age them on the work bench in the garage.

I no longer dread a chore at the end of each day's hunt. I do not have to package meat with a wing or foot attached.

You really only need to keep them at 55 degrees or lower.

 

[MinnHunter]

We field dress periodically during the day if warm. End of day if its cool. Transport breasts with a wing attached and legs with foot.
We don't do whole carcasses. When I get home I filet the meat off the breast and thigh then vacuum and freeze flat.

 

[mutthunt]

We field dress periodically during the day if warm. End of day if its cool. Transport breasts with a wing attached and legs with foot.
We don't do whole carcasses. When I get home I filet the meat off the breast and thigh then vacuum and freeze flat.

Not saying what to do, but I could see a CO pinching you for being over the limit if you have birds split into two.

Maybe not though, I'm not a CO.

 

[cheesy]

Mass cleaning at end of each day, leaving foot on. No wing. “Rough cleaned and rinsed”. Nowhere near eat-worthy.

2 per ziplock bag and into coolers on ice or in fridge at hunt location.

Travel home, and usually it’s the day after the trip that they get food-worthy cleaned.

I typically bag breast tenderloins together.

Breast filets together.

Boneless thigh meat together.

Legs I usually slow cook without freezing, pull meat from bones/tendons, make tacos or similar immediately.

 

[gettinbirdie]

I leave them whole. Age them in my "garage " fridge for 7-10 days. If they are shot hard -I'll gut them or break them down before i head home.
I feel it does give them a little more flavor(wild pheasant are pretty mild to begin with) It definitely tenderizes them too.

 

[Goosemaster]

Clean at end of day,put on ice.

 

[gim]

You really only need to keep them at 55 degrees or lower.

That's false.

Bacteria grows at temps above 50. Exponentially, I might add.

You go ahead and keep your fridge at 55 degrees. You'll be sick in 2 days. Violently.

 

[Goosemaster]

If you don't have ice, don't use snow, because has a lot of bacteria and other stuff in it.

 

[molliesmaster]

I like aging birds, especially ducks. Make sure the birds can get some airflow around them. You don't want to stack a bunch of warm birds on top of each other, even in a fridge the bottom birds might stay warm for a long time and spoil.

On our big trip west, we clean birds every day. 2 guys clean birds and the other 2 take care of dinner, organizing gear, and providing the cleaners with a proper beverage. I don't mind cleaning birds.

 

[mutthunt]

I'll clean critters all night long for a group, as long as someone keeps cracking beers for me!

 

[MinnHunter]

Not saying what to do, but I could see a CO pinching you for being over the limit if you have birds split into two.

Maybe not though, I'm not a CO

Legs with feet and breasts with wings. The numbers add up and CO have seen them before.

 

[Makintrax73]

Legs I usually slow cook without freezing, pull meat from bones/tendons, make tacos or similar immediately.

If you don't mind a wine sauce braised pheasant legs/thighs are quite good. I believe this is the recipe I tried although I didn't copy it word for word. Some tasting and adjusting goes a ways towards making it suit your taste. I believe I added a corn starch slurry to thicken it for gravy at the end.

Braised Pheasant with Mushrooms

A recipe for braised pheasant with mushrooms and herbs. This recipe uses pheasant thighs, but wild turkey thighs work well, too.

honest-food.net

Better if you can pull the tendons out when you take the lower leg off, although that method is hit and miss for me. Some forceps and a couple minutes after cooking gets them anyway as the meat pulls back with the slow cooking process.

It's not a hard recipe to prepare, and the little extra work in picking the meat off the remaining tendons is worth it for the flavor IMO.