Breasting birds

B

Bird Buster

Active member
I just got back from a trip where I observed a large group at the motel I stayed at only removing the breasts from birds and discarding the rest. I was dismayed by what I saw to say the least. Thought about reporting them but since I was the only one that witnessed it figured they would know it was me and I may risk retaliation of some sort. Got the plate numbers off the main vehicle and wondered if a warden now could do anything. I am open to thoughts on this as you know it will happen again and again if they are not caught. Sad to witness this kind of poor ethics in my opinion:(
 
I agree, only thing worst is the bird breasters who do it at the entrance of a walk in area,and throw the head-legs etc. in the brush, so your dog immediately goes and gets it, carries it around or tries to eat it when you arrive some time later.
 
Bird Buster,

That is odd just the breasts you say.?? We take the breast and thighs. And now the legs since some one on UPH was kind enough to show us how to get rid of the tendons. I like the thighs the best anyway.:)
 
unfortunately there is probably not much you could do. I Don't know how they stayed legal carring a bunch of breasts around in a cooler. That is a good way to end up in some trouble.
 
I assume they didn't leave a wing on? If not, they better catch up on the regulation. If so, they did nothing wrong.
 
carptom1 said:
unfortunately there is probably not much you could do. I Don't know how they stayed legal carring a bunch of breasts around in a cooler. That is a good way to end up in some trouble.
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I know a lot of guys who use this method on waterfowl.

I personally don't breast game birds and waterfowl. For me, there's too much meat throughout the bird to simply breast them out and leave them.


This video shows how they may have breasted the pheasants. The breasts still have both wings attached for identification. Skip up to 25 seconds.

http://youtu.be/1X5o1JKvFRs
 
South Dakota requires head,or foot or wing attached for transport.

The hunters in question may have cleaned the birds to eat that day...and they prefer to eat only the breasts.

Transporting without proper bird id could land you in jail, a fine, hunt privileges revoked, forfeit of your gun or all of the above.
 
Magnum_WI said:
I assume they didn't leave a wing on? If not, they better catch up on the regulation. If so, they did nothing wrong.
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No wings left on, simply the breast meat was only cut out and put in a large zip lock bag. Saw it plain as day, and birds were then thrown into a 5 gallon bucket to be disposed of. No evidence of sex, period. Never seen anything like it in all my years of hunting and guess maybe if they did go through a check station they would just say they were not hunters? Can't imagine anyone not knowing about the evidence of sex rule but who knows.
 
I agree, only thing worst is the bird breasters who do it at the entrance of a walk in area,and throw the head-legs etc. in the brush, so your dog immediately goes and gets it, carries it around or tries to eat it when you arrive some time later.
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Last year hunting some state land around Mitchell we found a pile of rooster by the entrance to a CRP field of what looked like almost whole birds excepts parts of the breast were cut out. This is an absolute shame! This is Wanton Waste as well as illegal for not proving sex.
 
A similar situation happened to my dad years ago. Instead of phez it was rabbit.The guys he was hunting with took the hind quaters only and left the rest.After he seen them he quit hunting with them and told them point blank as to why he quit hunting with them.
 
Bird Buster said:
No wings left on, simply the breast meat was only cut out and put in a large zip lock bag. Saw it plain as day, and birds were then thrown into a 5 gallon bucket to be disposed of. No evidence of sex, period. Never seen anything like it in all my years of hunting and guess maybe if they did go through a check station they would just say they were not hunters? Can't imagine anyone not knowing about the evidence of sex rule but who knows.
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ignorance would not save them.
 
It is legal in South Dakota to remove only the breast as long as there is a wing attached. I have ran this by the GFP and so has a friend that has a hunting operation on his farm.

However, it would not be legal in SD to remove the breast meat as described in this thread and then transport the meat.

Other states may vary and if you read their regs regarding "wanton waste" it leaves a lot up to interpretation. Such as Minnesota where it states: "A perrson may not wantonly waste or destroy a usable part of a protected wild animal unless authorized."

Let's not turn this thread into the ethical debate on what and how much of the bird you should keep. We beat that to death on another thread some time ago.
 
A really fast way to clean a pheasant is to lay the bird on it's back, stand on both wings, with your feet close to the body, grab by the legs and pull. It leaves the breasts, no head, not guts. Cut off one wing and you're leagal for transport. I like the thighs myself, and so use more of the bird than some folks might, but for birds like woodcock, there's nothing to eat but the breast.

If it was me seeing the guys breasting and no sex ID, I'd say something to them, just in case they are ignorant of the law, then walk away. There's no need to get more involved than that.
 
Ranger Rick said:
A really fast way to clean a pheasant is to lay the bird on it's back, stand on both wings, with your feet close to the body, grab by the legs and pull. It leaves the breasts, no head, not guts. Cut off one wing and you're leagal for transport. I like the thighs myself, and so use more of the bird than some folks might, but for birds like woodcock, there's nothing to eat but the breast.
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The biggest problem with this method is that if you have broken wings it doesn't work as you will pull the wings off. A better variation of this method is to pull the skin back on the breast then firmly hold the breast in one hand with a finger or two inserted behind the breast (down along the neck). Then grab the head and neck with your other hand and pull the two apart. You will end up with the breast and both wings just like in the above method. It takes some getting use to this technique and you do have to pull quite hard.
 
I just want to say, the responses I have read are truly refreshing. I'm very out spoken about using the whole bird. I pluck nearly every bird that gets shot in our family. The whole bird is used every time with out fail.

Good job guys

I seen my old bosses kid and his buddy put 24 ducks(just the breast meat) in a 1 gallon zip lock bag and they said they would eat them all between the two of them at one sitting. I just about flipped my lid. The worst case of wasting game I have ever witnessed.
 
Breast meat on a pheasant is less then half the edible meat.
Same as taking the back strapes only off a deer! Don't waste meat from your wild game.
Buy a chicken, Take off the breast meat. Probably not!
A pheasant in no way compare"s to a chicken of any kind!

DON'T LET ME HEAR OF ANY OF YOU BREASTING YOUR PHEASANTS!!!:(
 
I typically clean my birds in the fashion as shown in the video and end up with the breast and two legs.

I like to clip off both wings from the breast, and stuff iall the meat in a zip lock. I leave the feet on the legs for gender ID.

I don't like to leave the wing attached, just because I like to have them pretty well cleaned up, packed tight in a zip lock, and straight to the freezer when I get home.

Anybody have an opinion on whether I'm legal? Technically, the feet(spurs) are not "attached" to the breast, so I always worry that I might get some hassle for it.
 
siouxcitysmitty said:
I typically clean my birds in the fashion as shown in the video and end up with the breast and two legs.

I like to clip off both wings from the breast, and stuff iall the meat in a zip lock. I leave the feet on the legs for gender ID.

I don't like to leave the wing attached, just because I like to have them pretty well cleaned up, packed tight in a zip lock, and straight to the freezer when I get home.

Anybody have an opinion on whether I'm legal? Technically, the feet(spurs) are not "attached" to the breast, so I always worry that I might get some hassle for it.
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According to the sdgfp you are not legal it says attached I also called and asked last year. I think the reason is if someone was freezing old rooster leg's to transport hens breasts. You would have to be a idiot to do this but I bet it has been done.
 
I breast the pheasants I shoot keep the legs and thighs. Last night I cooked 9 legs and thighs on the charcoal grill ate pheasant for supper last night and lunch today. MMMMM Good.

Alot of people dont like to eat the legs because they are so stringy. My suggestion is to Eat Slow then. Legs and thighs are my favorite.
 
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