Cleaning Birds, where and how you clean yours

onpoint

onpoint

Active member
I pluck my birds whole, most the time back at home/camp.

We use all parts of our birds

When I hunted with dad years ago, we would sit down and pick our birds in the woods. Then they were ready to gut when we got back home. The birds & mice use the feathers to line their nests the next spring.
 
If dry picking, you have to take just a few feathers at a time and jerk them quickly..kind of like a fast yank but just a few at a time. take too many and you will rip the skin. I have done it for so many years. It's not a big job to me. to many, they think they are going to die before the bird gets done. I pluck all my ducks and geese too. I can pretty much out pluck anybody I know. I have picked 1000s of birds.

The skin is the best part of the bird when cooked right and it helps hold in the moisture in the meat, to keep it much more tender and juicy.

Also, the orange like skin of the pheasant makes the dish look very pleasant before baking/simmering to your dinner company.
 
I take the breast and the thighs. we clean them at the truck when the hunt is done for the day. zip lock them and put on Ice. We bag whats left and dispose of in garbage at home. :)
 
What do u do about Identification for transport ? do u leave the breast attached to legs ?

jmac said:
I take the breast and the thighs. we clean them at the truck when the hunt is done for the day. zip lock them and put on Ice. We bag whats left and dispose of in garbage at home. :)
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DonC said:
What do u do about Identification for transport ? do u leave the breast attached to legs ?
Click to expand...

WE leave one fully feathered wing attached to breast. This is legal In wyoming, But donc you bring up a very good point. I dont know off the top of my head about other states. We do bag guts feather and hall them with us to final destination. So any check points or game and fish personnel would have no problem checking the sex.:)
 
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We leave at least one foot attached, sometimes both of the bones are iffy from shot.

Our procedure has evolved over the years, to what we're doing now. Typically wait to the end of the day and clean them all. If its really hot we'll do the mornings at lunch.

One or two guys take game shears to cut off the head, wings, tail, and sometimes the one foot.

The next guy skins them out.

The next guy then takes game shears and cuts along each side of the backbone. When it is pulled most of the guts/lung/heart go with it. Couple of more snips to clean up the rest and the bird is ready for the bag and cooler.

Once at home, the breast meat gets fileted off and goes to one bag. The thigh meat gets fileted off and goes to another bag. The legs get bagged whole and used for noodles.
 
onpoint said:
I pluck my birds whole, most the time back at home/camp.

We use all parts of our birds

When I hunted with dad years ago, we would sit down and pick our birds in the woods. Then they were ready to gut when we got back home. The birds & mice use the feathers to line their nests the next spring.
Click to expand...

And then how do you cook them? Come on, cough up your secrets for whole bird preparation. Do you ever smoke them?
 
Cleaning Birds

We hunt in ND. Just got back.

We clean at the end of the day, back at camp. ND requires id so we leave a leg attached. Cut of head, cut off wings at elbow, cut off one leg at hock, skin and gut. Wash out/up, pat dry, into gallon plastic freezer bag and into the freezer.
 
We can only shoot roosters so cleaning is done at home.

I've never plucked a bird and don't intend to start. I use game shears to cut the head, wings, tail and feet. A small belly cut and all the skin will lift up over the neck and down the back. Pretty easy from there. Dogs get the hearts. :eek:
 
When hunting in SD we do what most sane people do....take them to Kooch's Bird Processing. Cheap, and easy, and best of all you get to trade some good jokes with Kooch.
 
I clean birds and charge up to 3.50 a piece and everyone still keeps bringing them its actually kinda nice I get to see new faces and hear good stories
 
Quick and Easy

I clean them the same way we clean Grouse in the UP of Michigan. Pull the feathers off of the breast. Break open the chest cavity with your thumb or a knife and break the back.

Place the bird on the ground and stand on the wings. Yes, stand on the wings. Then, pull on the legs, slowly. Every thing will pull free and you will be left with the breast with the wings attached. Then, use game shears to cut off one wing, SD requires the head, a wing, or a leg for ID. You can then cut off the legs and save them if you want them. That's it, fast and easy.

You and do this in the field or back home.

Lock and Load! :D
 
One Advantage to taking birds to a guy like Kooch is that he is licensed with the state and can filet out our birds and leave no head, foot, or wing on them and they are still legal for transport. Most guys say this really helps out at home with the wife not having to see the head still atached to the bird.
As far as me, I smoke a lot of my birds so I cut off the head, wings, and feet with a shears, then pull the skin and feathers off and gut them out.
 
depends on if it's here on the farm or away on the road

on the road I prefer to use one finger to break thru and into the body cavitity- remove all the insides- at the vehicle- sometimes it's nice to take a picture or two so the birds look whole- hot weather I'll do the same in the field depending on how long away from the vehicle

usually have a cooler with ice- so just lay them in-
 
I hunt an Illinois put-n-take every Saturday during the Illinois upland season and after the day's hunt we take them to the hunter check station and they put a label around the foot and I transport the bird home whole and then clean it at home. I usually cut off the feet and wings, cut with shears from butt to neck up/down both sides of the back bone. Pull the neck down and guts and innards come right out. I then wipe the bird with paper towel and seal two birds in a vacuum bag and freeze. When I pull them out of the freezer I sometimes bone the breast and thigh meat off for marinading/grilling or make deep fried "pheasant nuggets"
 
I do things a bit different. I lay the bird on it's back and make a cut in the skin on the breast to start the skinning process. I do remove the wings after skinning. Once the bird is skinned and wings removed, I cut from the shoulder to the tail bud on both sides of the spine down to the ribs. I then put a finger in the craw notch and grasp the breast with that hand while pulling the neck with the other hand to remove the breast. What you get is the breast in one hand and the rest in the other, never touching the guts. The cuts down the back end up leaving the back meat on the breast. I put the breast in the bowl and proceed to work on the rest. The hip joints roll easily out of socket and can be removed with the back meat left on the thigh. I then remove the heart and separate the leg and thigh.

If I am going to be overnighting with birds in the motel or truck where a leg needs to be left attached, I do things differently. I still skin the bird and remove the wings, but I then use the shears to split the bird down one side of the spine and gut it from the back side. I can leave the bird pretty much intact from there and still finish as above once at home. This way I can facilitate leaving one leg attached and can get 2 roosters in each gallon ziplock bag. I usually nip the tendons on either the front or the back of the joint so the leg folds back into the bag better. Once home you can still cut along the spine on the side you haven't split and pull the spine and ribs out with the back and pelvis still in one piece as before. Sounds harder than it is.

Pet peeve- I hate to pull into a field and see bird parts littering the ditches. I don't like the dogs sorting through the mess and know that non-hunters don't appreciate it either. I always carry ziplock bags and trash bags. In years I trap coons, the feathers, left overs, and guts are saved back for that.
 
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