Field Dress Pheasants

[cheesy]

I'm pretty much like Dewey-usually we get an assembly line going.

Gameshears cut the wings and neck off as close to head as possible, as well as the tailfeathers where they connect.

Next station completely skins them.

Next station takes the gameshears and cuts up each side of the backbone, from stem to stern so to speak. This allows you to pull the backbone off and most of the guts come with it.

Next station is bagging.

When I get home I'll usually filet the breast meet off and wash it. Then I'll pop the thighs/legs from the rest of the carcass. One slice with a filet knife from each direction of the 'hip' and a twist of the hip bone pops it loose from the 'femur???'. This results in the leg/thigh with only the femur bone and lower legs. Sometimes I'll filet off the thigh meat and freeze seperately from the lower legs, other times I'll bag them as quarters.

All the meat is then thoroughly washed to remove feathers/shot/bloodshot meat/etc. Bagged in gallon freezer bags, water is added to cover the meat, air is purged from the bag, and then its all frozen. This year I put the water filled bag in a plastic bowl to kind of form it into a chunk rather than a flat bag. Seemed to work pretty good.

 

[Gove County Britts]

in order to make the standing on wings and pulling thing work you need to pull head off right away not very good for picture taking but it will help for cleaning so your stuck in a bind pictures or easy cleaning your choice

 

[Ranger Danger]

I do it almost exactly like cheesy.
If it is a nice mature bird I'll try keep the skin intact as if you were going to mount the bird and borax and hang for flies.
Cutting down both sides of the backbone allows you to grab the head and pull everything out. Keeping both feet on the bird in the event one falls off from damage.

 

[steele]

I cut the wings,legs, and tail off leaving the head attached. I rinse out the bird and wrap it for the freezer. I never skin a bird until I thaw it for cooking. The meat is not dried out. It looks as fresh as it did the day it was killed. The feathers and skin are the perfect insulator.

 

[tmrichardson]

This is the way I've always cleaned Pheasant.
Cut the wings off at the first joint and the head and neck.
Cut 1 leg off at the joint, the other is cut around so the skin will pull off easily.
Cut a slit in the skin at the breast.
Then just pull off the skin.
Make a cut around the lower part of the breast and pull the insides out.
Trim around the neck area and rear.
Rinse in clean water.
I leave a wing where required.
This will take only a couple minutes.
Being I most of the time use the whole bird this works good. And I always clean the birds in the field after the days hunt.

mnmt

Pretty much what I do except I usually leave a foot instead of a wing, find that easier to fold up in a sealable baggie than a wing.

If the back end is really shot up I might toss the leg portion, otherwise I save it, always. To not do so is a travesty in my view, some good meat going to waste. We don't often cook the back end whole but usually trim the meat off bones for tossing into soup, casseroles, etc.

My main objective is getting them prepared so they won't go bad before I get home. How clean the field job is for me depends on the time I have, or increasingly this time of year, how dang cold it is. Blood and guts gotta go. Getting lungs and kidneys out, cleaning feathers out of wounds and trimming meat around badly shot up portions--often is reserved until I get home. The same cooler I carry water for the dogs in serves to rinse out birds. Also, getting to them fairly soon is best, nothing worse than a frozen or real stinky gut-shot bird to deal with. Good game shears help it to go faster.

 

[sigav8r]

Just out of curiosity, anyone ever use the Gutwrench tool? I've seen it and wondered how effective it is. My one time field dressing a pheasant was the "step and pull" method described earlier. I'd like to cook the full bird next time and will definitely print this thread and take it with me.

 

[Kal]

Just out of curiosity, anyone ever use the Gutwrench tool? I've seen it and wondered how effective it is.

Used one this Thanksgiving while hunting in SD with little success... the bird I tried to clean with it looked like I'd shot it from about 10 yards with a 3" mag with BB shot. Could have been operator error, of course

 

[-Wildcat-]

I'm sure you already know this one, but I stand on the wings very close to the body with the head facing away from me. I then pull up on the legs forcefully, but at a steady even pressure. This will breast the bird, taking everything with the legs, including the insides, leaving only the breast. There is virtually no cleaning to do, just rinse the breast and bag it. I also think it makes it easier to cut the legs off as well, if you choose to keep them. It's quick, simple, and no mess. Paul

I use this method as well. However, I at times use a different method.

1. Peel the skin apart to expose the breast

2. Insert index finger under the base (point) of the breast, and pull upward.

3. Continue pulling upward, until the breast is pulled away from the carcass to the wing joints.

4. Grip the underside of the breast, and pull outward away from the carcass until the breast is removed, along with the wings.

After that I normally just skin the legs.

I always use my favorite game sheers. A pair of Weiss tin snips. They work better than any fancy set of sheers I've ever used.

 

[Kal]

I use this method as well. However, I at times use a different method.

1. Peel the skin apart to expose the breast

2. Insert index finger under the base (point) of the breast, and pull upward.

3. Continue pulling upward, until the breast is pulled away from the carcass to the wing joints.

4. Grip the underside of the breast, and pull outward away from the carcass until the breast is removed, along with the wings.

After that I normally just skin the legs.

I always use my favorite game sheers. A pair of Weiss tin snips. They work better than any fancy set of sheers I've ever used.

You explained this method MUCH better than I did... thanks!

 

[-Wildcat-]

No problem! Maybe next time I'm out, I'll make a video. I've got a digital camera that also shoots 1080p video - I've never tried the video on it, so it's a good excuse! :thumbsup:

Oh, and if the birds are somewhat "fresh", I give the hearts to my dog. She loves them! I suppose it's a good reward for her hard work. "Find me some birds, and you get some hearts"...

 

[FCSpringer]

If traveling or on a bird get away I use the methods above. Since I do 99% of my hunting walking from home or within 5-10 miles, I bring them home whole. I don't hunt in hot weather so I don't worry about spoiled birds. I am usually done in a few hrs any way, so. I bring them in, lay them on there back, and peel the skin easily up and to the side of the whole breast. I take my trusty Rapala fillet knife and fillet both breasts off the bone whole, so I have two boneless, skinless breasts. Then I peel the skin down the leg and push it up past the thigh. I snap the knuckle on the leg at the end of the feathers and peel down the foot slightly and whip the foot off attached to that skin. The leg knuckle now has a rounded joint exposed not sharp ( like a packaged turkey ). I press or bend the thigh back popping the thigh socket out and slice the meat from the body. Now the whole thigh and leg are there with no sharp bones. ( Just like you see at a restaurant or store chicken.) All the skin and parts are still attached to the bird, no blood, guts, mess, and hardly a feather to clean up. This leaves the meat easy to trim and clean up shot and holes. Rarely do I find a pellet this way after cooking. It is very fast as well. And gets all the meat effectivly.

 

[Riverman]

I just have to tell a story about cleaned pheasants. Three of us hunting in NE on the third day. We had three limits each for a total of 27 birds. But we hadn't cleaned the birds for that day and we were just loading up after limiting out on our last walk. Then the warden pulled up.

At the end of first day a guy we met at our last field showed us this "great method" of cleaning birds that was fast, clean, and worked great, EXCEPT it separated breast from legs. Didn't seem to matter since we kept legs with breasts in the bag and figured we had learned something new.

When the warden pulled up it was the first time we had ever been checked in NE in 10 years of hunting. We BS'd awhile then he got down to checking us out. We showed him the birds from that day and he was fine since they were all whole. We told him we had 18 additional birds, frozen in the cooler, way up in back of the truck. "Do you wanna check them out" we asked? "Nah, you guys are doing good," he replied. We then BS'd a little longer, talking hunting tips, where to go, typical stuff, and then asked the $1,800 question. "What is the law on cleaned birds and what did you have to keep?" "Some guys say all you need is a wing, some say wings or legs can be separate." "What should we do."

He then gave us the $1800 answer. A WING OR SPURRED LEG HAS TO BE ATTACHED TO BREAST for it to be legal. Anything less and the warden has the option to write a ticket. Luckily he didn't see us all break out in a sweat :>) Actually, we talked some more and he wished us well and we took off back to Wyoming. I doubt he would have written $1800 worth of tickets, but technically he could have.

No matter how you clean them, keep a leg or wing attached to the breast!

 

[Riverman]

I just have to tell a story about cleaned pheasants. Three of us hunting in NE on the third day. We had three limits each for a total of 27 birds. But we hadn't cleaned the birds for that day and we were just loading up after limiting out on our last walk. Then the warden pulled up.

At the end of first day a guy we met at our last field showed us this "great method" of cleaning birds that was fast, clean, and worked great, EXCEPT it separated breast from legs. Didn't seem to matter since we kept legs with breasts in the bag and figured we had learned something new.

When the warden pulled up it was the first time we had ever been checked in NE in 10 years of hunting. We BS'd awhile then he got down to checking us out. We showed him the birds from that day and he was fine since they were all whole. We told him we had 18 additional birds, frozen in the cooler, way up in back of the truck. "Do you wanna check them out" we asked? "Nah, you guys are doing good," he replied. We then BS'd a little longer, talking hunting tips, where to go, typical stuff, and then asked the $1,800 question. "What is the law on cleaned birds and what did you have to keep?" "Some guys say all you need is a wing, some say wings or legs can be separate." "What should we do."

He then gave us the $1800 answer. A WING OR SPURRED LEG HAS TO BE ATTACHED TO BREAST for it to be legal. Anything less and the warden has the option to write a ticket. Luckily he didn't see us all break out in a sweat :>) Actually, we talked some more and he wished us well and we took off back to Wyoming. I doubt he would have written $1800 worth of tickets, but technically he could have.

No matter how you clean them, keep a leg or wing attached to the breast!