Fenway
Member
Naive, you've only got 8 posts most in this thread, let people get to know you and use P.M.s. Not selfish it's smart.
Opening Day.... How did you do?
- Thread starter jjoel
- Start date
twoonpoint
New member
My opener was short. Only spent a few hours out in the morning. Didn't find my quail, but I'm holding out hope. Only took 30 min. for both dogs to be covered in blood. Tail on one and the other found some fence in the grass.
I wish I could have recorded a shot of a rooster but it just did not work out for us. We ended the weekend sore achy feet and one expensive rooster! I have it hanging to "age"
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-1lTvt-1iL0g/TsB89IA5OMI/AAAAAAAAH3U/sWG4qHr9DvQ/s800/IMG_6709.JPG
in a couple days, I will be able to eat eat himI got the idea from this forum!
I know everyone has their own ideas and dont take this the wrong way, but that is gross.
Why would you not skin it and remove the guts and any damaged meat as quick as you can? Especially on a hot day. Id clean the birds within an hour or two and get them on ice. My buddies and I try to be pretty anal about that.
The best way Ive found is to breast out the bird (thats the only thing I eat off the pheasant), and if you're up for the extra work, filet the meat off the breast though its easier at the end)
Put the breast, meat side down on a large bowl or cooler full of ice (preferably crushed ice), drain the melted ice and blood and refill as necessary as the ice melts down and let sit in the fridge for about 5 days. You'll be amazed how much blood you'll get to drain out of the meat, at the end the meat will be almost the color of chicken if not lighter, a very light pinkish white. Same process works well for duck and actually makes it taste pretty good.
#1 this cools the meat fairly quickly, #2 this helps to age the meat, and #3 this helps to draw and drain the blood from the meat (which IMO is what gives the animal the gamey flavor)
I would not eat pheasant until I did this. At the end of the five days, all you need to do to remove the meat from the breast bone is to take a sharp knife and run a "score" down either side of the breast bone, insert your finger in the score of the breast bone and then peel the meat from the bone as its softened up at this point. You can also remove the tendon from the tenderloin at this point as it usually falls apart separate.
If you do keep doing the birds the way you do I would cook the holy hell out of it to kill all of the bacteria.
If you have a game shears and want to stay legal while traveling you can leave a wing on and then immediately cut the thing off when you get home and get the nasty feathers away from the meat.
I use the same "wet" aging process for deer, except I let it set for a week to two weeks depending on how cold it is out. Deer never tasted better.
"Wet aging" is the best process Ive found for the average guy.
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Pointer Man
New member
I agree with KsHusker. I can't see how leaving the guts and feces inside the bird with the meat would be good at all. Hope you don't get sick and best of luck with that aging process.
really?
I am a newbie... I have not posted much, I am not from Kansas, yet I feel that I researched enough of the post to make my "guess" where to hunt.
I would not expect any forum member to tell me where the birds are. Most of these members do the hard work, scouting, spending time away from family, spending money on gas, and so forth, to find the birds. This year has been a tough year, not a lot of birds, you want to know where they are at? DO THE WORK...
I will be in Kansas Dec 7-10th. I do not care where I go to hunt, being out and seeing the dogs run is the best.
I am a newbie... I have not posted much, I am not from Kansas, yet I feel that I researched enough of the post to make my "guess" where to hunt.
I would not expect any forum member to tell me where the birds are. Most of these members do the hard work, scouting, spending time away from family, spending money on gas, and so forth, to find the birds. This year has been a tough year, not a lot of birds, you want to know where they are at? DO THE WORK...
I will be in Kansas Dec 7-10th. I do not care where I go to hunt, being out and seeing the dogs run is the best.
Soonerhead
Member
When I was a kid, me and Dad would go and catch a bunch of fish, usually crappie, and when we would come into town, or stop at the baitshop or whatever, they would say, "man those are sure nice...where'd you catch em'" and without fail, Dad would always say, "right in the mouth!" I remember asking him one time why he never told anyone where he fished, and I still remember him saying, son, a friend of mine told me about this place, if I told everyone that asked me where it was, that friend would no longer be my friend, and I would never be told about another place like this again. I still live by that. I'm all for helping someone out, but IMHO, it should be common courtesy to NOT ask for specifics...that stuff is earned, not given.
BritChaser
Well-known member
Partial quote from patbbb: "This year has been a tough year, not a lot of birds, you want to know where they are at? DO THE WORK..."
Hear hear!
Hear hear!
I have to admit, I didn't expect this to become such a huge issue. To be honest, I'm very disappointed in the anti-social behavior as well. I don't see what is wrong with pointing a person in the general direction and I made that very clear earlier only to have many of you completely ignore what was plainly printed in black and white. Of course the hunters will still need to find the birds when they get there, but to let someone drive from Alabama to hunt out near Dodge City when everyone knows it's better up near Colby is asinine.
As for me, I won't "do the work". I have my places to hunt and that's where I'll be hunting. I know for a fact that the bird populations are sparse, but that's not why I'm out there.
As for those who don't believe in sharing, thanks for you stories. I couldn't be more disappointed, but at least I know what you are all about. I can picture you guys out with your kids on an Easter egg hunt. You are running around wildly, pushing your kids down and yelling "MINE! MINE! MINE!" and rushing to find every egg so that no one else can enjoy themselves. I'm sure that your parents would be proud.
I actually like to tie their shoes together so I get that head start and don't have to worry about taking the effort to push them down.
labsnslabs
New member
oh boy here we go.
Nick
Active member
I actually like to tie their shoes together so I get that head start and don't have to worry about taking the effort to push them down.
That's funny. Emil, I think you got a LITTLE carried away with the Easter Egg hunt analogy. Maybe we are at the same "dead horse" stage with this thread that we got to with the "Resident Only Opening Weekend" thread. I think most people here are willing to offer tips and advice, but I don't blame anyone for wanting to protect what they have worked hard to establish.
Spence
New member
Don't worry bud all it takes is that one time somebody mentions how great the county you hunt in is, and you to go out there and have it all of a sudden be a zoo, Your point of "as hunters we still have to get there and find the birds" isn't really to valid. A good deal of the people will just go and trash every walk-in spot in the whole county, tresspass on MY farmers land that i Have built a relationship with over the past few years, trash his roads, litter his ditches, dust his wife and kids playing in the driveway, show no respect for his land.
In turn that makes him weary about letting me hunt in the coming years. All it comes down to is the few bad apples ruin it for the masses every time. I'm not all too concerned about people coming out there and shooting my birds, its everything else they do out there. So you won't really ever hear me giving specifics, you can say we are all being selfish, non-social, asenine etc.. there will come a day when u get burned and you will see where we are all coming from. Nothing personal to you...
carptom1
Well-known member
I actually like to tie their shoes together so I get that head start and don't have to worry about taking the effort to push them down.
Now that's funny. Hey Emil, Santa is a fake
I apologize if I have offended you. I just do not think that this is the place on a public forum to ask where to hunt. If I have personal questions I send a PM to a person, usually I get a great respones.
My views may be anti-social. However, they are mine... There are three things you never ask about unless you want a fight on your hands... Politics... Religion... and where to hunt...
I will point you the right direction...
http://kdwpt.state.ks.us/Hunting/Upland-Birds/Upland-Bird-Regional-Forecast
"Compared to 2010, pheasant numbers will be considerably lower throughout their range. This will especially be true in northeastern, southwestern, and southcentral Kansas. In those parts of northwestern and northcentral Kansas not affected by one of many severe summer storms, the pheasant numbers will be relatively good compared to other areas of the state but still down from last year. Generally, the best pheasant hunting in 2011 will be north of I-70 in the western half of the state. "
Hope this helps.
My views may be anti-social. However, they are mine... There are three things you never ask about unless you want a fight on your hands... Politics... Religion... and where to hunt...
I will point you the right direction...
http://kdwpt.state.ks.us/Hunting/Upland-Birds/Upland-Bird-Regional-Forecast
"Compared to 2010, pheasant numbers will be considerably lower throughout their range. This will especially be true in northeastern, southwestern, and southcentral Kansas. In those parts of northwestern and northcentral Kansas not affected by one of many severe summer storms, the pheasant numbers will be relatively good compared to other areas of the state but still down from last year. Generally, the best pheasant hunting in 2011 will be north of I-70 in the western half of the state. "
Hope this helps.
BritChaser
Well-known member
kansasbrittany
Banned
I just read this thread all 8 pages, and some advice to Internet scouters.
The dead horse Theory
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that; "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, best strategy is to dismount."
Well, Dancing with Buffalos/Wolves or Lonesome Dove (can't remember) taught me that after you dismount, you use the corpse to shield yourself while you return fire
I really like that name, Gus for a dog. Unfortunately, I have a theme of Irish named dogs, and Gus doesn't fit. (At least I dont' think so... ) Cool name though!