Gun Dog Forum

Do you hang your birds whole for a couple of days? I read the following article and did it with some huns and pheasants last year with pretty good results.

https://honest-food.net/on-hanging-pheasants-2/

He talks about 50-55 deg being optimal which I felt like my garage was pretty close to late last fall. I guess I'm just going to try hanging this grouse in my fridge for 3 days or so. Outside would be too warm, it's in the 60's during the day here. The fridge is colder than 50 but maybe better than not doing it at all? Any thoughts on eating the organs after hanging? Normally I really enjoy them but seems kind of funky if you let it sit a couple of days?

Any good recipes to try? I'm going to pluck the whole thing for a change. Heck yeah! Haven't had game in a long time. Grouse and Huns are a toss up for my favorites. Maybe rabbits make the list.

I find no need to hang birds. If a bird has a disagreeable taste, it's usually because it was cooked well done and not rare. I shoot em', grill em' and eat em'.

I clean my birds as soon as possible, no hanging. Eat quite of few of them fresh from the field which is always the best.

I clean mine and let them age 4 to 6 days uncovered in the fridge. I think it makes the meat more tender.

I typically fillet of the breasts of my pheasant, soak them in salt water for a night and then pat dry and either freeze or eat. Pheasant cacciatore is the bomb. Quail I usually skin and cut out the back and legs, leaving the breast and wing(first two joints typically). On a lightly hit pheasant I will take one or both thighs if not shot up.

I do not like chewing on birdshot. It is tough on the teeth and my dentist sees me quite enough. I typically freeze the quail until I get enough for a nice meal.

Since all of my birds are taken over pointing dogs, the vast majority of the pellets are in the back end and legs which beats up that portion of their anatomy and makes it less appetizing anyway.

RayG

birddogger2 wrote:I typically fillet of the breasts of my pheasant, soak them in salt water for a night and then pat dry and either freeze or eat. Pheasant cacciatore is the bomb. Quail I usually skin and cut out the back and legs, leaving the breast and wing(first two joints typically). On a lightly hit pheasant I will take one or both thighs if not shot up.

I do not like chewing on birdshot. It is tough on the teeth and my dentist sees me quite enough. I typically freeze the quail until I get enough for a nice meal.

Since all of my birds are taken over pointing dogs, the vast majority of the pellets are in the back end and legs which beats up that portion of their anatomy and makes it less appetizing anyway.

RayG

Wow! I can’t believe that never occurred to me. I’m sitting in my kitchen plucking some birds right now, several of which have been eviscerated, thinking “dude you suck, you’ve never hit one of these "bleep" things in the head in your life!” Awfully hard to hit them in the head if they’re going away from you

I’ve tried the saltwater treatment with waterfowl and seemed to help. I’ll try it on the phez next month. That guy who wrote the article in the link, Hank Shaw, makes stuff like Grouse Risotto and raves about it. I’ll look up cacciatore and give it a go but sounds like it might be out of my depth. One of the fun things about getting back into hunting has been learning to cook a bit. When I’m away for work I normally subsist on takeout and occasionally cook the odd hot dog with Mac and cheese.

Conducting an experiment. I killed some Huns yesterday. 2 were pretty tore up and one I barely got, flew a while before she dropped and looks to be pretty much intact. The first two I just dressed out and I’ll cook tomorrow, the third I’m going to hang a bit and we’ll see if there is a note able difference.


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RatDog wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 01, 2020 9:14 am

birddogger2 wrote:I typically fillet of the breasts of my pheasant, soak them in salt water for a night and then pat dry and either freeze or eat. Pheasant cacciatore is the bomb. Quail I usually skin and cut out the back and legs, leaving the breast and wing(first two joints typically). On a lightly hit pheasant I will take one or both thighs if not shot up.

I do not like chewing on birdshot. It is tough on the teeth and my dentist sees me quite enough. I typically freeze the quail until I get enough for a nice meal.

Since all of my birds are taken over pointing dogs, the vast majority of the pellets are in the back end and legs which beats up that portion of their anatomy and makes it less appetizing anyway.

RayG

Wow! I can’t believe that never occurred to me. I’m sitting in my kitchen plucking some birds right now, several of which have been eviscerated, thinking “dude you suck, you’ve never hit one of these "bleep" things in the head in your life!” Awfully hard to hit them in the head if they’re going away from you

I’ve tried the saltwater treatment with waterfowl and seemed to help. I’ll try it on the phez next month. That guy who wrote the article in the link, Hank Shaw, makes stuff like Grouse Risotto and raves about it. I’ll look up cacciatore and give it a go but sounds like it might be out of my depth. One of the fun things about getting back into hunting has been learning to cook a bit. When I’m away for work I normally subsist on takeout and occasionally cook the odd hot dog with Mac and cheese.

The salt water pulls out any blood left in the meat, or most of it anyway. As far as cacciatore is concerned, if you can use a large frypan, you can do it. I suck as a cook and I can do it. The cafe delites recipe I saw when I did a google search, is pretty close to the way my mom( who was 100 % Neopolitan Italian and an awesome cook) made her chicken cacciatore, except for the bell peppers, which I personally don't care for. Cook it low and slow to tenderize the meat. I like a lot of fresh basil so I put more in later on to keep the flavor. Makes an awesome one pot meal. Works great for chuckar also.

Forget the risotto, it takes waaaaay too long and waaaay too much effort. Get a package of Vigo saffron rice instead(it is a snap to make) or some jasmine rice which I also like. If you like Cajun type spicy, there are package mixes( Zatarain's) of red beans and rice, black beans and rice and dirty rice that are simple to make as a starchy side, and pretty good too.

RayG