I have rather small hands, 8 1/2 glove size. I'm having a heck of a time finding a good pair of game shears. Most have handles that must open too wide when cutting with the bone notch. I end up using two hands to get decent leverage, or place one handle on the cleaning surface and push down with the other.

Anyone know of a good ergonomic shear for small hands?

That out of the way, Thanksgiving Holiday served up 12 chukar and one ringneck in Eastern Washington. Sure felt nice to harvest some birds and provide some non-turkey table fare.

Rick, I have a pair of Gerber game shears that are the best I've ever used. The plastic handles are shaped to provide comfort while applying maximum pressure for bone shearing. The blades are serrated and include a bone notch that won't slip...Geo

My favorites, so far, have been the Chicago Cutlery shears...sharp, with a powerful bite. They come apart for cleaning but not while working. I did Dremel the screwdriver and bottle opener off of mine, which makes them compact and easy to carry. Metal through the length of the handle is a good thing. I have little hands, too, by the way.

I bought a pair of Cabelas most expensive stainless shears this year. They lasted about 2 birds before the spring got bound up and they really didn't cut phez wings worth a darn. They took them back. BTW, I found that a big hunting knife or better yet, a meat cleaver and a cutting board, works so quickly that I'll never pull out a set of shears for a phez again

WECK stainless, professional grade equipment.

You may already have garden hand cutter, either anvil type or blade pass by like the picture above. It will cut a 1" limb from a tree. Worth a try.

They may be called pruners. Some have multiple positions for the handles for smaller hands. They are certainly rugged.

Don't know about the hand size, but I have a pair of Case shears (sissors) that I got for $10 years ago at a hardware store. I can clean 65 doves an hour with them easy. I finally had to get a second pair to keep in the kitchen so I would always have a pair in my dove stool. My mother has a small pair of sissors that she got at an undertaker's convention. (long story) They will supposedly cut through a penny and would certainly fit smaller hands.

Just came back from a pheasant hunt in S.D. The farm there was using Irwin Long Cut tin snips as game shears. There are far and away the best thing I've ever seen. Not elegant, but they work and they are apparently under $20

I had no idea that shears were like shotguns .. with so many opinions. I have owned and used Case XX, a coupla expensive Hoffritz and Italian 'game' or 'poultry' shears that looked like first cousins to the pic Chuck posted [quickly given away to a coupla brides that thot they needed expensive] and some others that I don't remember their particular brand. Long story short, FISKERS game shears, available in either riveted or take apart models, beat everything else hands down. I prefer the riveted model, but both have the same exact blade and the bone cutter is a wavy little grind near the rivet. I also have quite small hands. If you are going to need to cut bones much larger than quail then a small cleaver or hatchet makes for short work. The Fishers game/kitchen shears are inexpensive and they are real workers. They are among my most prized possessions and I keep a pair in the car/truck, in the kitchen and at any camp I have set up or base. There, they are kept with the freezer zip lock baggies, both quart & gallon sized.

I use the expensive game shears (I inherited a couple pairs of the nice old German ones) for cooked game just because I have them. IMHO they are a waste of money, especially the ones made today. I think you would find a pair of harbor Freight siscors (sp?) pretty good for most upland birds and on sale are less than a buck. For ducks and pheasants, use a small cleaver or hatchet with a cutting board.

Pretty hard to beat Gerber's; cheap, easy to find, and they work. I bought a pair for each of my bros-in-law who didn't even know such things existed, and now all are convinced that they are one of mankind's best inventions!

For the small birds like quail, I use a pair of wire side cutters (dykes). They are fine for quail, but won't cut the skin and all on a phez.

Might want to look at regular kitchen shears as made by Henckel and others. Usually I don't need shears to clean birds having learned to snap and twist just right as a kid, but sometimes things get hung up and the kitchen shears do just fine.