doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dressing pheasants

I could never escape the taint of bowel in a ruffed grouse left to hang undrawn.
Now it’s eviscerate, rinse cavity, and get them on ice.

Recognize a member here called me coprophagic because I prepare and eat woodcock in the manner of Escoffier.
(Roasted undrawn)

To each their own (snipe lose all texture when aged), as long as they are not wasted.

4 birds aged for ~100 hours after being skinned (but not drawn yet). No bad sights or smells.



Skinned, drawn, final rinse and prepped for freezing. I'll cover them with water next and freeze them.

They will store perfectly this way for several years if necessary.

I highly recommend you get a vacuum sealer, Lloyd. Unreal how long things last when sealed up in this manner. Plus, you can do individual birds, then thaw however many you need rather than a whole container of several.
JR

I have to agree with the Preacher on the idea of aging game birds, especially because of the contamination due to pellets carrying feathers and intestinal contents into the meat.

If you do a search for which meat is responsible for the most food poisoning, poultry is always high on the list. When I shot my first pheasant, my Dad took me to my Grandmother's house to allow her to teach me how to properly pluck and clean a bird. She was fastidious about cleaning the body cavity and any debris from every pellet hole. She used a nut-pick to probe for any pellets remaining in the meat. Then it was to go into the freezer unless it would be cooked right away.

I like to age my deer when I can. And of course, gut shots are avoided at all costs. But it is rare that temperature conditions cooperate to allow safely hanging my deer for more than two or three days before processing. My longest stretch of not too warm and not too cold was eight days.