Other than tradition, why are some birds designated officially or culturally as "Game Birds" and other birds are not? May be an easy answer but not to me.

Good question; Robins are at least as yummy as Mourning Doves. Tradition is the probable answer. Makes you wonder who thought up Woodcock as a gamebird?...Geo

dove are not game birds in NY

many years ago there was an upstate outdoors writer named Floyd King who wondered once in his column

"what tone deaf person decided a mourning dove is a song bird"

coo...coo...cooo...

Over many years, I have inquired of wildlife biologists, outdoor writers, fish and game officials, sportsmen and no one seems to have a definitive answer. What makes a certain species of bird a game bird?

To quote "Fiddler On The Roof": TRADITION!

Certainly under the British Game Laws they are defined by species as to what is Game and what is not. I wonder if the U.S. has followed the same or similar legal definitions. Basically if defined as Game then a Game License was required to shoot them. The Game License has now been abolished here in the U.K. It was only £6 per year and cost more to collect than was brought in in revenue. Lagopus.....

Hmmm, how does George know Robins are as good eating as game birds?

All I'll say in a public forum is that the statute of limitations has long since run on the answer to Pete's question...Geo

Ever been to France or Italy? Robins are a member of the thrush family, and are on the menu in much of Europe. I've been told they compare favorably to Woodcock.

Best,
Ted

Concur w/ Larry Brown, TRADITION

members of the phasianidae and columbidae families? Non passerines? Don't ask me about shorebirds/woodcock/snipe. I haven't found a tasty recipe yet.

I don't know how, but the bird dogs I have had could tell the difference. They would point pheasant and chukar after having been trained on nothing but quail. They would also retrieve doves, but not point them. Never had one that would point song birds.

I agree with Tom 100%! After breakfast and after dinner my Brittany "Gabe" goes out to the backyard patio with me and lays down or moseys a bit. 40 feet or so in front of us is the garden, with a bird feeder hanging on a shepherd's staff. There's also the final pavement of the driveway, where I scatter seeds for those birds too big to use the feeder.

Cardinals, sparrows, chickadees, goldfinches etc. all end up strolling around bobbing their heads while they pick up a seed.

Gabe watches casually, or not. Then the mourning doves appear. They're not a legal game bird in MA but try telling Gabe that.

Whenever he's ready he slowly creeps a pace or two and freezes in a solid point. Sometimes he tries to creep a little more. The point of course is to not run after them. Sooner or later they'll flush and then he runs, which is ok.

I want to fire a starter pistol when they flush to get the association a little more firm.

What's a game bird? Ask your bird dog!

Never had it myself, but I hear that boot leather compares favorably to woodcock.

It is simple. It is what the game and fish departments in each state SAYS is, and is not, a game bird. Has nothing to do with reason, just as allowing a .410 to be used legally for waterfowl, but not an 8 gauge, has no sensible reason today.

Many questions like this can be asked, and answered, the same way.

SRH

I like woodcock on the table just fine. But then, I love duck and doves, both dark meat. Last time we got together and cooked doves I nearly ate a limit. Enjoyed 14, with some grits .................. we ran out before I could get that limit of 15.

Marinated overnight, wrapped with bacon and grilled until a little pink inside ............... man, it's hard to get enough.

SRH

A few years back we were sitting around the camp drinking with some Cajuns from Bayou Lafourche. They were kidding one of the older members of the group about being on federal probation for shooting robins. He said that he just wanted to make robin gumbo like he used to have when he was a boy. He said that robins had a lump of yellow fat between the breasts that was "just delicious". He also said he was not going to shoot any more, because the federal judge promised him jail time if he got caught again. However, he did not seem to have truly repented, his eyes lit up when he was describing the taste of the fat.

Obviously, never been to France.


Best,
Ted

An old friend used to supplement his diet with them when he was a starving grad student in the early 1960's. He said they didn't taste like chicken.

Meadowlarks. Not a game bird. However, I've got many an old recipe book that listed recipes for them. I mean people eat muskrat too

even had crow from time to time...but am trying to avoid it if possible..

My dog pointed dove a few times, when she was younger. Now she just retrieves them. I think they learn what you're hunting or not, and what's to be pointed or not, with experience. We just yell at the stupid sparrows, but we shoot at the quail and pheasants. Perhaps yours learned very early on!

So why are game birds game? I suspect it's based on the birds - which taste good, which are good to hunt, and which reproduce enough to hunt sustainably. Over time, they became "game". Dove are songbirds in some places, game birds in others. To me, while they do "sing", they definitely qualify as game birds.

Once upon a time, maybe 14 or 15 years ago, my partner and I ran into two young airman on opening morning of Prairie Grouse season, east of Wall, SD. They asked how we were doing and after looking at our birds, commented that all they had seen were small yellow breasted birds.

My partner ask "You mean those Ellsworth Quail?" "Ellsworth Quail?" they said looking at the best poker face in Rapid City. "Yep!" "Ellsworth Quail." says Harold. "Mighty good eating."

Later that day we saw them in Wall Drug Store. "Hey! Thanks for the heads up. We got a bag full of them quail." says one.

Old Harold never cracked a smile when he said "Be sure to pluck them. They are better eating that way."

Harold has passed. I wonder if he is as ornery in Heaven as he was around here.

Reference dogs not pointing songbirds, there are exceptions to every rule. I have watched a setter over several seasons start the season pointing songbirds, especially meadowlarks, only to relearn to focus on exclusively gamebirds by seasons. Starting on early season prairie chicken it happens and by January it is cured through end of preserve season in March. She tips her hand that it is a song bird that by tail position, but she still holds the point. I flush the bird and she moves on.

She also points squirrels and rabbits in the yard, but never in the field. She will even successfully stalk chipmunks on summer walks, but never when hunting in season. So yes dogs may know what is game and what is not, but still do what they want to do and some simply like pointing anything that flies

My 85 year old mother has mentioned when she was a girl during the Depression in Bath County, Va. several of the neighbors enjoyed Robin pie. My grandmother never fixed it, but apparently my Uncle Fred loved it.

Have you considered the door into heaven might have been locked when he arrived?

Best,
Ted

My old Shorthair would point Woodcock...but would never pick them up to retrieve..she would retrieve everything else including doves and ducks???

No. Harold was a good man.

He helped the poor and served in various capacities, our community. He was steadfast to his principles, loyal beyond words to his country as was recognized by our government for his actions in arms during the Korean Conflict, held true to his word and paid both his debts and his way through life.

He not only was a elder in his church, but lived it's teachings.

I never heard him raise his voice to another man, nor say anything about him he hadn't said to his face.

He personified the farm personalities that settled our plains.

I am certain that if the Pearly Gates were opened for anyone I have known, they were opened for Harold.

He was ornery, though.

I wasn't implying he didn't eventually get in-just maybe that they made him sit on his ass and wait for a while.

Best,
Ted

Brine them in jalapenos en escabeche with some extra garlic and chile de arbol, then dust them with a chili powder mix and brown them quickly on a grill or in a HOT iron skillet. Then right into burritos with spicy beans and shredded cabbage, a little cotija cheese and jalapeno ranch dressing to cool it down. Lots of beer. That's dinner on September 1.

I had a friend who tried mudhens (coots) once, he told me that he would rather starve.

I can cook mergansers so you'll want seconds, and I make a mean muskrat meatloaf, but I haven't found the trick for coots yet. I'm sure one is out there, I just don't know what it is, yet.

Mergus

Re coots, saute some onions in olive oil, add a bit of sauvignon blanc and a dab of butter, then a can of drained mandarin orange wedges. Reduce it a bit and pour over grilled coot breasts that were brined for a couple of days in a salt/sugar solution. Not teal, but not bad.

I hear you, but I ain't listening! Doves with beans, BEANS!! Man, you got to be kidding. Grits brother, grits.

SRH

In these parts, grits are either masa or polenta. Besides, who would ever fill a burrito with grits?

Remember, the same people who came up with burritos came up with refried beans. Yuuchh!

SRH

Yeah, but our rednecks like their food spicy.

If you ever want a mouthwatering recipe for tomato cheese grits send me a p.m. I'll promise you, you won"t be disappointed.

All my best, SRH

I want it Stan. I love cheese grits. Post it here or pm if you prefer.

Gentlemen,
Can't remember the Alabama/Mississippi quail plantation/hunting club ledger I read some years back...dated from late 1800s to early 1900s, but there was a record of robins killed...and it was legal,the migration was much anticipated, and the annual bag was quite large. I don't remember what years it covered that the robins were hunted. I'm surprised more are not aware that at one time robins were considered game birds and hunted.
NCTarheel