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cleaning pheasants


Ryan_V

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I've plucked several. I usually pluck a few late season birds. I usually do it when the birds are still warm. I have not personally scalded any but I know it works well too. I also try to pick birds that were head shots with little to no damage to the skin on the rest of the bird. It is extra work, but several recipes work better with skin. Including the one you've mentioned.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I need a little backup from you guys that my buddy doesn't have a clue what he's doing

yesterday he tells me he has a pheasant for me in his car

so of course I was expecting to get a frozen, cleaned whole bird (he went hunting about 2 weeks ago)

instead I see a dead, whole pheasant in my front seat that wasn't even gutted!

I said what's this, and he says "Oh it's OK it's been in my garage all this time and it's pretty cool there. And one of the guys I was hunting with says you don't have to gut them"

well, my pal doesn't like it when you call him a freaking moron (most of my other pals can take it!) so I just left with the pheasant and didn't say much

now I've heard of aging cleaned birds for a few days in a fridge, but aging uncleaned ones in a garage!!

have any of you guys ever encountered anything like this?

I've been hunting since 1972 and every single bird I've ever shot got entirely cleaned that night and stuck in the fridge or the freezer

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I'm with you! No guts overnight and definitely not for 3 days in a garage!

If it's frozen, it's probably fine. I just don't like to take chances

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Aging birds with guts in is actually a fairly common practice in some places. 2 weeks is over the top, but given the weather lately it's just been frozen solid and not actually 'aging'. My buddy really enjoys eating aged pheasant guts in. He is typically only hanging them for a few days time. I will agree that it's more tender, but I am not a fan of the taste (it could be all in my mind though, the thought of rotting guts isn't for me). I age my birds guts out in the fridge on occasion.

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If I'm hunting 3 or 4 days in a row, I often will let birds sit for the whole weekend before cleaning them as long as it is fairly cool. Never have noticed any ill effects.

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Hate to say it, but you better dispose of that bird.... it was likely in his garage when it got back up to 45 degrees and it has a freeze/thaw/freeze cycle already to it..... yuck

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thanks for the opinions guys

my pal says he ate one the other nite and he seems to be OK but I just couldn't do it

set the bird out for an Eden Prairie coon, possum or coyote to get them thru these couple of frigid nites

sure hate wasting a bird though

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