How do you clean your birds?

[gasman]

Just  a little curious on how others clean there birds. 
Do you pluck the feathers?
If so how? By hand or with a feather plucker, or do you just skin the bird?
Or, do you have another method of preping you bird for the grill?

Lets here your preferance.

[mossback91]

usually just skin em......dont like messing with the feathers

[Old Dog]

I breast them, and bone out the thighs.  I usually don't have to mess with the guts.

[robb92]

If you want to leave the skin on them dunk them in a pot of boiling water , this will make pulling the feathers out so much easier. I usually skin them or breast them out,

[dirty.dan4]

Skin them.

[Antlershed]

For Grouse...step on their wings and pull on their feet. 

[tlbradford]

Gut them as soon as I'm back to the truck, then usually breast them out at home unless I am going to keep some for roasting.

[Birdguy]

Grouse like antlershed. The rest we skin. There is to much work in plucking those smaller birds. Turkey we pluck or skin depending on the cooking timeframe and method. I also skinned the one we are mounting .

[clawdad]

quail- find the bottom of the breast plate  push your thumb under it and pull out the breasts ( sounds extreme but it works )
Pheasant/ chukar/ huns/grouse/ - peel back the down just enough to get your knife under the skin  expose the breast and I remove the breast plate.
Ducks/geese  remove the down enought to get you knife under the skin cut vertically to expose the breast ( northerns skin is usually a little harder to peel back) then cut along the center of the breast plate (each side) and carefully cut the breast away from the plate. I haven't ever plucked because it seems like a lot for the little meat you get and grouse guts really smell.

[Sportfury]

I do the same as Old Dog. Breast and thighs.

[509er]

For Grouse...step on their wings and pull on their feet. 

 

[gasman]

For Grouse...step on their wings and pull on their feet. 

I have done this before, works great.

[sisu]

For Grouse...step on their wings and pull on their feet. 

That or skin them. Even ducks some times I'll skin instead of breasting.

[benbo30]

For Grouse...step on their wings and pull on their feet. 

yea heard that one before a buddy of ours told us that , so i asked him to show me he couldnt do it

[WildBear]

Grouse, Step on their wings, Here Too! Can't remember where we ever heard it, but works great!!

[Pathfinder101]

Grouse I do the step-pull method, breast 'em out, cut 'em into strips and cook in a cream of mushroom caserole.
Quail and pheasant I skin, wrap in bacon and bake
Turkeys I pluck and bake in an oven bag

FOr duck I have a special receipe:

Pluck 1 wild duck and split the cavity open enough to insert a small block of cedar
Insert the cedar block, pin the cavity shut with toothpicks
Place the duck in a roasting pan, bake on 350 for 1 hour
Remove the duck from the oven
Remove the cedar block from the cavity of the duck


Throw away the duck and eat the wood...

[Gobble Gobble]

Nice one Pathfinder 

It depends on my mood and how cold it is outside whether I pluck or breast and how big the bird is and how I will be cooking it.

[klickman]

Usually just breast them and maybe get the leg meat if its a larger bird.

Klickman

[captbly]

So whats the best way to skin?

[Gobble Gobble]

I pluck a little of the breast to expose the skin then slice down the breast and start pulling skin away cutting skin where needed. I have found the wormer the bird (fresher) the easier it is to skin.

[Redstar]

Good tips, I've heard of people skinning grouse that way but never seen it done. I'll have to try it this year, sounds much easier than skinning or plucking.

[stumprat]

FOr duck I have a special receipe:

Pluck 1 wild duck and split the cavity open enough to insert a small block of cedar
Insert the cedar block, pin the cavity shut with toothpicks
Place the duck in a roasting pan, bake on 350 for 1 hour
Remove the duck from the oven
Remove the cedar block from the cavity of the duck


Throw away the duck and eat the wood...

 

[Kain]

Pheasants

feature=related

Or if you just want the breast you could get one of these.

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Or

NR=1

Or you could try the free way

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[Cascade_Sherpa]

For Grouse...step on their wings and pull on their feet. 

+1 on this technique.  For smaller Ruff grouse I get the breast only. I've found the wings and legs just aren't worth the trouble of plucking and skinning.

However, for larger Blue grouse it is worth the time for the more meat that you get.

[WCTaxidermy]

BOY I'll tell ya, a post like this one makes a bird taxidermist like me roll in his grave. bash:
"just pull the feathers off" "step on the wing and pull" "pluck it"    My hunting buddy's always think I'm crazy, because when we get back from hunting, I always pull out my scalpel and skin the birds for Taxidermy later   Oh well, call us down right crazy.   John 

[Pat/Rick]

Skin 'em,then cut as much meat off the bones as I can. Kill an animal for food? Then use the animal for food.Do not disrespect the animal spirit.

[ecnclan]

Skin the grouse and pheasants, just remove the breast on Quail and doves.  If you are skinning, the sooner you do it after killing the bird the easier it goes.  I like the method Pathfinder101 uses with bacon, keeps the birds moist and bacon makes everything better.

[JackOfAllTrades]

For Grouse...step on their wings and pull on their feet. 

yea heard that one before a buddy of ours told us that , so i asked him to show me he couldnt do it

It doesn't work as well if you don't cut the head off first.

-Steve

[Wayne1]

yea heard that one before a buddy of ours told us that , so i asked him to show me he couldnt do it

Lay the bird on it's back, put both feet on a wing as close to the body you can, grab the feet and pull up.

[Blacklab]

Usually just breast them. Never heard of the wing thing on a bird. Will have to give it a try this year.

[Armadillo]

I always breast them, if theres an easier way im all ears!

[ICEMAN]

I always breast them, if theres an easier way im all ears!

I have an easier way.

Guys this is the easiest way I have found, it also preserves all the meat.

Before the bird cools, take pruners and snip off the head/neck half way up the neck. Snip off the wings at the joint. Snip off the legs at the joint. Now, simply turn the skin inside out, it basically rolls off the bird, with a little trouble at the leg joints and the lower back. Once the feathers are off, hold the bird in your off hand-breast down/back facing up. Take your pruner and cut the back out of the bird, snip down the left ribs and the right ribs... Now pull the neck of the bird, the guts will remain attached to the back bones...and will simply roll out. You now have all meat, no gut. Ready for ice.

[MtnMuley]

I agree Iceman.  Come eating time, it's usually a fight for the legs and gizzards!

[KimberRich]

Stand on the wings method for smaller birds.  Pluck or skin larger ones.