Cleaning a pheasant

I’m sure there’s various articles/videos online, but I was just wondering how you like to clean birds. Plucked, filleted, etc. Any tips? I’m hoping to get into some birds some day and shoot straight.

I plucked one once and probably never will again. Their skin is quite thin, and it’s a pain in the butt.

I use the “one foot on each wing and slowly pull on the legs” method as long as they’re not too shot up.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

I use the “one foot on each wing and slowly pull on the legs” method as long as they’re not too shot up.

This. Works not quite as well as on grouse, but does work provided wings are not broken.

I just breast them out anymore. Rip the skin off the breast, pull the breastbone back opening the cavity, cut through the bone near the neck…..when in sd I will leave a wing on.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ralph Wiggum wrote:</div>
I use the “one foot on each wing and slowly pull on the legs” method as long as they’re not too shot up.

This. Works not quite as well as on grouse, but does work provided wings are not broken.

x3

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

I use the “one foot on each wing and slowly pull on the legs” method

Same. I tried other ways but it’s not worth it.

Open there chest and stick your finger deep in and pull the breast with one hand and their head with the other. Its not easy and takes a lot of hand strength. It usually separates into two pieces. The breast with wings attached in one hand and all the the rest in the other. I only use a knife to make two cuts on each thigh then tear the whole leg away. You have the wings and the feet for legal transportation then I filet the meat off back home. I find the stand on the wings method works consistently with Grouse but not Pheasant. But then again we usually dont clean pheasant until quite a while after shooting them which makes every method more difficult.

Suzuki what makes that way easier is to skin the back also and make a cut under each shoulder blade from the tip to the neck and then pull the way you said. Don’t have to pull very hard at all.

Breast them out and debone the thighs. Takes 2-3 minutes per bird. If I need to transport and it will be a day or two before travel, I just gut them and wait to skin & clean until I get home.

steelslinger71 wrote:

Suzuki what makes that way easier is to skin the back also and make a cut under each shoulder blade from the tip to the neck and then pull the way you said. Don’t have to pull very hard at all.

I cant visualize that. I wish I could. We have old guys (me soon) that can no longer tear them apart due to lack of hand strength or arthritis. Are you going to be in NW Iowa this weekend?

I could be as I am only about 30 miles away from the border😀. I pretty much only fillet the breast and thighs off nowadays but we used to clean them the way you described and it worked pretty slick especially with the shoulder blade cuts. Now by filleting everything is boneless.