Fast & Easy Pheasant Cleaning Tips

[Outdoors Junkie]

This Pheasant cleaning tip is from Nodak Outdoors LLP.

By Gary Simonson

This is a pheasant cleaning tip for anyone out there looking to get the most out of the birds they harvest. Give it a try and post up the results in the recipe forum!
 
Completely skin the bird leaving on the head. Do not gut. Please note, if you need to leave a wing or a foot for evidence of sex do that here.

Hold the breast in your hand with the head away from you. With a game shears cut along one side of the spine all the way lengthwise out the tail.

Repeat the previous step, but this time on the opposite side of the spine.

Grab the neck and pull! Presto a fully gutted bird ready for a rinse and into the freezer.

PLEASE don't breast pheasants and toss the legs and thighs....they aren't geese! I split the bird and freeze the breasts for individual meals then I take all the thighs and legs and pressure cook for an hour. Let cool, pour onto a large brownie pan and sit down in front of the Outdoor Channel. Pick out all the bones, tendons etc. You will have a large amount of excellent dark meat for pheasant wild rice soup, stew or whatever. You can get many meals out of the portion some guys throw away.
 

[Buster]

I was shown this method a few years ago, works great. You don't even need to cut all the way to the tail. If you cut right at the collarbone on each side and take one additional cut with shears that is enough.