for those who pheasant hunt...

[Brent]

I have a question or two. My dog begins her three month training on june 2nd. In the mean time i have some gear to obtain. My main question so far is this. What do you use to carry the birds once theyre shot? Soft book bag? Messenger bag? A bag that goes on your belt? I know i need some good shears too. Any suggestions? Thanks!
-Brent

 

[coopermania]

I use a upland bird vest ( the whole back of the vest is a bag )I bought from LL Bean eons ago that is still in great shape.
For shears I have a old set of Gerbers that were my Gfathers. I use them just for breasting out and i use a set of felco bypass pruners that I cut wings and feet with. You can replace the felco blades pretty cheap and it keeps the shears sharper not cutting wings & feet.

 

[Brent]

I use a upland bird vest ( the whole back of the vest is a bag )I bought from LL Bean eons ago that is still in great shape.
For shears I have a old set of Gerbers that were my Gfathers. I use them just for breasting out and i use a set of felco bypass pruners that I cut wings and feet with. You can replace the felco blades pretty cheap and it keeps the shears sharper not cutting wings & feet.

You always have the answers to my questions! When youre field dressing, you dont stand on the wings and pull on the legs to get the breast out? That looked like the easiest way to me.

 

[gaskg]

I have a question or two. My dog begins her three month training on june 2nd. In the mean time i have some gear to obtain. My main question so far is this. What do you use to carry the birds once theyre shot? Soft book bag? Messenger bag? A bag that goes on your belt? I know i need some good shears too. Any suggestions? Thanks!
-Brent

A good upland vest will do the trick. Where is your dog being trained? What kind of dog? I have a field bred English Springer and have thought of having her trained as well.

 

[coopermania]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EelNBawvlMQ

I found this video and it is very close to how I was taught to dress a bird. Otherwise it would take me a week to type this out on my phone. I did learn something new though, To nick a bone and it will break clean. Interesting. If I dress a whole bird my kid hangs on to the bird also and we both pull the skin off. No matter how Iam dressing I always make my insision at the butt first.

 

[Brent]

A good upland vest will do the trick. Where is your dog being trained? What kind of dog? I have a field bred English Springer and have thought of having her trained as well.

Look up mason dixon game outfitters. Theyre located in pylesville (northern harco near pa)

 

[Brent]

How to Field Dress a Pheasant in 10 Seconds, Hunt…: http://youtu.be/kdyyMJL_LXE
an old timer told me about this

I found this video and it is very close to how I was taught to dress a bird. Otherwise it would take me a week to type this out on my phone. I did learn something new though, To nick a bone and it will break clean. Interesting. If I dress a whole bird my kid hangs on to the bird also and we both pull the skin off. No matter how Iam dressing I always make my insision at the butt first.

 

[PJDiesel]

We stand on the wings, pull both legs, pretty much pulls them totally apart and makes it easy.

 

[Yingpin]

In Kansas we would always skin them and then cut blow the breast in a U shape to pull the insides out. We had to keep on leg on at all times to show the spur so we were not able to clean them like they did in the video. Our way kept the breast and legs in tact so that we can be legal.

Upland bird vest is the easiest way to transport your birds in the field. They get heavy with 3-4 birds in there but you just have to make it to the truck

 

[redhawk_hj]

i bought an upland vest from orvis this past summer during one of their great sales.. its waxed cotton and should outlast me

 

[coopermania]

I not to sure about my new dog and upland birds with him, I always have had Labs and they tend to be easy to cross train, My new pup is a Chesapeake and he easily got the duck and geese thing. But this upland kinna has him bewildered. LOL. When working with him he keeps giving me the look like , Dad I don't understand what you want me to do, look ?????? And dad the lake and ducks are over there not in the fields. Its frustrating but damned funny sometimes.

 

[trickg]

I use a upland bird vest ( the whole back of the vest is a bag )I bought from LL Bean eons ago that is still in great shape.
For shears I have a old set of Gerbers that were my Gfathers. I use them just for breasting out and i use a set of felco bypass pruners that I cut wings and feet with. You can replace the felco blades pretty cheap and it keeps the shears sharper not cutting wings & feet.

Yep - that's what I used growing up in Nebraska - don't know if it was an LL Bean or if it was something else entirely (it was one my Dad had, and I commandeered it when I started hunting) but it served the purpose well enough. IIRC, mine had elastic loops sewn across the front where you could put shotshells, and decent sized pockets where you could put other knickknacks and that sort of thing.

 

[ebranger]

You always have the answers to my questions! When youre field dressing, you dont stand on the wings and pull on the legs to get the breast out? That looked like the easiest way to me.

While the stepping on the wings technique is a great way to field dress a grouse, don't try it with pheasants. It doesn't work, and you'll destroy the breast meat trying. Don't ask me to explain the anatomy of why it works on grouse but not pheasants because I don't know why it doesn't work.

 

[Overboost44]

While the stepping on the wings technique is a great way to field dress a grouse, don't try it with pheasants. It doesn't work, and you'll destroy the breast meat trying. Don't ask me to explain the anatomy of why it works on grouse but not pheasants because I don't know why it doesn't work.

You didn't watch the video above, did you?

 

[fabsroman]

I use an older version of this Columbia upland jacket. I'm a pretty big fan of Columbia. Just sent back a 10 year old winter jacket because the zipper broke and it is going to send me a new jacket as soon as the winter selection is available in August. About 10 years ago I sent back a pair of bibs because they were not waterproof and it replaced them with a better pair of bibs.

http://www.uplanders.com/columbia-ptarmigan-ii-jacket/

I have nothing to add about field dressing.

 

[byf43]

I'm truly surprised no-one has said, "That's why I take a couple of kids hunting. They're the gun bearer and the game bearer. Teach 'em early and they don't complain, much."



Columbia game vest is great for hauling in your pheasants.



I'd love to get our new "Springer" trained to hunt birds with me, but, he's just so daggone 'hyper'.
My wife wants to get him 'cut'. She thinks that'll calm him down.
(He's only 5 months old.)


I told her, "It just might piss him off! I know it would, for me!"

 

[Klunatic]

How to Field Dress a Pheasant in 10 Seconds, Hunt…: http://youtu.be/kdyyMJL_LXE
an old timer told me about this

Must have been a canned hunt as they were dressing Hens. I personally take the thighs as well. They aren't tough like the legs and you nearly double the meat.

We stand on the wings, pull both legs, pretty much pulls them totally apart and makes it easy.

Not a legal way to dress birds in some states. You need to leave a leg or head attached. If you leave the head attached you are still plucking feathers.

 

[PJDiesel]

Not a legal way to dress birds in some states. You need to leave a leg or head attached. If you leave the head attached you are still plucking feathers.

We are bringing the birds home from NJ, how I process them inside my garage is probably not going to be of concern for the MD DNR.

Not being smart, just..... well,.... just sayin.

 

[fabsroman]

I'm truly surprised no-one has said, "That's why I take a couple of kids hunting. They're the gun bearer and the game bearer. Teach 'em early and they don't complain, much."



Columbia game vest is great for hauling in your pheasants.



I'd love to get our new "Springer" trained to hunt birds with me, but, he's just so daggone 'hyper'.
My wife wants to get him 'cut'. She thinks that'll calm him down.
(He's only 5 months old.)


I told her, "It just might piss him off! I know it would, for me!"

He is a puppy. Puppies are hyper. My yellow lab was like that too. All full of energy. Now, at nearly 11 years old, he isn't so hyper anymore. Just lying here at my feet as I type this.

The first time I took him upland hunting he was about 5 months old and it was tough. We ended up tying him to a table the second portion of the hunt and trying to just use the "guide's" dogs. My dog, Nitro, chewed through the rope in less than 5 minutes and was right by my side. I have video of him trying to fetch a pheasant. It was actually a great time with my brothers, dad, and uncle and a learning experience for Nitro.

A couple months later, with snow coming down, he made a 200+ yard retrieve on a goose. The goose was a sailer and he took off after it. Went over a hill and I lost sight of him. Figured I was going to spend the rest of the day looking for him. About 5 minutes go by and he is at the top of the hill with the goose in his mouth. He stopped at the top of the hill on the way back, I'm guessing to show us he got the bird, and I was proud as could be.

Leave the poor guy's jewels in place. The excitement is great for hunting. He just needs to learn to hunt close and not flush birds 100 yards down the field like our old Springer Spaniel used to do.

 

[campns]

You all dont know what your missing. a properly hung pheaseant is a taste and sight to behold. Hank Shaw had done a great article on it a few years ago.

http://honest-food.net/2012/10/20/on-hanging-pheasants-2/

we always used the back of the garage high enough up that the dogs couldnt get to them and in the part of PA that i'm from the temperatures were just right mostly all the time.

A good Knife and Shears are absolute needs and so is a game vest. Dont froget to get a good pair of boots, your going to be doing alot of walking as well.