Field dressing a grouse! The easy way.

ORsouthpaw · 09-24-2008, 09:51 PM

I found this pretty interesting.

http://passtheammo.com/2007/09/field-dressing-a-grouse/

It sure look likes the easiest way to get the job done.

The Overfishin Condition · 09-24-2008, 10:02 PM

It works like a charm. I've never just popped it's head off that way before though. I step on the wing joints with my boots, grab the legs, and pull the head and the whole bit down through the chest cavity. Try it! TOC.

Gunner · 09-24-2008, 10:12 PM

We do something similiar with pheasants (only we stand on the wings and pull from the legs) with the same results. Nice clean breast and its also easy to clean up the legs. Mmmm...love those pheasant legs

KingSlew · 09-24-2008, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ORsouthpaw

I found this pretty interesting.

http://passtheammo.com/2007/09/field-dressing-a-grouse/

I sure look likes the easiest way to get the job done.

Actually, he's doing it the hard way.

The way Gunner and The Overfishin Condition do it is the easy way.

But, don't do it in the field in Oregon, it'll get you a ticket. Have to leave wing and head attached to carcass. Bummer, because it's the best way to field clean a bird.

HntnFsh · 09-25-2008, 04:56 AM

Plus it works best when they are still warm.

ORsouthpaw · 09-25-2008, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingSlew

Actually, he's doing it the hard way.

The way Gunner and The Overfishin Condition do it is the easy way.

But, don't do it in the field in Oregon, it'll get you a ticket. Have to leave wing and head attached to carcass. Bummer, because it's the best way to field clean a bird.

So the way the video shows would work as long as you leave the head and a wing on and then pull the rest of the inards out the bottom? I've never cleaned a grouse so I want to make sure I'm doing it easy and legal.

Rank Amateur · 09-25-2008, 07:21 AM

Grouse are easy to clean, I just dig a fingernail in at the bottom of the breast and break the skin and then grab the breast in one hand and the legs in the other and break the grouse open by bending backwards at the break in the skin in the front. Then just pull the guts out, if the carcass needs to cool quicker then peel the skin off the breast and legs.

Yep, the video above could get you a ticket for not having the head and wing and wanton waste of the legs.

Quack Attack · 09-25-2008, 12:40 PM

You guys are killing me here....

Grouse are the only bird worth actually plucking.

I would never desecrate a grouse by tearing the skin off or wasting the legs, best meat in the world!

KingSlew · 09-25-2008, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ORsouthpaw

So the way the video shows would work as long as you leave the head and a wing on and then pull the rest of the inards out the bottom? I've never cleaned a grouse so I want to make sure I'm doing it easy and legal.

You know, I didn't view the video, I couldn't get it to work. I saw the pics and they don't show how he deals with the head, but if it stays on you would be cool.

Here's how it reads from the regs.

"DISQUISING SEX
No person shall disguise the sex or kind
of any game bird. The feathered head
must be left attached to all upland game
birds in the field or while in transit. The
head or one fully feathered wing must be
left attached to all migratory waterfowl,
doves and pigeons in the field or while in
transit.
Note: Private hunting preserves are
excluded from this regulation. Further
restrictions apply to the NW Oregon
Permit Goose Zone. See page 19:
Reporting Harvested Geese.
WASTE
All game birds killed or crippled must
be retrieved, if possible, and kept by
the hunter in the field. All crippled birds
reduced to possession must be immediately
killed. Waste means to allow any
edible portion of any game bird to be
rendered unfit for human consumption,
or to fail to retrieve edible portions except
internal organs of such game birds from
the field."

In the case of grouse it's a weird reg, because grouse are popularly sexed by the tail bands.

ORsouthpaw · 09-25-2008, 02:54 PM

Actually they pulled the head off in the video so it wouldn't work unless there is way to pull the insides out with tht head still on. SO... What's the best way to clean them in the fieild?

KingSlew · 09-25-2008, 03:35 PM

Since they changed the regs I do it like Rank Amateur does it. Just pop the guts out like a rabbit and then when I get home I step on the wings and pull on the legs. It's a little messier that way, but it keeps me legal.

thefishslayer · 09-25-2008, 03:40 PM

i have always dun it the same way as RA

TonTo · 09-25-2008, 04:30 PM

First time I'ld heard about leaving the head on,good to know if I ever take a grouse in OR.
I'm a step and pull kinda guy myself,but then it dosen't take much to push the legs back up through and snap em off at the knee.

scubaseth · 09-25-2008, 06:14 PM

Ok. But I feel that if you kill a grouse in the morning and you are not going to get home until after dark. The taste of the bird is like junk if you leave the feathers on. Even if you do gut the bird.

Scuba

KingSlew · 09-25-2008, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonTo

First time I'ld heard about leaving the head on,good to know if I ever take a grouse in OR.
I'm a step and pull kinda guy myself,but then it dosen't take much to push the legs back up through and snap em off at the knee.

Yeah...lol! What do you do if you shoot the head off?