I decided at the end of last year to man up a bit and increase my prepping skills further than being able to open plastic packaging so I purchased a .22 air rifle, took a few weeks of practicing and work out how to calibrate my scope. Once I was confident enough I could get a clean head shot of a squirrel, rabbit or pigeon or even a pheasant (with permission) and I knew my range I started stalking. I will tell you now its easier to hit these darn animals with your car than it is to try and sneak up on them!
So after a morning of trying to sneak up on numerous pigeon and getting two chances but missing, a pheasant presented himself and once he disappeared behind a large tree it gave me the chance to quickly sneak within about 8 metres of him and with a tree to take the movement out of my aim I got a clean head shot and I had my first kill!
I then hung the pheasant in my shed and it gave me a few days to research and watch youtube videos to see how to pluck and draw my bird.
After a few PM's to and from British Red (thank you) I felt ready and here is the end result!
A feather off 2 lb in weight!
So my experiences on the tips I got off BR and the www
make sure you pluck the bird outside, I did it in the shed but I was going to do it in kitchen as I thought I would be able to catch all the feathers, YOU CAN'T!
do NOT remove the wings, legs and head first to make it less ghoulish! (As one article put it). I took the legs and wings off first as I thought it would help me see how far I need to pluck but it just made it harder to hold the bird whilst plucking the rest of it.
"Whip" the feathers out, my first pull wasnt hard enough and I ripped the skin. It sounds silly but the harder you yank the feathers the less chance you are going to rip the skin.
Some people said pull against the direction of the feathers and some say with the direction, I found the larger feathers were easier and less likely to tear the skin when pulled in the direction they sat but the smaller down feathers were easier against the direction.
I did all my cuts and with a Mora Companion (£11), it was nice and sharp and I was also able to use it to cut through the neck with one clean push.
The only bit I didn't do with the knife was remove the wings as I saw someone do it with a hatchet, don't do it with a hatchet! It just smashed the hollow bone. Next time I will cut round with my knife and snap it on the joint.
Gutting it was actually very easy and unless you want to pick out the heart, kidneys and liver, you don't even need to look at it all, just have a little pull around inside the ribcage and pull it all out and drop it straight in the bin!
So my outcome of it all is, it wasn't as horid as what I thought it was going to be and I feel very proud for achieving the end result and providing a fresh and wild meal for my family. I will let you know how it tastes after dinner tomorrow (well technically today).
My advice, if you would like to give it a go then go for it, even if you only buy the bird whole from a butcher, go for it.
Now whats next on my "to try" list?
Thank you for reading and thank you again to British Red for you advice and giving me a confidence boost to prepare the bird and not chicken out. Boom Boom!!!
Chris
So after a morning of trying to sneak up on numerous pigeon and getting two chances but missing, a pheasant presented himself and once he disappeared behind a large tree it gave me the chance to quickly sneak within about 8 metres of him and with a tree to take the movement out of my aim I got a clean head shot and I had my first kill!
I then hung the pheasant in my shed and it gave me a few days to research and watch youtube videos to see how to pluck and draw my bird.
After a few PM's to and from British Red (thank you) I felt ready and here is the end result!
A feather off 2 lb in weight!
So my experiences on the tips I got off BR and the www
make sure you pluck the bird outside, I did it in the shed but I was going to do it in kitchen as I thought I would be able to catch all the feathers, YOU CAN'T!
do NOT remove the wings, legs and head first to make it less ghoulish! (As one article put it). I took the legs and wings off first as I thought it would help me see how far I need to pluck but it just made it harder to hold the bird whilst plucking the rest of it.
"Whip" the feathers out, my first pull wasnt hard enough and I ripped the skin. It sounds silly but the harder you yank the feathers the less chance you are going to rip the skin.
Some people said pull against the direction of the feathers and some say with the direction, I found the larger feathers were easier and less likely to tear the skin when pulled in the direction they sat but the smaller down feathers were easier against the direction.
I did all my cuts and with a Mora Companion (£11), it was nice and sharp and I was also able to use it to cut through the neck with one clean push.
The only bit I didn't do with the knife was remove the wings as I saw someone do it with a hatchet, don't do it with a hatchet! It just smashed the hollow bone. Next time I will cut round with my knife and snap it on the joint.
Gutting it was actually very easy and unless you want to pick out the heart, kidneys and liver, you don't even need to look at it all, just have a little pull around inside the ribcage and pull it all out and drop it straight in the bin!
So my outcome of it all is, it wasn't as horid as what I thought it was going to be and I feel very proud for achieving the end result and providing a fresh and wild meal for my family. I will let you know how it tastes after dinner tomorrow (well technically today).
My advice, if you would like to give it a go then go for it, even if you only buy the bird whole from a butcher, go for it.
Now whats next on my "to try" list?
Thank you for reading and thank you again to British Red for you advice and giving me a confidence boost to prepare the bird and not chicken out. Boom Boom!!!
Chris
