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How to Field Dress a Pheasant

 

Video Transcript

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Chris Theisen Shows You How To Quickly and Easily Clean A Pheasant 
Duration: 5:54
Filmed on : August 19th, 2009

My name is Chris Theisen and I am going to show you a quick and easy way to field dress a pheasant.  So we're going to take the bird and we're going to lay it on its' back, spread the wings out and we're going to step on each wing. Now for this, it's really important to get your feet as close to the body as you can while stepping on the wings so you got good hold on the bird.  Then all you do, is pull steady, constant pressure up while stepping on the wings. 

We'll set that aside for now, and we can see what's left is just the crop and breast, along with the wings. And you just take the crop, and it pulls right out. Now, I know some people like to eat the gizzard so what I'll do is show you the quick  and easy way to do that. Cut off the, thing (crop). Do want to do a close up of the gizzard here?  Cut, and it opens up and there's a thin lining you need to pull off.  Finding it, it's right there.  You can see that lining right there.  It's good to go! 

Then you can just take your breast, which is all you've got left here, and pull the feathers back from both sides, like so.  And go the first joint, which is right there and bent it the opposite way, until you hear it pop.  Then you can take your knife and slide it behind the joint you just popped.  Opposite way, like that.  There youv'e got your pheasant breast.

As far as the legs go, all you need to do is peel back the skin, feathers, like so.  Peel back the feathers all the way right through the back and sometimes its just as easy to throw them all off.  Then what you want to do is, opposite way break that hip joint right here, just pop it the same way we did for the wings, then we can take the knife and go on the both sides of that, and cut them off.  Do the same thing with the other joint, pull the feathers, opposite way.  You got one more leg and there you have your pheasant ready to be eaten!
   

Step-By-Step

  1. Lay the pheasant on its' back and spread the wings out to the sides
     
  2. Place your feet on each wing, as close to the body as possible on each side
     
  3. Pull up with steady and constant pressure on the wings to separate the wings from the body
     
  4. Pull the crop and other insides out through where the neck was
     
  5. For cooking the GIZZARD, separate gizzard from the rest of the crop with a knife , cut the gizzard in half about 3/4 the way around.  Pull off the thin lining surrounding the gizzard
     
  6. Breast: Take the breast and pull the feathers back on both sides
     
  7. Go to the first wing joint and bend it the opposite way til you hear it pop. Then use your knife behind the joint you just popped, to cut the ligaments and tendons left in tact (repeat on the other wing joint)
     
  8. Legs: Peel back the skin and feathers from each leg all the way through the back
     
  9. Break the hip joint on each leg, just as in the wing joints above
     
  10. Take the knife and cut the legs off the birds where the hip meets the body
     
  11. Pull the feathers down the leg to the spurs
     
  12. Break the ankle joints on each leg and cut the remaining tendons
     
  13. Cook and enjoy!