What to do withPigeons

[Ears23]

Hello all,

New to the site so will start by saying hi to all.

 

Have been reading a few of the postings and wanted some advice myself.

Am quite new to pigeon shooting and am trying to find out what to do with the pigeons when they have been shot. Have read a couple of post advising to take the pigeons home and leave them on the garage floor over night to cool down. Does this mean it OK to leave the dead birds with their inside still in over night or do they need cleaning. Which leads me to my next question. How do i go about cleaning the dead birds.

I read in one post how to remove the breasts. Is this the best thing to do and does this mean i do not have to clean the birds, i can just remove the breasts. What is the best way to clean the birds should i want to keep the whole bird and what methods are there to remove the breasts.?

Would be very grateful for any advice on the best ways to go about cleaning etc.

Thanks all

[Lancs Lad]

Either or.........Ive hung birds for 24 hours and done them straight from the field.

 

Best way is to pluck out the breast and then remove em.......job done.

 

There was a fancy way that I saw on the tv the other day which crowned them, left the bone in.........not shot a bird since it was on to try it out.......

 

Dont bother cleaning em, unless you are using all of the bird................breast is best.........

[Ears23]

Either or.........Ive hung birds for 24 hours and done them straight from the field.

 

Best way is to pluck out the breast and then remove em.......job done.

 

There was a fancy way that I saw on the tv the other day which crowned them, left the bone in.........not shot a bird since it was on to try it out.......

 

Dont bother cleaning em, unless you are using all of the bird................breast is best.........

Thanks for the reply,

 

I watched a program the other night about a chef who was being shown how to crown a pigeon. Got the bit about taking of the wings, but was lost after that.

[Lancs Lad]

Either or.........Ive hung birds for 24 hours and done them straight from the field.

 

Best way is to pluck out the breast and then remove em.......job done.

 

There was a fancy way that I saw on the tv the other day which crowned them, left the bone in.........not shot a bird since it was on to try it out.......

 

Dont bother cleaning em, unless you are using all of the bird................breast is best.........

Thanks for the reply,

 

I watched a program the other night about a chef who was being shown how to crown a pigeon. Got the bit about taking of the wings, but was lost after that.

 

that was the one..

[young gun]

During the warm weather i'll prepare birds straight from the field but now its a bit colder i may leave them to the next morning.

 

just take the breast meat off, you won't find much more meat on the rest of them anyway.

 

to take the breast meat off find the skin under the feathers and make a slice in it and then peel the skin away from the breasts, then just cut the breast out by cutting down the side of bone in the middle and slicing the breast away from the bone then just repeat for the opposite side.

 

i've taken the crowns off some of them you cut underneath the breasts round the bone at the bottom of the breasts and up towards the head untill you get to the top of the breasts then you pull the crown up and twist it and it should just come clean off, I wasn't very good at it and made a mess of a few but got the hang of it in the end even if it did still take me a while to get one bird done. (this may not be the correct way to do it as i was just going on what i was told by someone else but it seemed to work once i got the hang of it)

[Ears23]

During the warm weather i'll prepare birds straight from the field but now its a bit colder i may leave them to the next morning.

 

just take the breast meat off, you won't find much more meat on the rest of them anyway.

 

to take the breast meat off find the skin under the feathers and make a slice in it and then peel the skin away from the breasts, then just cut the breast out by cutting down the side of bone in the middle and slicing the breast away from the bone then just repeat for the opposite side.

 

i've taken the crowns off some of them you cut underneath the breasts round the bone at the bottom of the breasts and up towards the head untill you get to the top of the breasts then you pull the crown up and twist it and it should just come clean off, I wasn't very good at it and made a mess of a few but got the hang of it in the end even if it did still take me a while to get one bird done. (this may not be the correct way to do it as i was just going on what i was told by someone else but it seemed to work once i got the hang of it)

Thanks for that,

 

Was thinking myself that there is not a lot else on them, but wanted to find out about cleaning them as my wife is French and they love the whole bird in their cooking.

Thanks again

[sandersj89]

During the warm weather i'll prepare birds straight from the field but now its a bit colder i may leave them to the next morning.

 

just take the breast meat off, you won't find much more meat on the rest of them anyway.

 

to take the breast meat off find the skin under the feathers and make a slice in it and then peel the skin away from the breasts, then just cut the breast out by cutting down the side of bone in the middle and slicing the breast away from the bone then just repeat for the opposite side.

 

i've taken the crowns off some of them you cut underneath the breasts round the bone at the bottom of the breasts and up towards the head untill you get to the top of the breasts then you pull the crown up and twist it and it should just come clean off, I wasn't very good at it and made a mess of a few but got the hang of it in the end even if it did still take me a while to get one bird done. (this may not be the correct way to do it as i was just going on what i was told by someone else but it seemed to work once i got the hang of it)

Thanks for that,

 

Was thinking myself that there is not a lot else on them, but wanted to find out about cleaning them as my wife is French and they love the whole bird in their cooking.

Thanks again

 

If I just take the breats then they are fine in pies, cassoulet or fried but I also like the whole birds from time to time in stews as the bones/legs/wings add a bit more depth to the flavour.

 

When the weather is cold I will leve them upto 2 days before processing, in the summer it is the same day and straight into the fridge/freezer.

 

Jerry

[Ears23]

During the warm weather i'll prepare birds straight from the field but now its a bit colder i may leave them to the next morning.

 

just take the breast meat off, you won't find much more meat on the rest of them anyway.

 

to take the breast meat off find the skin under the feathers and make a slice in it and then peel the skin away from the breasts, then just cut the breast out by cutting down the side of bone in the middle and slicing the breast away from the bone then just repeat for the opposite side.

 

i've taken the crowns off some of them you cut underneath the breasts round the bone at the bottom of the breasts and up towards the head untill you get to the top of the breasts then you pull the crown up and twist it and it should just come clean off, I wasn't very good at it and made a mess of a few but got the hang of it in the end even if it did still take me a while to get one bird done. (this may not be the correct way to do it as i was just going on what i was told by someone else but it seemed to work once i got the hang of it)

Thanks for that,

 

Was thinking myself that there is not a lot else on them, but wanted to find out about cleaning them as my wife is French and they love the whole bird in their cooking.

Thanks again

 

If I just take the breats then they are fine in pies, cassoulet or fried but I also like the whole birds from time to time in stews as the bones/legs/wings add a bit more depth to the flavour.

 

When the weather is cold I will leve them upto 2 days before processing, in the summer it is the same day and straight into the fridge/freezer.

 

Jerry

Hi

Thanks for the info,

was a little unsure about leaving them for to long with the guts still in. My wife said her dad used to leave them for a couple of days with guts in, but just wanted to make sure.

Just need to find out how to remove the innards now.

Cheers.

[Country_est]

Dont know about what was on telly but the way I do them is from the John Bately book.

 

1) Twist off the wings

2) Pull back the skin around the crop ot expose the chest.

3) Stick thumbs into cavity and pull apart.

4) in one hand you should have a pigeon breast with the breast bone & in the other hand all the other bits ready to put in the bin.

 

With practice this can be done with your hands in a bin liner thus minimising the mess

 

Trev.

[Stealth Stalker]

 

Thats the way I do em when you get rolling it takes about 40 secs a bird

 

SS

[pin]

Just edited up a clip off my camera phone of me doing one of those if anyone wants to see it.

 

pigeon dressing vid

[stubby]

PIN, good bit of camera work mate, but do you always have the dodgey music playing on a pigeon shoot,lol

[fulltimeshooter]

Well done pin! Tried your method myself today PERFECT the bloke over the road was pleased with his debreasted piggy!

[Lancs Lad]

I tried the "crowning" version yesterday on the only bird that I managed to shoot.........see..........find...........stumble over.....

 

worked quite well and wife was happy that I wasnt bringing more feathers into the kitchen.....

 

must remember next time to take a freezer bag with me to stick em in, instead of walking down the road with what looks like a fresh heart in my hand.........

[markbivvy]

I tried the "crowning" version yesterday on the only bird that I managed to shoot.........see..........find...........stumble over.....

 

worked quite well and wife was happy that I wasnt bringing more feathers into the kitchen.....

 

must remember next time to take a freezer bag with me to stick em in, instead of walking down the road with what looks like a fresh heart in my hand.........

 

 

as long as it did not look like a walls sausage in your hand, your safe.

[Wilky]

Excellent bit of camera work, it's true what they say, a picture paints a thousand words.

 

I normally bone the breasts out, but not any more, oh no.

[pin]

Glad it helped, like I say not a great vid, nor is it "my" method, I am sure those in the know have known this for years and years.

 

Will do a better quality instructional one and try and get it pinned, as soon as I find any to shoot

[the hitman]

I used to supply pigeon breast to a chef friend many moons ago using this method. If you remove the wings from all the birds first you can do a canny few in a session.