Picked a good pheasant yesterday

[marsh man]

On 21/12/2024 at 22:37, Krico woodcock said:

Alot of game/ wildfowl/ venison ate in this house also.  My wife and my 2 girls all eat it. I have a comb dry plucker,  makes short work of everything from geese to snipe.  I bought it from storey poultry 20 years ago. It was a fully reconditioned plucker.  Expensive at the time,  but absolutely worth it in long run. For Time saved plucking. A couple of successful days shooting,  there could be substantial amount of birds to get through, Before that all plucked by hand,  me and my father.   Everything that goes in freezer is plucked/ processed, vac packed,  never put any game,  fowl in freezer with feathers on. Its a real bug bear of mine people wanting to shoot game/ fowl and not using it. If you have time to shoot it then you have time to pluck  it, or breast it.. there are many ways to cook game,  fowl.  And done properly is some of best tasting,  healthy meat there is. You owe it to the bird to see that it  is eaten by someone. 

The thing is nowadays is you are involved in helping out on game shoots and do a certain amount of shooting yourself you have access to far more game than you can handle and if nobody take any on a shoot day then you don't need me to tell you what will happen to it as that shoot might have another one a few days later and have got the same problem all over again .

Up until 3 /4 years ago I was shooting more Pigeons / Game and Wildfowl than I could possibly eat myself but just because I couldn't eat then I always knew a few people and outlets who did , I don't think there are many people who will stop shooting just because they can't eat , or giveaway everything they shoot , all my surplus game / pigeons that I don't want have always gone in the freezer in the feather as the dealer where I went took everything at the end of the season , they didn't make much money but they went into the food chain so nothing was wasted , now the older generations are dying off and the ones who take there place are not that interested in eating the above , add to that the vast quantity of game shot now far exceed the demand and at the rate we are going it isn't going to get much better anytime soon .    MM

[ehb102]

I've been on two shoots this year and both shoots gave me prepared partridge to take home. I prefer shoots where I can load the back of the car up with birds in the feather and the gamekeeper is pleased to see it. I am obviously a peasant. 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

13 minutes ago, ehb102 said:

I've been on two shoots this year and both shoots gave me prepared partridge to take home. I prefer shoots where I can load the back of the car up with birds in the feather and the gamekeeper is pleased to see it. I am obviously a peasant. 

 We nearly needed bigger cars. Strange how a polite enquiry leads to two full boots. 

[London Best]

1 hour ago, ehb102 said:

I've been on two shoots this year and both shoots gave me prepared partridge to take home. I prefer shoots where I can load the back of the car up with birds in the feather and the gamekeeper is pleased to see it. I am obviously a peasant. 

I, too, have done three days this season on a shoot which gives prepared game. Very nice of them, but, like you, I really prefer to take game in the feather. Dressed game just doesn’t seem ‘right’ somehow. 
I am definitely a peasant.

[Krico woodcock]

I don't shoot on driven shoots except for very rare occasions, driven shooting is the exception over here, 10 years ago since I was on one . All my shooting in the season is wildfowl/ and rough shooting,  I am fortunate in that I have ample ground to shoot and get ample sport. All be it you earn your sport,  but if your fit and  have good working dogs, you will be rewarded. Often walking 15+ kilometres rough ground in a day. We are different over here as Driven shooting/ syndicates are not the norm, and from what I gather the the type of shooting we do isn't as easily accessible over with ye. So I only worry about the game/ fowl I shoot and not a game shoots.

[marsh man]

10 hours ago, London Best said:

I, too, have done three days this season on a shoot which gives prepared game. Very nice of them, but, like you, I really prefer to take game in the feather. Dressed game just doesn’t seem ‘right’ somehow. 
I am definitely a peasant.

On our shoot they used to give processed Partridges , these were a trice of three and not a brace like Pheasants , they were oven ready to encourage the guns to eat game as over half of the guns who came over to the game larder made an excuse not to have any game when asked , some would say they are not going home for a few days and others would say they have still got some hanging up from the last shoot , at the time a Partridge was making about 15 / 20 p and it was costing about £1.50 each to process them so it was either the cost or lack of demand they reverted back to handing them over in the feather .

We talk about the price or the lack of price that game make in this day and age , I remember possibly 40+ years ago I used to take my Pigeons / game and wildfowl to Frost Game at Brockdish , one year I took some Pheasants that we had shot rough shooting in October and he was paying £5 a brace as the game shoots hadn't started , Hares were also making £5 for a large Hare and £3 each for Woodcock  and our ole keeper once told me he was paid  £5 for a dead Fox , what on earth would they be making nowadays at the rate of inflation  MM

[London Best]

A friend runs a 5 1/2 thousand acre driven partridge/pheasant shoot. He averages shooting about five days per week. If you take a day there you can take as much game as you want, but he doesn’t mind because his dealer will collect the rest. My friend does not receive a great amount per bird, but is happy that everything gets used. The game is processed into dog food!

[Krico woodcock]

I suppose if shooting is a tradition in your family,  and its game hard earned actually hunted for, you value each bird that is shot. Like alot of lads , It was ingrained in me , you eat what you shoot..  but with driven shooting being a massive industry in England,  its a massive commercial glutten of birds shot, and men pay for them to be driven across them,  all top class sport but, completely different from actually working hard for your bird. I too seen it over here , on the few driven shoots I was on in my time,  I filled my vehicle with top class mud fat pheasants.  But I would say at least half the guns wouldn't want any, the other few, might take a couple.. it is sad that game commands so little a price now MM completely undervalued,  but if guns won't take it oven ready,  no hope taking it on feather.  Very hard to understand 🤔..  And it is a kinda shocking that game is being turned into dog food LB! 

[JohnfromUK]

Years ago (last century!) when I ran a game shoot we had a game dealer who collected from several big shoots locally every week.  Early in the season we got a reasonable price, but later it was much reduced.

I believe much of the game from later in the season was experted - mainly to Germany.  I'm not sure where it was used, but they make a lot of 'processed' products and sausages, so it may have been used there.

Later (and pre any Brexit), rules on game handling and hygiene were much tightened and I believe it became a lot more difficult to export, but I'm not sure on the details as I was out of the loop before that happened.

[London Best]

I started my shooting hunting hard for every pheasant, sometimes only a few per year in the early days. I, too, was taught to value every bird shot and eat what I shot. Sixty-odd years later I still value every game bird in the bag.

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, Krico woodcock said:

I suppose if shooting is a tradition in your family,  and its game hard earned actually hunted for, you value each bird that is shot. Like alot of lads , It was ingrained in me , you eat what you shoot..  but with driven shooting being a massive industry in England,  its a massive commercial glutten of birds shot, and men pay for them to be driven across them,  all top class sport but, completely different from actually working hard for your bird. I too seen it over here , on the few driven shoots I was on in my time,  I filled my vehicle with top class mud fat pheasants.  But I would say at least half the guns wouldn't want any, the other few, might take a couple.. it is sad that game commands so little a price now MM completely undervalued,  but if guns won't take it oven ready,  no hope taking it on feather.  Very hard to understand 🤔..  And it is a kinda shocking that game is being turned into dog food LB! 

Like L B we have always valued everything we shot and up unto this day I have never wasted a fraction of one per cent , if I found a fresh Pigeon had been fly blown then it would go into a polythene bag and frozen to be used as a decoy over and over again until it became Fox grub , even in my early single days we were shooting a good number of duck , I had a very little display freezer in my shed that wouldn't hold that many , each Saturday , or when I had enough I would take them up to Pettits of Reedham to sell , as there was no one in the office to pay you they used to send me a cheque later the next week , these I kept till Christmas and they paid for all the Christmas meat , if my brother had any then he would get some drink , our parents had very little money but we never went hungry and ate and drank well over the Christmas period .

This kept with me throughout my life and in the boom years in the late 70s when Pigeons were making good money I had two Walls ice cream freezers with the rubber sliding lids , these would hold around 300 each and the dealers would take every Pigeon you took either big or small they took the lot , these helped to pay for the cartridges and towards the fuel costs , then at the turn of the century they kept at the same price year in and year out , for a while we were getting 30p for fresh and 25p for frozen , so if I took a freezer full of say 300 I would get £75 which would buy two slabs of shells and we would have a good day out in the bargain , everyone was happy , then things started to go downhill to where we are today . as they say , all good things must come to a end .     MM

[London Best]

19 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Like L B we have always valued everything we shot and up unto this day I have never wasted a fraction of one per cent , if I found a fresh Pigeon had been fly blown then it would go into a polythene bag and frozen to be used as a decoy over and over again until it became Fox grub , even in my early single days we were shooting a good number of duck , I had a very little display freezer in my shed that wouldn't hold that many , each Saturday , or when I had enough I would take them up to Pettits of Reedham to sell , as there was no one in the office to pay you they used to send me a cheque later the next week , these I kept till Christmas and they paid for all the Christmas meat , if my brother had any then he would get some drink , our parents had very little money but we never went hungry and ate and drank well over the Christmas period .

This kept with me throughout my life and in the boom years in the late 70s when Pigeons were making good money I had two Walls ice cream freezers with the rubber sliding lids , these would hold around 300 each and the dealers would take every Pigeon you took either big or small they took the lot , these helped to pay for the cartridges and towards the fuel costs , then at the turn of the century they kept at the same price year in and year out , for a while we were getting 30p for fresh and 25p for frozen , so if I took a freezer full of say 300 I would get £75 which would buy two slabs of shells and we would have a good day out in the bargain , everyone was happy , then things started to go downhill to where we are today . as they say , all good things must come to a end .     MM

If I remember correctly, the most I ever received for pigeons was 45p during the ‘boom years’ from George Hull at Boston. I don’t think that price was on offer for too long though?

[Krico woodcock]

And all you hear about is cost of living crisis,  families can't afford food, yet the best of meat is being turned into dog food.. wel my late father was born in 1940 there was 9 children in total.. everything that was shot, caught , trapped or snared was ravished,  nothing was wasted.  1940s and 50s there was nothing in Ireland,  only people emergrating,  now that was  "a cost of living crisis "

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, London Best said:

If I remember correctly, the most I ever received for pigeons was 45p during the ‘boom years’ from George Hull at Boston. I don’t think that price was on offer for too long though?

I remember George Hull advertising the same time as Frost Game , they would travel around the country within reason picking up as many Pigeons they could get , the advert below is from 1976 and all the smaller dealers would offer a little more than the next one to supply there orders , we got 40p but I cannot remember if we got any more , by the way , Frost Game used to supply the Pigeons on W A G B I stand at the C L A Game Fair for there Pigeon plucking competition and donate a penny in ole money to the British Field Sports fighting fund , now that alone will take you back a bit .  MM

[Krico woodcock]

30 , 40 pence was serious money for a pigeon in 1976.. boom years indeed.. 

[marsh man]

29 minutes ago, Krico woodcock said:

30 , 40 pence was serious money for a pigeon in 1976.. boom years indeed.. 

They were at the time , we were buying a wooden crate of Russian cartridges for £40.00 , if my maths are right that make them 4 p per cartridge and we were getting 10 times as much for a dead fresh Pigeon , also the Shooting Times the advert was in were 25p , I don't buy them anymore but the last time I had a quick look was £3 something and I think a fresh Pigeon is making around 20p , hardly any dealer will take frozen .  MM