Graybeard Outdoors banner

What’s your favorite game bird

4K views 48 replies 23 participants last post by  sharpshooter97 
#1 ·
To eat? For me it’s Grouse. Followed by Quail.
 
#2 ·
With a rare exception , I have only hunted pheasant, I went for partridge a couple of times but they were to quick the first time and to far away the second.


Way back, in the seventies, I was pheasont hunting once and saw a large flock of some type of bird land across the road from me. I was in heavy woods so they did not see me.
I crept , literally , up the side of the road and saw what had to be a rare cluster, dozens no just a few, of Praire Chickens as we only have pheasant and partridge in that area.
They were NOT pheasants and way to big for anything else.
I tried to bring my gun up but as soon as the barrel was three feet off of the ground they all left in a hurray.
I had hunted that area for many, many years and had not seen them before or after but there was always talk of a rogue group of praire chickens still in that part of Minnesota,

The odd thing was, and it was already odd, it was north of what had been the border of the Big Woods that ran across Minn. not south where they once were common a century before.
 
#4 ·
Hands down, ruffed grouse. I don't care for timber doodles at all (but like Spruce says the are fun to hunt) doves are ok if done right.
 
#7 · (Edited)
1- Quail
2- Teal
3- Geese

After I posted, I realized that only the quail is a gamebird.
The teal and goose is waterfowl.
 
#9 ·
Blue Grouse
Ruffed Grouse
Chukars
Quail
Pheasant
Mallards
Turkey
Sage hens

All No. 1 in my book.

Would like to try some Canadian Goose but everyone says they're not so good? Lots of them. What's the truth?
 
#15 ·
As CTL said, those corn fed geese are better.
Plus the geese that quit migrating don't have all the oxygen carrying stuff in their blood and meat so much of the liver taste is not there.
Boil the goose until the meat falls from the bone, chop the meat, discard skin and bones, mix the meat into a large pan of dressing that has lots of sage, and bake.
Delicious.:tango_face_smile:
 
#10 ·
I’ve heard that Sandhills craines are the ribeye of the sky. I hunted them in NM but didn’t not ever kill one. Odd thing I move back to Florida where we never had them and now there all over the ranch. Of course their protected here.
 
#11 · (Edited)
the main game birds here are turkey, duck, goose, grouse and woodcock. In my opinion the only eatable one of the bunch is grouse and even then id take a chicken or Cornish hen or store bought turkey over a pheasant any day of the week. Id stand behind any hunter here that wanted to hunt doves but im just not one of them. I have ate them and you can have them. About the same as woodcock to me and I don't shoot them anymore either.
 
#12 ·
I beg your pardon Spruce. It was goose hunters that killed dove hunting.
I know many hunters who all said they were going to vote againest dove hunting in Michigan.

Tell the truth you have seen the hunting sporting TV shows and the goose hunter rip the breast out of a goose and pitch the rest.
They claim there isn't any meat on the rest of the bird. B/S
I sorry they are flat out liers, I grew up on a farm and we had geese and butchered them. Lots of meat on drum sticks and wings. More than a tiny dove breast.

All they want is another bird they can kill. Well they can travel way many of us feel. I won't call them what most of my sportsman club calls them.

But if you wish blame the whole states slob hunter problems on the SE corner of the state. We are tired of tresspassing
By condo apartment dewellers too.

:D Al
 
#13 ·
Liberal, uninformed voters killed a dove season here - and by far the largest block of liberal voters is the sprawling urban area in the SE corner of the state. Those "hunters" who voted against it were, for the most part, not hunters at all, but card carrying PETA members posing as hunters.

I don't have a problem with someone just eating the breast meat of a goose, or dove, or turkey, or other bird. Lots of people roast a store bought turkey and just eat the breast meat. Some people eat brains, eyes, kidneys, etc etc of birds/animals but that doesn't mean everyone has to!

Do you eat all of the coyotes you kill? If you don't then some may think you're being wanton and wasteful (I don't, but some will) and shouldn't kill coyotes.

Let's face it all hunters don't hunt all the same things and all hunters have their own way of doing things. As long as what they do is legal I'm not going to try to deprive them of how, or what, they hunt!
 
#18 · (Edited)
got to agree. I think theres not an honest man here that will say that he never killed something and left it lay. We kill lots of deer every year. Its up to me what I do with them. I don't sit and pick every ounce of meat off them. Filet between the ribs ect. When I kill a wild turkey I pull the breast out and toss the rest. Same with a goose, duck or pheasant. I don't tell you how to butcher your game so don't feel I need your opinion on how I do it. Birds and other critters have to eat too.


I wouldn't hunt dove even if it was legal. For the same reason I don't hunt any birds anymore. Its just not that much fun for me and to be honest id rather eat a chicken from the store that cost less then the gas money to go out and shoot a couple partridge and they taste better to boot. That said im a hunter and would stand with anyone that wanted to hunt them. I really have to doubt that it was hunters that voted against killing doves. Its the same liberal trolls that forced the wolves back on the UP and hide below the bridge and dont have to deal with them. They think were there private zoo or some such nonsense.


Alley yopper your not seriously saying you eat coyote are you??? Ive heard of people eating raccoon, porkys even skunk but your the first one ever that ive heard claim to eat coyotes. Heck the birds don't even want them. Id like to see the reaction if you showed up at your food bank with a couple boned out coyotes


:tango_face_smile_bi "LIBERAL BUTCHERS" you might want to check the countys with the largest deer kills every year. Wana bet the top 5 are all from below the bridge. Want to bet the top five county's for game violations are all below the bridge. Liberals? Lets try Detroit, Flint, Lancing, or that special city deerborn where the muslims have taken over. we have one liberal town up here and that's Marquette and that's because theres a college there that's tuition is cheap enough that the liberals send there kids up here.


We spend the same money on hunting licenses as you and 99 percent of that money is spent down state. Same goes for gas taxes, sales taxes and state income taxes. We have to live by the same stupid laws the liberals make up down state so that less deer are killed. Like baiting limits ect that don't even fit the UP because if they don't make us do it too everyone crys down there. Mostly made up by the big farmers and land owners down there that put in food plots or grow food the deer love and just don't want someone putting more then a half a pail of bait close to there land and taking away THERE deer.


I KILL ANIMALS AND EAT THEM. If that makes me a butcher by lower Michigan standards then where can I buy the hat!!!!! Sorry but I will continue to kill every coyote that I can and leave them right there to ROT.
Liberal, uninformed voters killed a dove season here - and by far the largest block of liberal voters is the sprawling urban area in the SE corner of the state. Those "hunters" who voted against it were, for the most part, not hunters at all, but card carrying PETA members posing as hunters.

I don't have a problem with someone just eating the breast meat of a goose, or dove, or turkey, or other bird. Lots of people roast a store bought turkey and just eat the breast meat. Some people eat brains, eyes, kidneys, etc etc of birds/animals but that doesn't mean everyone has to!

Do you eat all of the coyotes you kill? If you don't then some may think you're being wanton and wasteful (I don't, but some will) and shouldn't kill coyotes.

Let's face it all hunters don't hunt all the same things and all hunters have their own way of doing things. As long as what they do is legal I'm not going to try to deprive them of how, or what, they hunt!
 
#14 ·
It's quail for me. Dove is the only other game bird available here. I used to love to hunt them but dove hunting isn't what it used to be around here by a long shot and Mother Nature is the culprit. There is basically no grain farming in the area and that leaves wild sunflowers. No rain at the right time, no sunflowers, and this is the second year in a row that's happened.


I spent two days out in sunflower country week before last. I didn't see either a sunflower or a dove and I covered quite a bit of country.
 
#16 ·
Some thing is odd up here.
Minn. now has a dove season, not because of hunting, but I have not seen or heard any doves either at home or up North in places I spend a lot of time, at the same time; in summer for several years now.
At the same tmeI saw not one Grackle, Starling or for that matter any of the birds that just three years ago were a bit annoying at times as they crapped on the cars.
I saw one Robin and one Cardinal this summer, all summer.

By the bird feeder in the morning, I would see sparrows, wood-peckers and a few other very small song birds but except for Crows, I saw too darn near zero birds this summer.
I have two cats who rarely go outside and never more than twenty feet from the back door which is no where near the bird feeder , where as, for 18 years I had a BIG tom who would bring one dead bird in in the spring and than sit out side under the Bridal Veil bushes and watch birds that were plentiful only thirty feet away for the rest of the summer, for near 18 years.

With an outdoor cat, birds, with chicken shite indoor cats, no birds.
Illogical.
 
#19 ·
You know Bob, I noticed the same thing here in Iowa. I have normally heard Robins singing the first thing in the morning for the last 20 years that we have lived here, but haven't heard them all summer. I have also noticed an absence of the red wing blackbirds along the gravel roads. The only birds that I encountered while squirrel hunting this weekend were blue jays. I agree something isn't right about it!
 
#17 ·
Watch the goose hunting shows On Michigan OF Doors. 90% are young and Lazy.

So All us who feel the waste of goose meat is crap and voted againest shooting doves are anti hunters.

Why can't you just drive over to Wisconsin if you want to shoot the little bitty doves.

We seem to always take meat off the young coyotes we shoot. We would even give some to the neddy if they were not so againest eatting canines.

We would and have gave other game like geese to them if we decided we have enough in the freezer already.

The donate to the food bank rules suck too.

Probably because of Liberal Butchers from Da UP.


:D Al
 
#35 · (Edited)
Probably because of Liberal Butchers from Da UP.


:D Al

more liberals in one of those down state counties then there are total people in the UP. We do have lots of coyotes though if you want to come up and fill your freezer!!!! :tango_face_smile_bi You can take those wolves the hippys from down state shoved on us up here too while your at it. Let the UP deal with those cute little doggy's. Fill your freezer to the brim but stay away from my lab!!!:tango_face_wink: Yup bring back those wolves but not in my back yard. Lets limit or eliminate baiting in the UP too because if we have a problem they should get the same laws shoved down there throat even though they don't have the problem. Yup bring a bunch of your buddys up. Set up camp right on the border of my property. Shoot guns all day long. Have a 2 week party. Go to town and cheat on your wife and when your done leave your beer bottles and trash in the woods. Not saying your one of them but that type sure seems to be more the norm then the exception and you can keep your save the little pretty dove bs for the peta people. Funny thing is you can convince your wives you have to come up here deer hunting when theres more deer in your back yard!!!
 
#20 ·
I have been eating pheasant and quail since I grew teeth so they are my favorite......it could be that I just don't know any better. I won't allow myself to be convinced differently either!

As for coyote.....I also shoot everyone that I see year around and leave them lay. About 25 years ago a pack of them came onto my property and killed ole Ruger....one of the best dogs that I owned. I don't see coyotes any differently than I see rats other than they are bigger. The only good coyote is a dead coyote! The only thing worse than a coyote is a coydog. Stray dogs breeding coyotes creates a problem animal that is actually worse than a coyote. I shoot them too!

Van Arkel farms just 7 miles east of here lost 7 sheep in a matter of a week to coyotes. I killed what I think was the alpha male with my 7mm-08 and one of the local trappers caught a couple in snares. Yet the coyotes continue dig under gates and climb over them to get to the sheep. They purchased a great Pyrenees puppy to train but his help is a year away. Poison is the next step!
 
#21 ·
'We seem to always take meat off the young coyotes we shoot. We would even give some to the neddy if they were not so againest eatting canines.'


You must have much tastier coyote than ours. Nothing will eat a dead coyote around here. Road killed ones jut lay on the pavement until traffic reduces them to pieces small and light enough for the wind to blow away.
 
#24 ·
When running a trap line I once tried a coyote stew. I gave it to my cow dog and he picked out the potatoes, wouldn't touch the meat, to me it tasted like a wet dog smells. But for game birds, my favorite to hunt is pheasant, my favorite to eat is grouse but dove breast wrapped in bacon and roasted it mighty good.
 
#25 ·
farmer that we shoot deer for told us to shoot the coyotes we see too. He doesn't want them around his cows. I laughed one day when he said if the Russians drop a bomb the last animal on earth would probably be a coyote because most me when given a choice between eating a coyote and eating there buddy would probably have to flip a coin.
 
#26 ·
1. Ruffed Grouse (we call them Partridge where I live)
2. Resident Canada geese
3. Wood duck
4. Wild turkey
5. Mallard duck
6. Mergansers marinaded in pineapple juice (yes that actually makes mergansers edible)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top