Shot in the meat

[hanshi]

As a youngster I shotgunned a good bit, but I quickly found out how much better a rifle worked. I don't wing-shoot and use a small caliber flintlock exclusively for small game.

 

[bigted]

Hanshi, might just be time for a 32 or 36 cal capper traditional long rifle ... lite, easy to shoot and accurate.

Always shot em with 22's but want to get back into it with a smokepole. My smallest bore is 54 cal. Cant seem to desire shooting a quail with that ball. Little enough to eat to begin with.

As for skin -v- pluck ... long ago I learned a couple tricks for birds such as stepping on the wings as close to the body as possible while laying on their back ... now grasp the legs and gently pull up and guts, feathers and legs part ways with the breast meat. Now pull the skin down on them wings and break off the wing bones ... very little blood and you are left with a nice skinned breast. Skin and keep the legs if more than a small spoonful is there. I usually throw em away with the head n guts and skin.

I skin turkey as well but not the way described. Rabbits and squirrel get skinned, gutted and soaked in salt water over night.. no shot ... no hurt teeth ... no sqaullin from others at the table ( and you know who I refer to here).

So have not heard a good enough reason to get the smoothbore out after small game. Guess I ought to trade it for a dandy small bore rifle.

 

[Patocazador]

Now that steel shot is mandated for waterfowl, using larger shot is necessary to achieve similar ballistics. The larger shot is easier to find but will sure enough break a tooth if missed. Steel doesn't dent when teeth chomp on it.

I always pluck wood ducks and teal because they're easier. Mallards and divers are harder to pluck so I usually breast them out or I would be there all day and wind up with sore fingers.

 

[Brokennock]

I am not a good wing shot. I bring down my birds, but often with more shot in the parts I don't want shot in than is desirable. I've spent a good 30 years having the privilege to hunt pheasants and woodcock with an older gentleman who takes them with a .410 or 28 gauge with most of the shot in the head and maybe a little in the back, for comparison. Anyway. I used to breast them using the previously mentioned, step on the wings method. But, we make a lot of pheasant soup with ours, so, if not to shot up, I cut off the legs and wings to add to and flavour the broth. The past year or so i have been bringing a filet knife with me and a gallon ziplock bag, and boning the whole thing out on the tailgate of my truck before i come home.
Again, a lot of what I do and what i save is dictated by how shot up the bird is.

 

[appalichian hunter]

None of my small game is cooked whole. In other words it's cut up and prepped allowing me to find any shot.
Fortunately a smoothbore muzzleloader don't get to much shot in a critter or deep for that matter. Noticing the track of a pellet in meat once cooked helps whilst eating and using a fork well during eating helps to find any missed ones. Just eat gently, don't rush.
Alternatively you could do what a friend does with his waterfowl.
He roasts a goose for nine hours in a tin with two spotlessly clean house bricks in the tin. After nine hours and regular basting he chucks the goose and eats the house bricks!

I like to make jerky from Canada geese the process is the same as with my venison jerky actually very good. My hunting buddy has a recipe for corned goose breast this is also very good. He also has a recipe for goose breast done in a slow cooker with cranberries this makes for a excellent blind meal in a sandwich, on whole wheat bread or a good loaf of sour dough.Once the breast is cooled and thinly sliced he will utilize the left over cranberries and a few other secret items to make a chutney for a spread. Ducks are a different story when we hunt those I give the ones I shot to him.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Forgot to mention do not try this on snow geese with those the brick system would be best.

 

[AZbpBurner]

Steel shot?
... Magnet ...

 

[nbforestiv]

Been a long time since hunting for table fare with a scatter gun. Reason ... still remember the painful experience of chomping on shot it the duck breast mom cooked up after hunting with dad. I stopped enjoying the shotgun gathered game rite then. Cracked tooth n all.

So after letting the game hang for a spell to get past the rigor ... how do you all deal with the shot that is left in the tasty meat of shotguned game ? Is there a tact for removing it all ... EVERY PIECE from Grouse, Rabbit and quail?

I long to go after Squirrel n such with my smoothy ... but ... have resisted since I want dearly to eat the resultant table fare.

Any advice on removing lead shot from my shotgun gathered game?

Pick up a cheap hand held metal detector, they do well in finding small lead!

 

[nbforestiv]

I breast out all my pheasants. I haven't plucked one in years. The breast meat is the best part of a ditch chicken anyway. The legs to me taste like liver, and I despise liver so they go in the garbage can. Rarely get lead in the breast meat but once in a while one or two still get my me.

I used to skin both duck and pheasants, lay a couple of strips of bacon across them before putting them in the oven, keeps them moist!

 

[Billy Boy]

Been a long time since hunting for table fare with a scatter gun. Reason ... still remember the painful experience of chomping on shot it the duck breast mom cooked up after hunting with dad. I stopped enjoying the shotgun gathered game rite then. Cracked tooth n all.

So after letting the game hang for a spell to get past the rigor ... how do you all deal with the shot that is left in the tasty meat of shotguned game ? Is there a tact for removing it all ... EVERY PIECE from Grouse, Rabbit and quail?

I long to go after Squirrel n such with my smoothy ... but ... have resisted since I want dearly to eat the resultant table fare.

Any advice on removing lead shot from my shotgun gathered game?

Finding steel shot is even more of a thrill, switching to muzzle loaders thankfully saves most of us from that.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

I don't like to waste good meat, so pheasant and such gets roasted whole (Dressed yes!)
Never noticed any bad flavour from shot lodged in there.
As Dad and G-father shot a good lot of driven birds, some shot in the breast was standard.

 

[Brokennock]

I don't like to waste good meat, so pheasant and such gets roasted whole (Dressed yes!)
Never noticed any bad flavour from shot lodged in there.
As Dad and G-father shot a good lot of driven birds, some shot in the breast was standard.

Interesting take. We started mostly making pheasant soup, or dishes that could be made with steamed or boiled then deboned meat, feeling that we got more meat off the bones this way.

Of course, I do still like to take a a couple breasts with no shot in them, brine them, and stick them in the smoker now and then.

 

[oldwood]

No Grease Goose....How the Great Lakes Indians used to " Sail a Goose" .......
Gut and skin the goose , put goose in a container for overnight soak w/ whatever wanted .. Italy salad dressing, Shot of whisky , a little wine ,salt and pepper in the soaking fluid , the day before cooking....... You need a 8 foot or so wood tripod of branches. An iron skillet 12 inches . Make a flat cloth or animal skin square sail of sticks 18" by 12" . Build a slow fire w/the sail hung below the apex of the tripod. Set the tripod to the side of the bed of coals Hang the sail below the tripod so it can rotate in the breeze. Below the sail , hang the goose .We put goose in chicken wire above skillet to catch drippings. Put the basting /soaking juice in the iron skillet below in the edge of the coals . Goose and skillet is to side of direct fire heat w/ goose rotating in the breeze. Allow about 6 hours cooking time. Get someone to come back and check the fire and baste goose w/ juice in skillet about every 45 mins.. Go shooting , or something else to kill time while goose roasts over coals. Meat falls off bones , and tastes like roast beef. We fed 10 people on a 12 lb. bird. The boned meat made one trip around the picnic table , and gone.....oldwood

 

[beardedhorse]

A Kansas farmer housewife taught me to soak the bird in a pot of lukewarm salt water. It cleans out the blood and loosen the meat. Sometimes the pellets fall out and for more stubborn wounds a pair of tweezers grabs and pulls out the shot and any feathers pushed in. One doesn't have this problem when hunting with a bow and a flu flu arrow with specialized point but it sure takes a lot of practice. Blue grouse can be shot on the ground in Colorado with shot, arrow or bullets.

 

[Farmkid1]

I was shown as a small boy how to get the shot out. Was in a magazine coulomb "Tap's Tips" Take a 6 penny or 8 penny nail flatten the end into a spear shape flattened, Push in every shot hole and twist while pulling it out. Shot and feathers or fur will come out. Works great!

The writer lived in Laconia NH the magazine was Sports Afield.