Game bird...plucking!

[jcn59]

Sixty years ago I helped my father pluck bluebills, goldeneyes, cans.   Never remember tearing the skin.   In my twenties I could pluck a pheasant, seldom tearing the skin.   Now I shoot grouse and no matter where or how I pluck them, the skin tears and I have a mess.  Don't have much better luck with geese.
 
We always plucked birds dry.
 
What am  doing wrong?  Would I have better luck with a mechanical plucker?
         
Thanks for your help.  I really make a mess out of this.

[Ron 1]

if you dip the whole bird in hot hot water a few min. they pluck pretty easy. thats how i have seen a lot of chickens done.    but thats not dry.

[BUGEYE]

we always dipped in hot water several times during the plucking. but not enough to cook the skin.
then lit a rolled up newspaper to burn off any fuzz etc.

[bobg]

My grandmother did the 15 or 20 chickens she did a year like BUGEYE said. I always did my pheasants and grouse that way too. Always worked good for me. Tried it dry once and made a mess of the skin. I want the skin on my birds.

[bilmac]

Is the difference that you are doing grouse now. I know that their feathers are supposed to be looser which is why retrievers don't like them. Maybe their skin is just tender.

I skin all my game birds.

[spruce]

Grouse have delicate skin, tears easily.  I don't even try to pluck them.
 
Lay the grouse on it's back on the ground, put your feet on each side on top of the outstretched wings (close to the body), grasp both feet and pull up with steady pressure.  The bird will seperate and you'll have the legs with guts attached in your hands, leaving the breast and wings on the ground.  Cut the wings off the breast. 
 
To cook, I usually just slice the breast meat off the bone (like carving a turkey) in fairly thin slices.  Roll in flour, pepper to taste, fry in butter or your choice of oil (HOT), just long enough to brown both sides and it's done.  Real quick and easy and the meat doesn't dry out like when you try to roast it without the skin on.
 
Best way I've found to dry pick ducks is to hold the bird by the neck, grasp some feathers between your thumb and forefinger, and while sort of rolling your thumb in towards the skin you pull downward towards the tail end of the bird.  Just pull off a small amount of feathers at a time and keep working from the neck towards the tail.

[Bigeasy]

When I did a lot of duck & goose hunting, I either plucked them by hand, or skinned them.  BUT - here is a method and old timer told me about, but I never tried it. 
Par-boil a bar of paraffin wax in a large pot.  Dip the bird, then quickly remove, similar to how you might dip a trap.  Let the wax harden for a minute, then peel it off, taking most all the feathers with it.  Supposed to work well on birds with thick feathers / under down.
 
Larry

[twoshooter]

After a few fiascos trying to pluck birds, I skin them all now. I also remember the dunking chickens in boiling water and the memory of the smell still roils my stomach. I only would dry pluck a goose breast if I were saving the down for a pillow or something,

[streak]

Reminds of the time that my daddy back in the late 50`s took a bunch of clients goose hunting in south central Louisiana! My mother and my two brothers and I were waiting on him to return late in the afternoon. Well he finally showed about 8:30P.M., and he had 5or 6 card board boxes about the size of those that cases of bourbon used to be shipped. These boxes were overflowing stuff with speckbelly geese that had not been plucked or anything!
 
So we started plucking geese! Finally tried the idea of the hot parrifin wax. that didn`t workout so great! So finally about 3:30A.M. we finally get all of these geese plucked and dressed out and into the freezer! And it has been a long, long, long time since I have touched another goose until in the late 80`s helped my youngest son clean his first Canadian honker!

[bilmac]

I think the parafin trick is just to remove the fuzz and remains of down after they are pretty well picked.

[Bugflipper]

Probably nothing different you can do dry plucking them. As already stated they are tender. If you start plucking them as soon as you shoot them they let loose a little easier but it still tears some. Dunking in hot (not boiling) water is best. If water fowl put in a few drops of liquid soap. It helps the water get through the down.


Tried the paraffin years ago for the fuzzies. It's quicker just to roll up a newspaper, light it and singe them off. I have never tasted anything unpleasant by doing that.

[briarpatch]

Guys have you forgot YOUTUBE?

[OLDHandgunner]

Grouse have delicate skin, tears easily.  I don't even try to pluck them.
 
Lay the grouse on it's back on the ground, put your feet on each side on top of the outstretched wings (close to the body), grasp both feet and pull up with steady pressure.  The bird will seperate and you'll have the legs with guts attached in your hands, leaving the breast and wings on the ground.  Cut the wings off the breast. 
 

This is the way I've always done it, fast and very little mess. Then put breast in zip lock bag, then home to cook.