How to Field Dress Pheasant

To dress pheasant in the field, you will need to bring all of your supplies with you on the hunt. Remembering to keep your dressing sanitary can mean the difference between enjoying your birds for dinner and taking a trip to the hospital with food poisoning.

Things You'll Need

• Knife
• Cooler
• Resealable plastic bags
• Surgical rubber gloves
• Ice
• Clean water
• Clean towels

Instructions

Keep Pheasants Cool Prior to Field Dressing

1. Avoid stacking up the peasants you have already killed. Piling up the carcasses retards the cooling process and can encourage the growth of bacteria. If you are not careful, you can drag this bacteria onto the meat when field dressing the birds.

2. Place each bird in a separate place on the ground.

3. Or hang each bird separately with a short length of rope. This will promote the loss of body temperature.

Practice Sanitary Field Dressing

1. Wash your hands with soap and clean water before you begin to field dress your pheasant. This seems obvious, but many hunters forget to do this--and pay the price later.

2. Put on your surgical gloves. This will prevent you from touching any bacteria. It will also prevent you from passing on bacteria to your pheasants, which will shortly be your dinner.

3. Develop the habit of cleaning your knife frequently while dressing your pheasant. It only takes a second or two to wipe your knife on a clean cloth, and it could save your kill from being spoiled.

4. Opt to skin your pheasant to field dress it in the shortest amount of time. Cut the bird horizontally across the upper breast area. Grasp the skin and pull it off with a slow, steady motion.

5. Choose to pluck your bird to preserve the moistness of the meat for later cooking. Begin at the tail end of the bird and pull feathers out against the grain until only the head remains feathered.

6. Cut the bird from the base of the neck to the legs. Be careful not to cut into the internal organs while doing so.

7. Pull open the cavity and carefully remove the organs. Try not to rupture any organs to protect your meat.

8. Wipe out the cavity with a clean, dry cloth.

9. Allow the bird to air cool for a few moments before you place it in a plastic bag. Once bagged, keep the pheasant on ice in the cooler.

Tips & Warnings

• Wipe your knife on a clean towel after every other cut to ensure a bacteria-free dressing.

• To comply with your hunting license, leave the heads of your pheasants attached and feathered.