OK all you hunters out there. Answer this.

[chelsea0011]

You take down a bird with birdshot and eat it for dinner. Do you spit out the shot?
Or is there a way to prepare it to remove the shot first. Really. I've thought about this for years.

[kenny blankenship]

1. yes.

usually you catch the pellet in your molars, rotate it to the fore, and politely spit.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. Most of it gets removed in the kitchen...

but always eat with care.

[flamin lib]

3. Well, when you skin and clean the bird the shot is pretty obvious

and you pick it out before cooking.

Skin a bird? Yeah, the little ones like quail and dove are easier to prepare if you just remove the skin with the feathers. Lots of folk just pull the breast away from the rest 'cause there's no meat on them drum sticks anyway . . .

[maddiejoan]

4. Birdshot Detector

[notadmblnd]

5. in any wild game bird I've ever eaten...

there's always been a pellet or two. but from what I understand the hunter does try to pick them out.

[Squatch]

6. Every now and again, you crunch down on some shot

but, since it's lead, I spit it out.

[ktlyon]

19. lead?

not any more?

[panader0]

7. Okay, I'm not a hunter

I've never understood the basic economics of shooting quail. It takes quite a few to make a meal, and only after de-feathering the birds. To feed a family of four, you'd need a coouple dozen and a lot of work. Add to that the cost of a shotgun, the ammo, the time off of work to hunt, and you could be eating a gourmet dinner at a fancy restaurant.

[Squatch]

10. I just skin them.

It takes about 2 minutes per bird to skin and prep.

[central scrutinizer]

12. Quail are extremely easy to clean

you just pull off the skin and feathers and gutting them is a snap - you can do one in less than a minute.

[flamin lib]

13. There are no economics to a hobby. Racing boats or cars,

collecting stamps or watching a big screen TV it costs you money.

Hell, if they paid you money it would be work . . .

[soothsayer]

17. They're delicious little birds, plus you are allowed to eat the bones

(my favorite!)

[Renew Deal]

18. This thread

is going to drive the vegans and peta freaks wild. :banghead:

[chelsea0011]

25. Well, I don't know about eating bones, but I had them at a restaurant

and they were delicious.

[jmowreader]

20. Hunt on the weekends, that solves one of your problems

There are NO economics to quail hunting. None at all. Grouse is a little better, ducks are okay, geese is real good. Hunting turkey is real good if you can kill one of the damn things--wild turkeys can see color and they startle easily, but you will never set a better Thanksgiving table than one with a wild turkey on it.

The economics kick in when you start hunting deer--the gun you buy once, the ammo isn't all that expensive, and if you live in a place like NC where the bag limit is six per season, you're almost guaranteed to kill one or two a year at the very least. (On the west coast where they're quite a bit bigger, it's harder to kill a deer, but it is possible and the deer are larger. My brother-in-law killed a deer last season that dressed out at around 250 pounds. All the kids are out of the house; they won't buy meat until next hunting season.)

And for serious economics, hunt elk if you live in the West. Elk dress out around 500 pounds for a moderate one; the last one my dad killed dressed at 750. If you can kill an elk every year, you don't have to buy meat.

They tell me you can feed your family on bear, but bear isn't just fatty, it's greasy--I've tried eating bear and find it's inedible except as sausage. Pizzas made with homemade mozzarella and bear pepperoni...that's damn fine eatin' right there.

Let's not talk moose. Forget moose. They don't exist except in Alaska and you've got to have Cheney-level money to hunt there. I have known three people who killed moose, and in Idaho one is all you're ever allowed to kill. First problem: getting a tag. The state is divided into moose units, and you enter a drawing for a particular unit. Right now it's probably around $100 just to enter the drawing...if you don't get drawn you get your $100 back. Then you gotta go out and find a moose. Your tag will be for either a bull or a cow moose, and God help you if you shoot a bull on a cow tag. Assuming you find a moose that will fill your tag, you then have to stalk and kill this animal, always bearing in mind that the moose is the only one-ton animal in existence that is capable of vanishing into thin air. If you do kill one, expect to pay about a grand to get it butchered, about a grand to get the cape tanned, and then expect everyone you ever knew to ask for some of the meat. By the time you're done, you'll have...oh, about $3000...invested in one or two really nice steak dinners. (Of the three people I know who killed moose, one got a roast, one got twelve steaks and the third got two roasts, 75 pounds of hamburger--which makes good spaghetti sauce but awful hamburgers because there's no fat on a moose--and a couple dozen steaks. How's THAT for bad economics?)

[DenaliDemocrat]

22. I kill a moose about every other year

Even an average bull is enough meat for my family of five for about 18 months, if of course supplemented with other fish and fowl. I typicalll get between 500-600 pounds of processed steaks, burgers, and roasts. My grandfather owned his own butcher shop, so I do my own. Nothing fancy but I can do the basics. I cut, the wife trims, the boys vacuum seal, and my daughter runs the grinder. The whole thing costs me about $600 --- one heck of a good deal for a year and a half worht of dinner.

[jmowreader]

24. And you live in Alaska...

[central scrutinizer]

8. You can usually clearly see the entry wounds

so you know where to look for the shot, but you still miss a few - you have to be careful, just like eating a fish that has been filleted. You know there are still a couple of bones in there.

[eallen]

15. You also can feel them. Not a thing like bone.

[Swamp Rat]

9. First, you drink 6 beers, THEN you take down Harry... I mean the quail

:D

[Xithras]

11. Both.

Usually you try to remove it, but you typically miss a few. For me, this is one reason that I only shoot steel. I keep an old hard drive magnet under the sink that is very useful for finding and removing shot. Still, on rare occasion, one does slip through.

[panader0]

14. Here in Ariz., There is a one quarter mile rule.

You must be one quarter mile from an "occupied structure" to shoot. Well, there is a large water tank about 1000 feet from my house, but only 50 feet from my property. These guys routinely rain birdshoot down on my land (I have three kids) and I can't seem to convince them that 1000 feet is less than a quarter mile.

[jedr]

16. soaking the bird in salt water for an hour or two ;

Helps draw out the blood and to a certain extent the shot.

[lastknowngood]

21. If you wait for the bird to get at a decent range the shot will be all

in the outer skin and easily found. You get shot in the meat by shooting birds at close range or using too much gun for the game. Once in a while you get one but it's a small price to pay for the privilege of completing the great circle of life.

Life lives by killing.

Those who hunt and fish as well as clean, cook and eat their game know the truth of that and face it. While most people throw the meat around in the fridge at the market without thinking, that shows disdain for the animal whose death has become your life.

[Redneck Socialist]

23. Chew carefully. n/t