Mmmmm...Pheasant

All drooling aside, we cooked up the pheasants the weekend after Thanksgiving and everyone (except for she who shall remain nameless) was able to taste something more wonderful than chicken. Ah, pheasant! Mild and pleasant. We didn't even need to brine the pheasant. (Yes, I intended the rhyme.)

My son, Wonder Chef J, helped me out by bringing my hunting experience to its ultimately successful conclusion, NOMS! WCJ prepared the birds while I pulled together everything for cooking them. I saw the "guy recipe" (code for quick, easy and flavorful) earlier in the day on a gun dog show (American Gun Dog...maybe), but I honestly can't recall which one. Anyway, we changed the recipe slightly.

Recipe
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (or enough to cover the birds without drowning them, we had three)
Salt (I used sea salt)
Pepper
Weber's Kick'N Chicken Grilling Rub (or pick your favorite)

1. WCJ filleted the breast and cut each into three strips lengthwise. He also attempted to remove as much leg and thigh meat as possible. (He didn't enjoy that. I know there's other things you can do with the legs, but we didn't this time. *Note: Be sure to watch for shot! We found only one.
2. We put a layer of soup (about 1/3 the can) in the bottom of a glass pan big enough to hold the birds and then laid the strips of pheasant on top of that.
3. Season to taste using the salt, pepper and Kick'N Chicken (or your favorite) rub.
4. Lastly we applied the remaining soup over the pheasant (my understanding is that the Cream of Mushroom soup keeps this lean bird from drying out).

Put the birds in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F.
Cook for about 20 minutes, taking care not to overcook the birds.

I think if you want to make it real easy, just:

1. Throw it all (I mean combine) in a plastic zip-lock bag together, 
2. Seal it (the bag), 
3. Shake or mix it all up 
4. Dump into the glass pan.
5. Bake

Seems a little unceremonious for such a wonderful bird, but I think it would probably taste the same. NOMS!

First Pheasant

Thanks to my friend Jim and his German Shorthaired Pointer, Gunner, I bagged my limit yesterday on my first ever pheasant hunt. I wish I had time to go out again this week, but duty calls. I need to get my wife out there!

First Pheasant

It was a tricky shot (or so I was told), crossing overhead (right to left) in the woods with the rooster flying high through the trees. It came in from the field behind me in the picture.

Packing a full box of shells in my vest, my buddy Jim said, "If you have to use that many shells, you may as well throw the gun at the birds." I wound up using only two. Two shots, two birds.

When: 21-Nov-2011

Where: Willow Slough State Game Preserve, Newton County, Indiana, USA

Shotgun: Stoeger Condor O/U 12GA

Ammo: Winchester Super X 2 3/4", shot size 5

Conditions: Sunny w/light wind in the low to upper 40s (started out at 38 and got into the upper 40s)

I don't know why more people don't do this. It's a blast and we're looking forward to enjoying the birds. My number two, the chef, is doing a Turducken for Thanksgiving, so we'll be enjoying pheasant after the holiday.If it turns out well (and I expect it to), I'll post the recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Product Alert!

I love promoting good products. Winchester branded electronic ear muffs, unfortunately, misses the mark.

I picked up a pair of Winchester electronic earmuffs from Walmart. For about $25 I thought I'd try them out and see what bargain active hearing protection could do for me. They worked well...for the first two outings. Then the left side quit working.

Dead batteries? Maybe...they were cheap AAAs after all. I'll try some new ones. No good. Try another set of better batteries? Sure, why not...no good. :-(

I brought them back to Wally World where I was given a full refund even though I lost my receipt. (I think it went out with the empty ammo box.) That is one of the few pleasant experiences I've had at Walmart, because I went prepared for an argument. I can only speculate what happened to the gentleman who took in my return without a receipt, but it would be purely speculation, so I'll assume he had a pleasant evening.

Personally, I love Winchester. I don't think they made the earmuffs and most likely licensed the name to another company. That being said, to maintain the integrity of the Winchester name they may want to check into these electronic earmuffs. The quality is lacking.

NOT a recommended buy.

New Ammo - It's Pretty

Cobalt blue and bright brass...after  finally flying out of the ejection port of my Benelli Nova, the spent hull lay there on the concrete pad distinct from all the others. Yellow, red, maroon, black, green and even some pink and then...hulls in cobalt blue and bright brass. They were, pretty in their own way and stood out among the spent shells other shooters failed to clean up.

Rio shells stood out that day at Des Plaines Fish and Wildlife Area range. With my daughter's boyfriend in tow, pausing only for park staff hanging the "Range Closed" sign (for pheasant season), I wanted to squeeze in that last bit of practice. I'm finally going pheasant hunting with a friend this season.

That being said, the Rio shells worked flawlessly in my Condor O/U. Shooting a lot of singles from a hunting ready stance (as apposed to a trap soft mount) I hardly missed despite the wind. I even did a few sets of nested doubles to finish.

My daughter's bo also wanted to shoot some doubles. Considering the jamming problems the Rio shells combination were causing with the Nova, I recommended against it. Sure enough, his last eight shots were accompanied by two jams.

Now out of clays, ready for the season and a partial box of Rios remaining, I'm contacting Rio via www.RioAmmo.com. (That WWW is important to have. I recommend they wildcard the domain so just RioAmmo.com will lead people to their site too.) I'll be very interested in hearing from them. They say their interested in hearing from me...

It would be great if they're as responsive as George Trulock and the folks at Lyman Products. I'm looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it goes.