[whitby_sam]

I have a lot of wood pigeons on my land, eating up my seedlings and causing issues for the farmer next door... I like the taste of pigeon but am of the (hippie?) opinion that if I kill something I must eat it. The thing is, I've no idea where to start when dressing a pidgeon. Can anyone offer any pointers as to the technique? They will be shot with my .22 at a close enough range to ensure a clean kill so there will be no suffering. That side of it I'm confident with...

Do I need to hang them? Are they easy to pluck? Can I make use of all the meat or is the breast the only bit worth bothering with?

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm also open to ideas regarding recipes...

[Wizard]

Hello Sam My way there is alsorts of ways.1 kill it as clean as possible Their wings are very strong best through the head or from behind.You want quite a few pull the feathers off the breast so you can see the skin.Cut the shin along the breast bone and remove the skin the feathers will come as well.Insert your knife at the far end and slide it along the breast bone to the head end removing all the breast meat from both sides the bone.Dump the rest theres nothing worth having on the carcass even the legs are not worth bothering with.Now you have a nice pile of first class meat you can casserole it make a pie make a game pate if you have a pheasant or other game it goes good under a crust with rabbit don't forget to put a slice of fat bacon on the top of the meat before you put the crust on.So you don't like the idea of wasting any of the pigeon Pluck and draw 4 birds save the livers. Now you need 2 hard boiled eggs - 1 raw egg - a sprig of parsley - a lemon - a little suet - a little - flour - some breadcrumbs - S&P to taste - a good grate of nutmeg - fresh butter not much - a head of celery - a bunch of sweet herbs - 4 cloves and a glass of white wine We are ready now to Jug our pigeons Boil the livers a minute or two then mince them fine then beat the mince with a spoon back and add to the hard boiled egg yokes Chop the parsley jest the lemon mix with the breadcrumbs P&S and nutmeg mix in the raw egg and the butter Now stuff the pigeons including their crops with the mix Dip the birds into warm water to make them damp and dredge in flour and salt and pepper Place the birds in your jug with the celery sweet herbs cloves and pour over the white wine Cover the jug closely and place the jug in a pan of boiling water and cook for 3 hours or until the birds are cooked.When the birds are done remove from the jug strain the juices into a pan add a walnut size piece of butter rolled in flour and cook until nice and thick Pour over the pigeons and garnish with lemon slices.Its a fair amount of bother but its well worth the effort

[Wizard]

Sorry Sam I dont hang mine as such not more than a couple of days any way

[YorkshireSmallholder]

Hi Sam,

you won't get many with your .22. You'll need a shotgun to make it worthwhile (you'll be amazed at how many you see within shooting distance when you're unarmed but as soon as you have a gun in your hand they won't come anywhere near you!!).

I love pigeon, it must be one of the most underated meats. Wizard is spot on - only the breasts are worth eating, although the French love to cook the whole carcass in the pot but they're very time consuming to pluck - I shoot them by the bucket load, if you do hang them, which is not really necessary, you'll need to ensure you empty their crop which is more often than not full of rape leaves at this time of the year & can taint the meat if left. To breast them, put them on their back & pull their legs apart so that the skin tears, then simply pull the skin & feathers away to expose the brest meat as wizard suggests, then with a knife, slice away the breast meat either side of the breast bone & you'll have two delicous plumb pigeon breasts ready to cook or freeze.

Try slicing it & using it instead of beef for 'pigeon stroganoff' or lightly fried with black pudding. Mmm - I'm making myself hungry 

Regards

[Wizard]

Hey up Yorkshire Its onny us peasants that eat food like this if we keep lettin the cat outa the bag and folk find out ow good they are There'll be none left for us.Don't know though there looked to be a fair few in Trafalgar Squre on telly last week.You know what bother Jasper got into with the mole and that was onny one lol George

[sagehen]

Do you need a licence to shoot pigeons? Or do you just need a general licence for the shotgun?

[whitby_sam]

As far as I know you are allowed to shoot "Vermin" (which I am told includes Wood Pigeons, Rabbits etc) and only have to have a licence for your weapon of choice. Obviously the usual rules apply re distance from a public right of way etc.

Please correct me if I'm wrong as I don't want to inadvertantly break the law

[YorkshireSmallholder]

They come under the Open General Licence & can be shot to prevent crop damage.

Sorry Wizard but there's plenty round here for everyone (Not sure i'd fancy those ferals in Trafalgar square though!! - would be like chewing through old boot leather & besides, I wouldnt last long with my hide, decoys & 12 bore in the middle of London)

[Wizard]

Hello Yorkshire Yes theres plenty on the rape round here as well .Don't know about Ferrel's in the square Should be good stuff the amount of good food they are fed they don't flap it off getting out your way should be extremely plump Yes you may have an air rifle without a licence at the moment There is legislation afoot to need a licence for them as well.You MUST NOT DISCHARGE a firearm in any public place and you will need the appropriate police permission to get a licence.Not to difficult if you farm a 1000 hectares but if you live in a flat in Park Lane I would think your chances very slim.Air guns are not really the thing to shoot pigeons with or rats come to that.A 12 gauge and an ounce and a sixteenth of No 6 works best I have found.

[sagehen]

What about public right of ways? I only ask because people use the field next door as a shortcut to walk their dogs. As for feral pigeons, yuk! Plump or not they're scavengers, and god does what they've eaten. Although recently there was a bloke who got done for killing one of them a la Ray Mears, didn't he?

[RUSTYME]

feral pigeons carry more disease than rats by all accounts . A few years ago there was a plan afoot to clear the cities of them because of the health risk , but there was a big out cry of " leave our pigeons alone " , and they were deemed a tourist attraction in places like London , so they were left . But the fact remains , they are carriers of many deadly diseases , and are a serious health risk to humans, in large numbers.  Not sure about the meat once dead and prepared though  ? Maybe that would be ok ? ..still I don't eat rat , so I think I will give feral pigeons a miss for now ... Mind you when the end of civilizations hits !! , there will be plenty of food on the wing for a while . That is till they starve to death due to no body feeding them !!! . Then it may be a case of rat pie, ( in the cities anyway ...)  yuk yuk yuk .

cheers

Russ

[Wizard]

I say I say I say Do you enjoy prawns?

[RUSTYME]

I like prawns , but can't afford them . But I do like cockles and whelks and I know what they feed on !!! not good when you consider we have over 20,000 sewage outfall pipes around the UK . But back to the prawns !!! go on .... spill the beans , as it were ...( non GM ones of course ).


cheers

Russ

[sagehen]

I love prawns! But I'm mindful of where they come from. Mind you a lot of the prawns you get from supermarkets in prawn sandwiches or prawn cocktails are freshwater ones from south east Asia. I don't really mind eating filter molluscs and crustaceans but feral pigeons are still yuk 

[Wizard]

My info is a lot of the best ones come from the Gangees where it flows into the sea Talk about scavengers but not to me.I hate fish