Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

282 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTthe skin from the bone of the tail with a split stickgripped firmly in the hand. Then flay the animal,scrape the pelt clean, and put it on a stretcherto dry.Dressing Birds.— Turkeys, geese, ducks, andgrouse are usually dry picked. If this could bedone while the bodies were still warm, it wouldbe no job at all; but after they are cold it generallyresults in a good deal of laceration of the skin —so much so that sometimes the disgusted operatorgives up and skins the whole bird. It would bebetter to scald them first, like chickens. In drypicking, hang the bird up by one leg, pluck firstthe pinions and tail feathers; then the smallfeathers from shanks and inside of thighs; thenthe others. Grasp only a few feathers at a timebetween finger and thumb, as close to the skin aspossible, and pull quickly toward the head. Then.pick cut all pin-feathers and quills. Singe thedown off quickly, so as not to give an oily appearanceto the skin. Ordinarily the down can be removedfrom a duck's breast by grasping the birdby the neck and giving one sweep of the open handdown one side of the body and then one down theother. In plucking geese or ducks some use finelypowdered res'n to remove the pin-feathers. Thebird is plucked dry, then rubbed all over with theresin, dipped in and out of boiling water seven oreight times, and then the pin-feathers and downare easily rubbed off.To draw a bird: cut off the head, and the legsat the first joint. Make a lengthwise slit on backat base of neck and sever neck bone close to body,also the membrane which holds the windpipe-Make a lengthwise incision from breastbone tc(and around) the vent, so you can easily drawthe insides, which must be done carefully, so asnot to rupture the gall-bladder (pheasants havenone).The idea that ducks and other game birds shouldhang until they smell badly is monstrous. If you