>>806462Also the 1" pieces are used for sausage. I'll describe sausage making and recipes in more detail later, but grinding burger is super easy. Invest in a decent meat grinder. You will not regret it. It's also great for grinding up old roasts from the bottom of the freezer towards the end of the summer.
Alright, let's talk about bird and small game handling. The basic idea is pretty much the same as big game. You want to get the guts out and the temperature down as soon as possible. Some fucked up Europeans like to hang their birds by the neck with the guts in until the heads fall off and some other silly shit like that. If you want to try that, fill your boots but it's really nasty in my opinion.
For grouse, I like to tear the head off, step on the wings and pull the legs and the clean gut-free plump breasts just pop out. It pretty much dresses itself, it's so amazingly easy and simple it's perverse. Don't be wasteful though, cut the legs off as grouse thighs are great and the calves make for excellent soup stock. I also keep the heart, liver, and slice the meaty pieces from the gizzard to feed doggo as a reward for good retrieves right in the field. If you don't have doggo to reward keep it for yourself (except liver) since it's good to eat. Grouse hearts are small but delicious.
For waterfowl, if they are grain-feeding dabbling ducks, pluck that shit using the wax dunk method and keep them for roasting as the skin and fat on roast duck tastes amazing. The organs on ducks are also very good for cooking and if the ducks and geese are quite fatty, the liver will be good for making into spreads. However, if the ducks are divers or you're shooting over water I usually just skin instead of pluck because the fat will probably taste fishy and nasty. In general I don't personally like the taste of diver ducks much at all and avoid shooting them when I can. Dabbling ducks I shoot over water are usually good to eat but I don't like to pluck them.
