[Flynt]

I went on my first dove hunt in several decades, and had a great time. This was much fancier than when I was a kid; this time they cleaned the birds for us.

Now I'm going on a much less fancy, more normal type of dove hunt this weekend, and I realized that neither my wife nor I know how to clean the little critters. Is there a website or a book someone could recommend? Or is it like cleaning a chicken, and we just get a basic cookbook like Julia Childs'? Thanks, guys.

[mete]

If you take care of game properly you avoid the 'strong gamey' flavor. That means dressing out the game immediately. Reminton and others have long made 'bird knives' , a folding knife with a blade and a gut hook. Slit the skin from breastbone to vent, insert the gut hook and pull out all the insides. You could make a gut hook from a piece of wire or cut a small branch so it includes a small V hook. In warm weather it would be good to put the birds on ice , just carry a cooler with some ice. For a dove most of the meat is on the breast. Some just save that ( for things like breast of dove on toast) but the rest of the bird could be used for things like meat sauce for pasta.

[hillbilly]

The Arkansas redneck method of dove cleaning, which is what I use, goes like this.

Take all dead birds and use wire snips to clip off the wings as close to the body as possible.

Take wingless dead bird and hold in the palm of your weak hand, lying on its back.

Use thumb of strong hand to rub the feathers and skin away from the breast area. Dove skin is very thin, and the friction of your thumb should accomplish this process easily.

Take the same thumb and push under the tip of the breast into the abdominal cavity.

Pinch the breast between the thumb and forefinger and peel it up and out.

I can get the entire breast, including the breastbone, almost every single time.

Once every 15 doves or so, I have to neat things up with a fillet knife. But this method works well and quickly for me.

And well and quickly gets the dove to the grill in shorter time.

hillbilly

[kudu]

I place the thumb of one hand at the base of the neck at the craw with the birds head in my fist then take the other thumb and gouge into the craw and peal the breast out separating the back and front. It then hinges on the bottom of the breast and the skin and feathers peal up and over. This leaves the wings which I then snap at the base or snip with a multitool.. One clean breast in about 30 seconds. Later when its cooled you can fillet the meat off the breast bone for small medallion sized fillets. If you are squeamish it might not be the best method.

[Lennyjoe]

That about sums it up.

We leave the remains for the coyotes.

[Fuzzy]

Some places require that you leave at leat one wing on the dove until you get it home. Check your hunting regs to be sure.

Here in AZ we have Mourning Doves and Whitewing Doves and the limits are different for them.