Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Birth of a deer camp

Are sharpies tasty? I've never shot at one, much less eaten one. I was guessing there were sort of like a spruce chicken.

I do at that! there's a little hold up on the return one, but it's coming, I aint forgotten

I like them. It's dark breast meat but it's good (In my opinion).

The birds are generally larger than a ruffy, very fast, whistling wings.

The field expedient field dress practice of stepping on wings and pulling the legs doesn't work for sharpies. You need to clean them more like a chicken, it's a little more time consuming. Unlike the handy feather covered walking meat snacks we call ruffed grouse. They seem to be packaged in an easy access wrapper for our convenience.

I like sharp tail cubed and prepared as a home made chicken noodle soup or even in a chili or as meat for a stew.

I've wing shot my share of sharpies but I honestly like ground sniping them from a distance with a rimfire.

I'm a little bit more of a meat collector than I am a challenge seeker.

A little tip though, for the magnum rimfires I like a solid nose, sometimes even an FMJ (especially in a .17)

Poke a hole, the bird dies and eats just fine. Hollow points make for mechanically separated chickens.

If I want chicken pieces I like intentional clean cube cuts rather than a meat/dirt/feather/lead slurry.

I haven't shot or eaten sharptails, we have a bunch around here I just aint shot any. yet.

a lot of folks around here say they taste bad, but they are a game bird, so can't be too bad. I'm anxious to get out and get some this year.

I take that back.

I looked at the book this afternoon. this year they opened it all on the 14th.

Ruff, , spruce, sharp and huns all opened on the 14th this year.

They usually hold till the 3rd week in sept for sharpies.

Interesting, this just means that legally I could have and should have shot up that covey of sharpies I saw last Sunday...

oh well.

How do you get all that black ink out of them? LOL!

whew, for a minute there, you had me worried! They arent as good as ruffed, that is for sure.

We cleaned them by just taking off the skin on the breast then pulling the bottom of the breast away from the innards until all you were left with was a breast and 2 wings in one hand and innards, back, head, etc in the other. all of ours were shot on the wing. I got into a nice little flurry and ended up with 4 on the ground. Took some good dog work to find them as my marks were a little lacking cuz I was busy shooting! fun for sure.

If any of you ever get the chance to get up to BC during the fall take a .22 along. I have never seen so many grouse, both roughs and sharpies in my life. They were all over the logging roads. It was nothing to see 25 at a time.

Locals pretty much ignore them, so they're dumb as heck.

One of the guys in our moose camp shot better than 30 of them.

He roasted a couple on a stick over the camp fire and we all got to sample them. Not bad at all.

Now my co-workers can hear my tummy rumbling......

I went to thunder bay, OT as a kid. On one of the logging roads to old fort William, we mush have seen dozens in just a few miles.

We have a few sharpies in the UP. Even have a season on them. Never seen one in the wild, much less et one.

Got 64 kids through Hunters Safety class last week. Still don't have my voice back. Pretty cool though. All those little hunters will be out this weekend after deer for our Youth deer hunt now called our "Liberty Hunt". Includes youths under 16 and Vets with 100% disability.

Interesting factoid: State says the youngest person to buy a deer license last year was 18 months old.

Hey Charlie,
Are you aware of the discounts you get from being a firearm safety teacher? Beretta, Tikka, Sako, Burris, Leupold, Savage, Marlin, Tritronics and many others. It is usually about 45% off retail. I have taken advantage of the Sako and Leupold ones and they are smoking good deals.

Shot 3 geese this morning on my birthday hunt! Have I ever told you guys I love fall?

Cool. How do you do that BM? I have my card...just give them the #?

IHEA.com. International Hunter Education Association IIRC. Last I checked it was like 55% off Luepy and Burris, 30% off Weatherby, Ruger, Beretta, Sako, Tikka. They have Columbia, Thermocell, real good deals on harnesses from Treestand Safety? Like 80% off.

Funny, some of the larger American companies like Rem and Browning won't or don't participate. Its a nice thing for those who volunteer their time, but that's obviously not why we do it.

yep, that is the place. I have the password if you need it (PM me).

Lots of companies there and I agree, that is not why I do it, but is a darn nice perk for putting in a lot of effort teaching those young'uns. The fact that they recognize us for our efforts also makes me brand loyal to those companies.

I actually like Ruger rifles, so that's good! I'll have to take a look tonight. I need to get a littly guy safety harness too. That may work out well! Thanks!!

I will PM you the login info.

Browning, Buck Knives and Primos are all there as well as many more.

I was in Wally World Sat afternoon after the class. Thought I'd get a sixer for after watching the game after cutting the grass. Lo and behold the two twin HS students I just had a hour earlier come around the corner! Hi Instructor Steve! As said instructor literally throws unknown parcel into potato chip display!

There are eyes everywhere!