Sharp-tails/ MT

Jiffy

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Agreed, I'm a sharpie convert, used to HATE them. Med-rare is definitely the key. Very good that way believe it or not.
 


Duckslayer100

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Top three upland birds for me are ruffed grouse, Hungarian partridge, and sharptail. However, they all so markedly different it's hard to compare apples to apples.

Ruffs and Hungarians run more than they fly, so their breast meat is paler with a delicate flavor. I harken ruffies to "nature's lemon chicken" as a fried-in-butter breast with just S&P tastes exactly like that. Hungarians are also mild, but have their own uniqueness.

Sharpies are totally different. They'd rather fly than walk, and will travel far, far difference from roost to the chow line. Because of this, they have darker, more flavorful meat. I like sharpies slathered in olive oil and seasoned with garlic salt and pepper, or season salt and pepper. Grill quickly over high heat, or saute in a hot pan. Let rest 5 minutes. Juices should be pink.

I treat my ducks similarly. Can't eat them fast enough!
 

SDMF

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Agreed, I'm a sharpie convert, used to HATE them. Med-rare is definitely the key. Very good that way believe it or not.

Perfect!! Now I know where to drop them off next Sunday.
 

Migrator Man

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Screw sharp tails when you can hunt birds that taste good! Go to WY in the mountains and shoot some blue grouse. Been open since the first I believe
 


espringers

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that's like 10-12 hours from ND. sound like fun. but, table fair is probably the last reason i hunt upland game. or at least close to the bottom.
 

snow

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You guyz try "spruce grouse?" now this is another try it once bird in your life time.
 

riverview

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You guyz try "spruce grouse?" now this is another try it once bird in your life time.

used to go to beltrami forest to hunt ruffs, over there it was a mixture of spruce and ruffys. only took my buddy one trip to figure out he got all the spruce grouse.

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that's like 10-12 hours from ND. sound like fun. but, table fair is probably the last reason i hunt upland game. or at least close to the bottom.
be fun to do it though. could go further west for blue grouse in montana also. Pretty much eat grouse because i like to hunt them
 


snow

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river,I suspect your buddy was ground balling the spruce hens as they are really stupid birds that didn't fly much,my younger days bush whackin in the BWCA we used wrist rockets to shoot these spruce hens for dinner wilst portaging from lake to lake,not the best table fare but young and dumb we didn't care,besides it was better than ramen every night if fish weren't biting.

Spent many years living in breckenridge colorado as a ski bum by winter,hiked all over the 10 mile range in summit county mostly prospecting for gold,never came across Blue grouse but others did,shot my fare share rock ptarmigan and willow ptarmigan in Alaska also dumb but curious birds,fare table fare when bbq'd
 
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riverview

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Montana open in a little over a month, anybody heard anything about them closing down the walk in areas? Planning on going but a little worried about dry conditions.
 

snow1

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All the sharpies and praire chickens we shot over the years came from nebraska praire land,very sagey,so were the birds,gamey,thinking back our birds we squrrieled away for mid winter meals,next time we bag a few I'll give what you guyz recommend,try'em fresh,grilled,med-rare,thanx.
 


riverview

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opens Wednesday, I talked to Montana game and fish and some blm land is walk in only and no driving on grass covered roads because of fire danger. they also recommended carrying water and fire fighting gear in your vehicle. hoping the huns had a good hatch and survived the drought.
 

fireone

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ND should open the season like the other western states. We lose too many days of Sept. with the second Saturday. Even the first Saturday would be better.
 

Jiffy

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I agree. Where we hunt they are thick!

I'm talking ND, not MT....sorry.
 


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