Ptarmigan, forest birds, duck, goose and hare — what to gut immediately, what hangs with feathers on, and what 40 degree-days means.
Note: General advice. The rules for selling or giving meat away come from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and can change — check before you sell.
Cleanliness is most of the job
What ruins small game is rarely the shot — it is heat, moisture and bacteria from the innards. Clean hands and a clean knife are the premise, and a piece of kitchen paper beats water: water spreads the bacteria around instead of removing them.
Wipe blood away with paper, and keep one hand for feathers, skin and innards and one for the meat. If you carry gloves, this is where they earn their place.
Source: NJFF's page on handling game, rewritten in our own words.
Hare: open it straight away
- Open the belly as soon as the animal is down, and take out the innards without puncturing the stomach.
- Hang the hare airy and shaded until it has had at least 40 degree-days.
- Do not chill it below eight degrees the first day — the ageing stops before it has begun.
- Use a fly bag or a meat net. After ageing it can be frozen, wrapped in plastic or freezer film.
Source: NJFF's page on handling game, rewritten in our own words.
Ptarmigan and forest birds: hang them feathered and ungutted
Ptarmigan, black grouse and capercaillie should NOT be gutted in the field. They are hung by the head with feathers and innards intact for 40 degree-days or more, and only then dressed — or frozen whole.
The feathers and skin protect the meat from drying out and from flies while it ages. Hang them clear of each other so air reaches every side; birds piled in a bag go warm in the middle.
Source: NJFF's page on handling game, rewritten in our own words.
Duck, goose, seabirds and pigeon: clean them BEFORE ageing
Here the rule is the opposite. Ducks, geese, seabirds and pigeons are cleaned before ageing: take out the innards, then keep them cold for 40 degree-days, covered so they do not dry out.
The reason is the fat and the feed. Seabirds and ducks carry more fat, which turns rancid, and a body full of digested food taints the meat faster than in a ptarmigan.
Source: NJFF's page on handling game, rewritten in our own words.
40 degree-days — what it means
Degree-days are days multiplied by the temperature the meat actually hangs in. Four degrees for ten days is 40. Eight degrees for five days is also 40. That is why the number is used instead of 'a week': a week in a cold boathouse and a week in a mild spell are two different things.
The same measure applies to big game, where the rule of thumb is the same forty.
Cutting it up
Birds are usually divided into legs, neck and breast, and the fillets can be cut free of the breast. If the bird is to be frozen whole, do it after the ageing, not before.
Source: NJFF's page on handling game, rewritten in our own words.
If the meat is sold or given away
- SMALL GAME — hare and birds — may be sold directly to private persons and to retailers (shops, restaurants) without meat inspection.
- Beyond that, small game must go through an approved game handling establishment.
- DEER are different: either a game handling establishment, or the field inspector scheme, or direct sale to a private person — then as a whole or half carcass, or in at most eight parts. The buyer may not resell it.
- Wild boar requires a negative trichinella test before sale, and bear must be inspected at an establishment.
- Game killed in traffic must be inspected at a game handling establishment before it can be used as food.
Source: The Norwegian Food Safety Authority's requirements for selling game meat, rewritten in our own words.
In Veida
Small game is logged in Veida as a harvest with species and number, and appears in the team's log and season report. If you shoot a bird from a stand, the map remembers the spot — useful when you have to find a bird that fell in thick cover.
Next: Hunting without coverage
Sources
Some sections build on material from the Norwegian Wild Reindeer Centre — villrein.no/jakt and the video “Tips til reinsjegeren” — rewritten in our own words and adapted to all big-game hunting. Each section that builds on it names its source.