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Hanging goose. To gut or not to gut?

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broncridingirl

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We got our first Canada goose this morning and are planning on hanging it for 3-7 days as suggested by Hank Shaw and others. My question is do we need to gut the sucker first? If so, do you just pluck the midline, then gut it like a turkey? Or leave feathers? Or pluck the whole thing? Not really planning on using the skin, so maybe plucking won't hurt.
It's hanging outside in about 45 degrees now and will move it to a barn that stays pretty consistently in the low 50s as the day warms up today.
 
Hanging with the feathers keeps it from drying out. My dad says that his grandfather would hang them until the head came off. I like the 3-7 day plan a little better! Hank agrees that guts need to come out of the geese to get the heat down. I got some really muscular Westerns a couple years ago that were incredibly tough without aging. Highly recommend it. Good Eating!
 
Hanging/No hang considerations might be how many, if any, pellets have penetrated the abdominal cavity and then the possibility of contamination of the muscle groups.

Cooling is much faster if your goose is plucked and so maybe you could get away with not gutting......but the smell of initial gutting is miniscule compared to gutting three (or more) days later!
 
I have hung plenty of ducks and geese whole for 2-3 days in the 30-40 degree range without a problem and it’s absolutely worth it. I usually cut out any sections where pellets penetrated when I breast them.
 
I read about hanging game birds years ago. Two ways, French and English, don't recall which is which. One was to hang by the neck, gut's in as I recall, until the head separated from the body. The other was hang by the feet, I think it was 7 days. I tried hanging by the feet and boy was the smell terrible before seven days. Good luck!
 
With pheasants I’ll hang for a week with cool temps. I generally don’t gut unless the bird is gut shot and then I’ll gut them.
 
With pheasants I’ll hang for a week with cool temps. I generally don’t gut unless the bird is gut shot and then I’ll gut them.
 
D4570 said:
We wait till the shooting is over then use the "Wing slinger" and do it out in the field .


https://www.deadlydecoys.com/wing-slinger-hunting-decoy-parts
Click to expand...

You realize you gotta take the legs and thighs, right?

Bronc,

If you are going dry pluck geese it is way easier to do when they are "fresh" killed. Then gut and then hang, IMO. Unless you are going to do the whole dip, wax and pluck routine, then don't gut them If you are going to just pop out the breasts out and take the thighs and legs at the thing joint then there is no need to hang them. Just soak in salt water for a couple of days changing the water every day.

I will say that rendered duck and goose fat is culinary gold. It makes the best fried and/or roasted potatoes you will ever eat. Roasted goose drippings make the absolute best gravy in the world.

Duck and goose fat is s nearly 51% monounsaturated fat, with 36% saturated fat and 14% polyunsaturated fat. Plus it is all natural and organic. Anyone on Keto or other diets should look into duck and goose fat as a cooking fat again IMO.
 
I usually let mine sit for 5 days...if it's really cold I've let them sit 10 days. Doesn't hurt anything. No reason to gut them when they sit.
 
Take a quick looks at each bird and try to determine if the guts are shot up or if it was all head and neck hits. I gut the birds that are breast shot because I've seen spoilage when fluid leaks out of the body cavity and onto the meat while it's hanging. If they're head and neck shots then leave everything intact.

I hang my ducks for five to eight days if it isn't going to be over 40 degrees in the garage. A friend hung a limit of seven teal and ate one a day starting on day two. He said they just got more tender and tastier with every day. I don't shoot many geese, so I can't speak as well to that.
 
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