scream-of-consciousness;
"If you're trying to change minds and influence people it's probably not a good idea to say that virtually all elected Democrats are liars, but what the hell."
Ever tried to break a possum's neck so you could skin it? (You can't shoot it. Don't want an extra hole in the hide.) Those little bastards are practically impossible to kill.
(Maybe I should have tried the crainium-squasher-pliers-thingy.)
Hardest thing to kill I ever came across was a 35 lb. razorback (knotback snapper) turtle. Head shot with a .22 long rifle to the head and an aluminum shaft broadhead into the neck didn't work. Nailed it down on its back to a 2 X 10 and started cleanin it. Heart was still beatin coupla hours later.
Hardest thing I ever had to skin (other than a deer, just a long-ass job) was those damned red squirrels we usedta shoot. Chickens are easy to kill and even easier to pluck. Better eatin than venison or squirrel, too. My grandmother kept tryin to get me to eat possum, but they looked too damned much like a rat to me, so I refused. Coons, too, 'cause they looked like dogs out to pull a bank job.
We used two good sized nails driven just far enough into a stump to let the bird's neck through, but not it's head. Grab the bird by the legs and the noggin, slide the neck between the nails, pull the legs to stretch the neck tight, then a quick chop with the axe.
We'd always go to the grocery store, carefully check the prices, and then take the chicken to the register and pay using either cash or credit. But I grew up in the suburbs.
Nah, when we lived on a farm in Washington a long time ago, I used to have to chase them sombitches. And there wasn't no time to be dragging them to a stump or waiting them to stand still and shoot them. We essentially did the same thing you did Rodge.
I used to watch my Grandma's method.She'd grab a chicken by the neck and then it looked like she was cranking up a model T Ford.Next thing you know,there'd be two or three headless chickens engaged in a zigzag foot race.
I learned at an early age that it is best to make sure the chicken is dead prior to removing the feathers. That was a horrible experience. Almost lost an eye and the scratches took forever to heal.
Yeah, Rodge -- I'm a Boone County Hoosier. Gathered lotsa eggs, killed lotsa hens, and spread tons of chicken shit on fallow fields. Also denutted pigs, slaughtered hogs, sheared sheep, washed entrails in a creek for sausage casings and chitlins, hand-milked cows, shoveled feed, put up hay, detassled corn, picked fruit . . . all that stuff.
Dirtiest goddam farm job is stompin wool; if you've ever done that, you know what I mean. Takes days to get that smell off ya.
Hoosier Hillbilly Trivia. Actually, there's a reason that device is made the way it is. If you use that tool as instructed, for some reason the feathers of the chicken become easier to pluck when killed this way.
You can achieve the same effect by using a knife with a long, thin blade (like a fillet knife) and killing the critter by poking the blade in through it's mouth and whacking it's brain in the right place.
Granny taught me that 40+ years ago and it does work.
We raised pheasants, 25k at our largest. Usually sold them live, but occasionally someone would want them dead (restaurants).
Only hens (cocks put me through college, beautiful hunting bird), placed in large cones, head down, neck out. about 15 at a time. Walk by, slice their throats. Let them bleed to death, coupla minutes.
Best part: Some revolving stainless steel contraption, think very large truck tire. With rubber spokes pointing inwards. Toss the dead birds in there, let it centrifuge about 4 mins, and boom, plucked.
Then it got manual again: Reach in, and pluck out the innards. Toss on ice (not the innards).
Sell to the restaurants, cash only. Tell the gummint half the birds died that year (live animal farms are a great write off).
The chickens were funny. Dad had an ability to stretch their necks out and hit their necks with the sharp side of a double-bladed axe.
When you're six years old and watching chickens run without their heads...that's pretty funny.
And in a continous movement, toss them towards the cucumber patch. My job, as the oldest--and only--son, was to pick the carcass up and take them past the chicken coup to my mom and sisters. They had the horrible job of dunking them in hot water and pulling the feathers.
The worst job was the rabbits. I did, and still can, eat rabbit. But I didn't like it.
If I raised rabbits, I could do it. But I won't if the Democrats quit trying to scare the kids.
C'mon, what's it going to be? Bugs Bunny or scare tactics? It's up to you Pelosi.
When you're 52 years old and watching Democrats run without their heads, that's funny, too.
I always just used a sharp butcher knife. All the blood drains out that way.
ReplyDeleteWe stepped on the head and yanked it off.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpADFDJmRi8
ReplyDeleteEver tried to break a possum's neck so you could skin it? (You can't shoot it. Don't want an extra hole in the hide.) Those little bastards are practically impossible to kill.
(Maybe I should have tried the crainium-squasher-pliers-thingy.)
Hardest thing to kill I ever came across was a 35 lb. razorback (knotback snapper) turtle. Head shot with a .22 long rifle to the head and an aluminum shaft broadhead into the neck didn't work. Nailed it down on its back to a 2 X 10 and started cleanin it. Heart was still beatin coupla hours later.
ReplyDeleteHardest thing I ever had to skin (other than a deer, just a long-ass job) was those damned red squirrels we usedta shoot. Chickens are easy to kill and even easier to pluck. Better eatin than venison or squirrel, too. My grandmother kept tryin to get me to eat possum, but they looked too damned much like a rat to me, so I refused. Coons, too, 'cause they looked like dogs out to pull a bank job.
Good lord Chuck, I could do a dozen chickens in the time that contraption takes. Any other Indiana farm boys out there that did it my way?
ReplyDelete>>>
ReplyDeleteHell! I just choke my chicken...
>>>
We used two good sized nails driven just far enough into a stump to let the bird's neck through, but not it's head. Grab the bird by the legs and the noggin, slide the neck between the nails, pull the legs to stretch the neck tight, then a quick chop with the axe.
ReplyDeleteMmmm, chicken.
We'd always go to the grocery store, carefully check the prices, and then take the chicken to the register and pay using either cash or credit. But I grew up in the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteNah, when we lived on a farm in Washington a long time ago, I used to have to chase them sombitches. And there wasn't no time to be dragging them to a stump or waiting them to stand still and shoot them. We essentially did the same thing you did Rodge.
ReplyDelete:D
I used to watch my Grandma's method.She'd grab a chicken by the neck and then it looked like she was cranking up a model T Ford.Next thing you know,there'd be two or three headless chickens engaged in a zigzag foot race.
ReplyDelete"Chicken ain't nuthin but a big ole bird".....Sam Oliver 1974
ReplyDeleteI learned at an early age that it is best to make sure the chicken is dead prior to removing the feathers. That was a horrible experience. Almost lost an eye and the scratches took forever to heal.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Rodge -- I'm a Boone County Hoosier. Gathered lotsa eggs, killed lotsa hens, and spread tons of chicken shit on fallow fields. Also denutted pigs, slaughtered hogs, sheared sheep, washed entrails in a creek for sausage casings and chitlins, hand-milked cows, shoveled feed, put up hay, detassled corn, picked fruit . . . all that stuff.
ReplyDeleteDirtiest goddam farm job is stompin wool; if you've ever done that, you know what I mean. Takes days to get that smell off ya.
Dang! Sounds like that would attract Mooslims like a fish market attracts cats.
ReplyDeleteHoosier Hillbilly Trivia.
ReplyDeleteActually, there's a reason that device is made the way it is. If you use that tool as instructed, for some reason the feathers of the chicken become easier to pluck when killed this way.
You can achieve the same effect by using a knife with a long, thin blade (like a fillet knife) and killing the critter by poking the blade in through it's mouth and whacking it's brain in the right place.
Granny taught me that 40+ years ago and it does work.
Never thought I'd need to know that again.
We raised pheasants, 25k at our largest. Usually sold them live, but occasionally someone would want them dead (restaurants).
ReplyDeleteOnly hens (cocks put me through college, beautiful hunting bird), placed in large cones, head down, neck out. about 15 at a time. Walk by, slice their throats. Let them bleed to death, coupla minutes.
Best part: Some revolving stainless steel contraption, think very large truck tire. With rubber spokes pointing inwards. Toss the dead birds in there, let it centrifuge about 4 mins, and boom, plucked.
Then it got manual again: Reach in, and pluck out the innards. Toss on ice
(not the innards).
Sell to the restaurants, cash only. Tell the gummint half the birds died that year (live animal farms are a great write off).
The chickens were funny. Dad had an ability to stretch their necks out and hit their necks with the sharp side of a double-bladed axe.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're six years old and watching chickens run without their heads...that's pretty funny.
And in a continous movement, toss them towards the cucumber patch. My job, as the oldest--and only--son, was to pick the carcass up and take them past the chicken coup to my mom and sisters. They had the horrible job of dunking them in hot water and pulling the feathers.
The worst job was the rabbits. I did, and still can, eat rabbit. But I didn't like it.
If I raised rabbits, I could do it. But I won't if the Democrats quit trying to scare the kids.
C'mon, what's it going to be? Bugs Bunny or scare tactics? It's up to you Pelosi.
When you're 52 years old and watching Democrats run without their heads, that's funny, too.