Birds

While you can use virtually any venison animal for the venison sausage recipes in this section, birds vary more in flavor. Milder tasting birds like turkey, mountain grouse, and chukar are better for the lightly spiced Turkey and Sausage, while the Apple and Pheasant Sausage  can be made with a combination of legs and breasts from pheasants, as well as  any moderately dark-meated bird like Hungarian partridge, dove, and quail. Save the really strong tasting birds like sage and sharptail grouse for the lightly smokes sausages.

Start by breasting the birds, and pulling all the meat off the rest of the carcass; run the boned meat through the fine plate of your meat through the fine plate of your meat grinder and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Use fresh birds if you want- there's no need to age them if you're going to grind and spice them into sausage anyway. But for better taste, treat sausage-bound birds as you would any other bird. Draw the bird in the field, then rinse with clean cool water to remove as much of the blood as possible, and place on ice- within 2 hours on warm days-  for the ride home. To get a good balance of bird and spice, it's important for the bird to cool properly and the meat to be free of contaminants. No matter what the species or recipe, blood and dirt always detract from the flavor of the meat.

In a pinch, substitute cottontail rabbit for the delicate white-meated birds, and jack rabbits for the stronger tasting ones. In dire straits, pad the recipe with grocery-store chicken.

If you are an avid bird hunter and a sure shot, sausage adds welcome variety to a bountiful harvest.

TURKEY AND SAUSAGE       APPLE AND PHEASANT SAUSAGE