# First time smoking pheasant



## bfelgar (Jan 31, 2013)

So I have a friend that gave me some pheasant to smoke. I put it in a brine yesterday addend today I'm going to rub and smoke it. I was wondering if you had any suggestions on temp and time.  I know pheasant is small and lean so it can dry out easily.  Was thinking 200* or so till an IT of 155? 
The pheasants are all quartered.


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## pgsmoker64 (Feb 1, 2013)

Wow, sorry I haven't done pheasant but I've done cornish hens.  Can't remember the time but went to 165 internal temperature and they were awesome!

I took my BDSE sauce and added some cherries to it and brushed that on for the last 30 minutes or so.

Good luck,

Bill


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## bkleinsmid (Feb 1, 2013)

I just did 4 whole body birds about 2 weeks ago. I used M/H brine for about 4 hours......smoked them with peach and a little oak at 200# until they were 160 IT. The breasts were to die for.....the leg quarters were for the cook to naw on just cuz. And, I used a dusting of Slap-Yo-Daddy chicken rub.

Brad


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## jaybone (Mar 31, 2013)

One of the fellas I work with does a lot of hunting and gave me 6 pheasants earlier this month.  Can't remember where I got these instructions but this is how I prepared my pheasants;

*Pheasant Brine & Smoke*


Ingredients:

Brine
2 quarts apple juice
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 onion, medium, chopped
5 garlic cloves, smashed
6-8 whole cloves, crushed
4 ounces ginger roots, sliced thinly
3 oranges, quartered
1 dash cayenne pepper
6-8 bay leaves
2 TBLS butter

Seasoning
1 TBLS onion powder
1 TBLS garlic powder
1 TBLS parsley, dried
1/2 TBLS white pepper
1/2 TBLS paprika

 
Directions:

Bring to boil apple juice, salt, sugars until salt and sugars are dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature for about 30 minutes.

In large container, combine onions, garlic, oranges, cloves, bay leaves, ginger and cayenne pepper.

Add apple juice mixture and stir well. Add pheasant, cover and refrigerate overnight,

When pheasants have finished brining, rinse and dry them with paper towels. Season pheasant on all surfaces with seasoning

Smoke with apple wood for 4 to 6 hours at 200 degrees or until pheasant reach 165 degrees.

I smoked the pheasants on my Weber Genesis gas grill using Todd Johnson's A-Maze-N AMNPS for the smoke.  Used a Maverick ET-732 Remote Smoker Thermometer (also from Todd) to monitor grill/smoker and pheasant temps.  Here's photo of the operation;













2013 Mar 8 Pheasant.JPG



__ jaybone
__ Mar 31, 2013






Here's a close up of the finished pheasants.  The pheasants are directly over the AMNPS and you can see TBS coming up through the birds.

Sorry, for some reason I am unable to load the close up photo.  I'm not seeing any error message(s) but the photo does not appear in the post after several attempts.

Anyway, I was very pleased with this smoke!


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## jaybone (Mar 31, 2013)

Here's the smoked pheasant close up that I was unable to include in the previous post;













2013 Mar 8 Pheasant Close Up.JPG



__ jaybone
__ Mar 31, 2013






You can really see the TBS coming through.


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