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Thread: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
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    Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    Just wondering how many of you guys who have bird dogs that you share some of your harvest with? Since I've had my dog I have been making dog treats for Sako from spruce grouse (my least favourite eating of the grouse family) and from ducks and geese, as well as deer and moose.

    In fact, I made up a couple of trays of goose jerky a few days ago.



    A well respected bird hunter I know said I may run into issues doing that because the dog may want to chew up the birds he retrieves due to an associated smell or taste of them. So far this hasn't happened with my dog but maybe that's because I do up these treats at the end of the season so there's a long lapse between eating the treats and hunting for those same birds the treats were made from.

    The other thing is even though my dog loves eating the raw deer, elk, and moose trimmings she gets somewhat regularly when I gave her a piece of raw goose she spit it out which shocked the hell out of me because she eats almost anything given to her.

    So do you think giving your dog cooked treats from the birds you hunt a risky proposition? Would hate to create a problem that may be tough to break. No one wants a dog that'll chew up the birds they shoot.






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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    4,368

    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    Cool idea, not sure if its risky or not. I dont think eating cooked duck will make your pup tear into freshly killed fowl.

    My pup and I shared a meal of the first duck she retreived and every now and then, she gets a small table scrap as a treat " happened twice". She gets a very strict diet and her treats are rationed catefully. She gets extatic over a carrot, so I keep it simple.

  4. #3
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    Jan 2006
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    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    I dont think it will be an issue with the dog associating the treats with the game you harvest. If you smoked the meat it will be the smoke flavour the dog craves.

    I know I gave my dog a few nibbles of some people food that came out of the smoker and he went nuts after that for anyhting that would come from the smoker. I swear he would have chewed his own foot off if he could have traded it for whatever came out of the smoker.

    BHB
    Quote Originally Posted by BiG Boar View Post
    Are you M or F? Might get more takers with tits.

  5. #4
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    Oct 2010
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    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    Quote Originally Posted by bighornbob View Post
    I dont think it will be an issue with the dog associating the treats with the game you harvest. If you smoked the meat it will be the smoke flavour the dog craves.

    I know I gave my dog a few nibbles of some people food that came out of the smoker and he went nuts after that for anyhting that would come from the smoker. I swear he would have chewed his own foot off if he could have traded it for whatever came out of the smoker.

    BHB
    None of these treats were done in a smoker, although, I'm sure my griff wouldn't mind if they had since she likes just about anything put in front of her. Just dried the meat in the oven.

  6. #5
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    Feb 2020
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    Lumby BC
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    76

    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    Slightly off topic but has anybody got a good recipe for cooking deer liver for dog treats? Or the easiest way to cook/smoke so they last a reasonable amount of time?

  7. #6
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    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    Quote Originally Posted by g_man668 View Post
    Slightly off topic but has anybody got a good recipe for cooking deer liver for dog treats? Or the easiest way to cook/smoke so they last a reasonable amount of time?
    I would it the same way I do my dog jerky treats. No preservatives, no seasonings. Just slice it up thin, lay the meat on a rack that's placed on a cookie sheet, and bake it at about 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes or so. Btw, I use deer meat a lot for dog treats! A lot of the time I just bake or microwave chunks, let it cool, cut it up into tidbits, and then just put it into zip lock bags and freeze it. I do whole duck or grouse breasts all the time, too, and then just take one out, microwave it to thaw it out, and then just cut it up. I never worry about it getting dried out.

  8. #7
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    Mar 2015
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    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    my wife's little dog gets her meat treats raw but frozen....I always leave a bit of trimming to do when I freeze meat so every time I take out a roast I take all the trim and freeze it in a bag. I flatten it out so it is easy to break a piece off even when frozen. She loves her meatcicles and will start dancing around every time the freezer is opened. Is anyone aware of any issues with giving dogs frozen meat trim? she will get a piece about the size of a 20 pack of regular cigarettes once or twice a week if I have any.

  9. #8
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    Oct 2010
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    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    Quote Originally Posted by wideopenthrottle View Post
    my wife's little dog gets her meat treats raw but frozen....I always leave a bit of trimming to do when I freeze meat so every time I take out a roast I take all the trim and freeze it in a bag. I flatten it out so it is easy to break a piece off even when frozen. She loves her meatcicles and will start dancing around every time the freezer is opened. Is anyone aware of any issues with giving dogs frozen meat trim? she will get a piece about the size of a 20 pack of regular cigarettes once or twice a week if I have any.
    I give Sako raw frozen bones with a little meat still on them regularly throughout the week,,,,,chicken backs, turkey necks, deer or elk ribs, deer legs. No issues at all. One reason I do it is to slow her down, otherwise I think she would just gobble them down.

  10. #9
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    Aug 2011
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    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    We give our hounds the whole raw grouse after doing the step-on-wings trick and taking off the wings. They love it, no cooking necessary.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    932

    Re: Making dog treats from the birds you harvest

    I don’t use birds but I grind all my deer trim that I won’t be eating, put it through the jerky gun then dehydrate. Dogs love them.

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