SC - A Winter food

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Victoria Wilson wrote:
> 
> Dear Gentles,
> 
> I have a question I wish to put before you.  I was told by someone that
> Pheasant is NOT a winter food, but a summer food.
> 
> I, for one, have always considered it a fall and winter food.
> Especially since Pheasant season is currently going on here in Montana.

Platina, who discusses the seasonal aspects of several types of game,
doesn't mention a season for pheasant. The author of "A proper Newe
Booke of Cokerye" mentions seasons for several game animals too, and
says pheasant are good all year round, but that they are best taken with
a hawk. So far I haven't found any other references to season.

> Since I dont just wish to say this to that gentle without some kind of
> proof, would any of you fine gentles be able to recommend some?

Well, you could start by saying to the gentle, "I'd never heard pheasant
are a summer food. I'd love to learn more about this. Perhaps you could
explain why this is so, and point me at a source book documenting it?"

Overall, I'm assuming that the game seasons as established by state laws
are based, or were originally based, on some idea of proper landscape
management (is there such a thing as game husbandry?). It's pretty well
established, for example, that the deer season is where it is because of
food availability and the breeding cycle. These considerations, for
practical purposes, haven't really changed, AFAIK, so I doubt the deer
hunting season as established by Montana law is _much_ different from
where it is in most other parts of the northern temperate zone. The
pheasant season as established by Montana law is probably where it is on
the calendar for some similarly old, traditional, commonsense reason.

But who knows, maybe this person actually has a reason for saying that
it's a summer food. I think you ought to find out why.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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