To catch a Pheasant.

Open season for pheasant, hare and other species here in Italy and it was quite a day. Having dragged myself out of bed at 530am this morning in the hope that I would be the first out I found its seems the other "Cacciatore's" had the same idea.
Also the weather wasn't playing ball either.
By 730am it looked like I had been surrounded by ten's of 80+ old hunter's chasing the same pheasant as myself, but as I know its all about the time and patience. Most of them had left the area by 11am and that was when I managed to catch my first pheasant of the season.
Mind you it was quite interesting as I was stopped by one of the hunter's and asked where was my dog's. When I replied I didn't use them he almost laughed which seems very common here. It left me thinking about how much hunting experience some of the local hunter's have and their persistent use of dog's to hunt for them.
I myself have a great belief in giving game as much of a chance as possible.
After catching the pheasant I returned home, skinned and gutted within half an hour. I know in England you might hang the pheasant for a few days, but with the weather here it's best to either freeze or cook straight away.
On this occasion I froze the pheasant for Christmas.
Now I know most pheasant recipes involve roasting, but I had an excellent meal at a hunter's house earlier this year. Franco's wife Paula cooked pheasant another way and it was truly mouth watering. Here's the recipe below:
Take four pheasant's and take as much meat off the bone as possible. Discard the skin and cut the meat into strips. Then cover the meat with well seasoned flour and leave to thoroughly dry out for about half an hour. Then place a fry pan or skillet onto the stove and melt 50g of butter. Once the butter is melted place the floured pheasant meat into the fry pan and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes. Then add two tablespoons of cognac and then "flambe" until the cognac is adsorbed. Serve immediately onto a bed of plain cooked risotto.