to be shocked someone hung dead pheasant on my front gate

[annoyednow]

Opened my front gate around 10minutes ago to let cat in and there was something hanging on the front gate. I am in pj's, so husband went out and there was a dead pheasant hanging from string from our front gate. We live in London.

I don't know if it was some prank by kids or something sinister.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

But it's street food right?

That's the in thing at the moment!

I used to live in SW and my DP at the time used to hang them out his bedroom window, in full view of the street, until they were even more disgusting ready for cooking. Maybe it was him.

I live in London and haven't seen pheasants roaming around ever in my 34 years.

I would be most creeped out if I found a dead one hung on my gate

Voodoo or gangs wouldn't occur to me. It is odd to find. Try to relax now.

Pheasants move in mysterious ways. Two ended up in my flat because a man had been shooting for the day, stayed at the Lanes Hotel, tipped his Australian waiter a large chunk of money and two pheasants, said waiter flapped a bit and gave them to his girlfriend, who was staying with me at the time, and they ended up as dinner.

Apparently this happens a fair bit as shooters-for-a-day staying in London don't know what to do with their booty and offload it onto the nearest mug. Someone probably got given yours, got halfway home and (flustered by the unusual chore of lugging dead game birds through the streets) panicked, hung it on your gate and legged it. Probably consoled him or herself with the idea that you'd now be delightedly serving it up to your family.

eeek, would freak me out too. soooo glad I am a city girl as there's strange things go on in the countryside.

I like my birds via the supermarket or on my bird table thanks.

It's obvious what's happened. One of your nearby neighbours did a favour for a friend. Said friend was off for the weekend shooting and promised a lovely brace of pheasants by way of thanks: "I'll be driving back late so I'll just leave them on the gate."

Neighbour thinks, fantastic, I can cook them for that Very Important Dinner Party!"

Inebriated friend hangs pheasants from wrong gate.

Neighbour wakes. No pheasants! Fucking friend, taking the piss: last time I do him a favour, etc. etc.

Dinner party ruined. Guests mock Ocado ready-meals.

Pheasant-shooting friend perplexed. Why no 'thank you' text from neighbout?

Friendship ruined. Dinner party a disaster.

I hope you're proud of yourself, OP

Wouldn't a Herman pheasant be alive, or bubbling, or something?

Hardly op fault the pheasant was left on the wrong gate.

OP, did I pick this up wrong or did you say in an earlier post that you used to live in the countryside, near a game reserve? If so, I think one of your old neighbours has left this for you, thinking you knew the score about gifting edible dead beasts.

I wouldn't really worry about it, stuff like this happens all the time in countryside, its actually quite a nice thing to do if you're happy to eat the thing . When I was wee, one or other of my parents would have done someone a favour and a few days later rabbits or ducks or once memorably half a sheep ala Damien Hirst would appear in the shed.

Well, hardly the pheasant's fault it was hung at the wrong gate!

It's a pressie. I'm in the country and always finding things on the doorstep - eggs, tomato plants, kid's clothes, wine, dead animals of one sort or another ( if there's string involved it's from humans, if not it's one of the cats ... )

If someone's done me a favour I leave honey.

My money's on home-going gun with the wrong address or pissed pub raffle person.

at tweedy, home-counties voodoo ...

Yum! I'd be having it for my dinner. I love a bit of pheasant, always tempted to accidentally on purpose run them over when they're dawdling in the middle of the road.

that is very odd

i have never seen a pheasant in london not 40ish years even on the commons, so unless you have a friend who is trying to get in with the country set and gone shooting i would burn some frankincense keep an eye on my neighbours

'You missed your Waitrose delivery'

I am ill at the moment and that line just caused the sort of accident i wasn't expecting for another 40 years....

I once opened the door and there was a dead canary on my door mat. Which was a bit Mafiosa for Erdington, I reckoned.

This has made me laugh so much today - it's made my day, although I can understand how the OP was perturbed. Personally I'd have hung it in the shed or garage and dealt with it later. For dinner.

Oh, come on. If you want to do black symbolism to scare someone, there's easier, more disgusting scarier ways. Pheasants aren't traditional magic for anyone, and if you bought a book on how to protect yourself from hexes/how to hex other people from Waterstones, pheasants aren't involved there, either!

Umm. Game birds are not exactly free range and organic. They are reared in cages by game bird breeders, and when they are big enough, shipped to where they are to be shot and released.

Delicious.
Round here the pheasants really are free range.
My children grew up on pheasant nuggets, casserole, with bacon etc
If you do want to eat it then the weather is still mild so you need to deal with it soon. Butchers will pluck and dress it for you or you can just cut out the breasts which is quicker.

Can't be a gift, surely? Why would you leave food on someone's gate to be eaten by the nearest fox or cat, instead of phoning to ask when it would be convenient to bring it round?

I used to work on a farm that ran a pheasant shoot.
This is how it works:

Gamekeeper buys 10,000 pheasant eggs
They are put to hatch under lamps in a huge shed
They are fed by hand
When they get big enough the survivors of the hatching shed are put into large penned areas outdoors
They are still fed by hand and get used to people and quad bikes approaching them without alarm
One day in autumn, lots of well off people (known as 'Guns') clad in poncy expensive designer outdoor clothes arrive in 4 wheel drive vehicles
The pens containing the pheasants are flushed out by 'Beaters' - local people shouting and waving sticks
The pheasants attempt what for many will be their first real flight. This is very clumsy, slow and noisy
The Guns aim their weapons at the fat and noisy birds as they rise up in confusion, not very far away from where the Guns have been instructed to stand
The Beaters run around picking up the dead birds for the Guns
The Guns congratulate themselves on their hunting prowess
The Beaters are allowed a drink with the Guns
The Gamekeeper moves the Guns on to the next 'stand' where he has reared the pheasants
And repeat

Who says feudalism is dead?
I know it's a bit different in Scotland and that some element of stalking is involved.

But the whole thing is a shower of shite.

Cutted Up - that is it. But you forgot to mention the bit where pissed up city boys start blaming at anything with wings so we have half dead pigeons, collared doves and rooks for days.
Nob heads.

blamming not blaming.
Bloody auto-correct.

This thread is much more funny than breaker thread!

I can see its counter thread now "AIBU I left a pheasant on my neighbours gate and she hasn't sent a thank you card

Sounds really unpheasant for you, I would be game either.

CuttedUpPear
Do they only shoot them on one day of the year then?
What happens for the rest of the year?