When I first arrived in Montana, I was fortunate to find employment at Beckman’s Fine Furs in Great Falls. Despite the implication that this store specialized in fur coats, it was in the trade of raw furs, gameskins, beef hides, and wool. The department I worked in drew in many hunters and ranchers. One particular gentleman would bring in his beef hides, and then would tease his niece who worked in alterations. We made friends and over the years had many a wonderful bird-hunting trip to his place south of Stockett on Sand Coulee Creek, known locally as “The Gulch”. Each year he would come by the store, and I would inevitably broach the subject asking if he had any birds this year. His answer usually was in the negative … "we hayed last week and didn’t see but a few…" he would answer. I learned to follow-up with the question…"ya got any chickens?" ... and his dependable reply was ... "Oh yeah, we always have chickens!!!"

Sharptail grouse do well in their native Montana, but if you ask the locals about “sharptails” you may not get the answer you’re searching for. So the “chickens” can provide a good meal for most upland bird hunters. If you are fortunate enough to live where the real prairie chickens can be
hunted, this recipe works for them too, as well as ducks.

- Larry Copenhaver

• Boneless sharptail grouse breasts (1 per person)
• 2 C. Rose’s lime juice
• ¼ tsp. ground ginger
• ½ tsp. jellied ginger root

• Marinate grouse breasts in Rose’s lime juice for at least 4 hours. Pull from marinade, do not dry.
• Prepare sauce by recipe below.
• Place on HOT charcoal or gas grill, sear.
• Turn twice, until medium well, pull from fire.
• Cut across the grain into thin slices, and place on a bed of Colonial Rice.
• Place sauce atop center of sliced breast meat. Serve with asparagus spears.

  The sauce is easy!

• Place lime juice marinade into a saucepan.
• Mince jellied ginger root finely, add it and the ground ginger to juices, heat all until bubbly.
• Mix approximately 2 tsp. of corn starch with ¼ C. of warm water to make thickener.
• Stir small amounts of corn starch mixture into lime juice mixture, whip with wire whip, it’ll thicken after 1 minute of cooking. Keep adding until a fairly thick sauce results. If you
  accidentally overthicken, add additional lime juice to thin it to the desired consistently.