When I ran English setters I kill a lot of birds. I never plucked them so slow moist cooking is a must. Cut breast into 2 -4 pieces and thighs,legs are full of tendons and not much meat. Brown parts in olive oil add onions,garlic,red bell pepper ,mushrooms ,after everything cooked a little while add water and dry white wine cook till fork tender. Boil noodles or rice..I always deboned meat before cooking them. There good in spaghetti sauce, breaded with 4 C bread crumbs fried then finish in the oven covered in foil till tender. Any rabbit or squirrel recipe will work. Pulled pheasant breasts,you need a few like 4 birds makes a nice mess nice dry rub add little water and a splash of white vinegar toss in the crock pot cook till they fall apart, shred the meat add just a little barbecue sauce, and get those Hawaiian rolls,pheasant sliders. Just a few,just remember the meat is very dry. Good luck with you lab pup,they make wonderful dual purpose dogs. They get on to pheasants real easy just them into birds and watch the tail and the rush to flush. There great dogs,my buddy had one that was just a hunting machine of birds and one hell of a waterfowl retriever.