bountyhunter, your post brought back a pleasant memory for me. I was living with my Grandmother in Sheridan Illinois when I was about 6 years old. (Bless her heart, she died at 62 from Lung Cancer and never smoked a day in her life)
Anyway, she asked me to go catch a chicken and chop its head off so she could show me how to prepare it for dinner.
I had never done it before, but wanted Grandma to be proud of me. Out I went, managed to catch a chicken, took the trusty hatchet and couldn't get the chicken to keep its head still so I could do the right thing. AFTER several attempts, I went in and told Grandma about it. She took me back out and DEMONSTRATED (people still don't believe me, but it works).Take the chicken, plump it breast down on the ground, sorta stretch it head out so its beak is on the ground, take a stick drawing a line in the dirt from the beak for about a foot. That darn bird lies there just as quiet as can be and WHACK. Then it gets up and starts running.
I'll never forget that moment with my Grandma. Been a long time since I thought of it, tho.