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zogg54
07-06-2008, 07:27 PM
I have never been waterfowl hunting. I have only hunted grouse which are pretty damn easy to hunt and oh so tasty.

To find out that duck hunting is happening here in my back yard of Pitt Meadows has got me pretty excited to try. Now, I've got a lot to learn, as does Patsy, my eager yellow lab, but we are up for that task. We had a hoot last Saturday having a look at various spots within the marsh (we don't know what the hell is a good spot from a bad) and I was really surprised at how intricate the whole area is. This all from the truck and Google maps on satellite view. Next weekend should be a real eye opener from the view of my canoe.

Here is the big question; are these ducks and geese any good to eat? My Mother 'n' law turned her nose up the other day when I told her that I wanted to get ducks from around here and all she said was "fish Duck! It ain't worth the shot that killed it!" She then went on about how ducks in Northern Alberta are about the best you can get and anything else is not worth eating.

Any info or advice on cooking, cleaning, and preparing would be appreciated because I am not the kind of guy who kills anything I am not prepared to eat.

Crazy_Farmer
07-06-2008, 09:46 PM
Well there are multiple ways to cook ducks and geese. But first theres also a lot of different tasting fowl. Alot of geese eat out of corn fields all day as do alot of mallards and other birds, they are very good to eat. You'll run into certain types of ducks that eat alot of insects,grubs, that kindof food so they can taste a bit off, then you can get into the real "good ones" the fishy tasting ones, certain times of years mallards and certain ducks can be found eating fish roe or just if its like a merganzer they can eat alot of fishy stuff. All these different ducks can be cooked to make them taste good but if you stay away from the fishy ones you'll find it alot easily to enjoy the meat.

As for cooking and eating them you have tons of different ways

-turn them into sausage or pepperoni, most guys just we them into a butcher who will add pork and can make them taste like normal meat with no game taste

-roast it whole, pluck all the feathers, gut, roast in an oven or on a bbq sitting on a beercan,

-cut out both breasts and eat like steaks(more of a game taste)

- cut meat into strips, fry or deep fry, dip in favorite sauces, or put on sandwiches or in wraps

-finely slice breast meat into jerkey strips, marinade and dehydrate or a butcher can do that too

- on geese you can cut both legs and cook any way like chicken wings

-cut strips of duck breast and wrap bacon around them and cook in a brown sugar syrup(very good party snack, people wont even know its duck)

Pretty much you can do whatever you want to it, alot of the time a marinade will help, you can even pour a can of diet coke into it and that can remove some of the game taste if you still dont like it.

Rob
07-06-2008, 10:08 PM
I grew up hunting ducks in New Brunswick, My dad didnt hunt deer at the time(wish he did) We would sit in a blind for the first part of the morning shooting as they flew in, then when it would quiet down we would take the canoe and paddle the marsh system get them on the fly. I miss hunting ducks, and eating them, Duck is excellent. Not too many people hunt ducks around here, but Id like to get back into it, not to sure where to start I guess, lots of small ponds and lakes though around here. You'll have a blast, Rob

zogg54
07-07-2008, 07:08 PM
Thanks. I appreciate the info. I'm looking forward to getting out there come open season. I will be scoping out the marsh by canoe this weekend.

z

shotgunjohn
07-15-2008, 07:43 AM
Every high end restaurant out there has duck on the menu these days. Wild ones can be just as tasty but as already stated it depends on what they have been eating.
Our two favorite ways of preparing are:
Pluck off and then filet off the breast meat. It comes off the bones nice and clean kind of like fileting a fish. You want to leave the skin on. Preheat the oven to 350. Heat some oil in an oven proof fry pan. season the duck breasts then into the pan skin side down just long enough to brown. Turn over and put in oven about 8 minutes depending on size. You want medium rare, well done will be stronger flavor and tough. Let stand for a couple minutes then slice across the grain. A pan sauce can be made with the pan drippings. Can be served over anything from salad to rice to pasta.
For whole roasting we like to marinade overnight. We use a soy sauce based marinade. Generally add brown sugar, beer and chopped onion but can vary quite a bit.

sfire436
07-17-2008, 11:52 AM
I an quite new to fowl hunting. This will be my second season. I hunt the flats in surrey and with the ones I got last season I would just take then home and breast them, I would then cut them in strips and stir fry them. I found it to be mighty tasty.!

blindman
07-19-2008, 12:37 PM
Try duck poppers.

Slice the two halves of the breast lengthwise into thin strips
Mix powdered Teriyaki with water as per package instructions
Add fluid from Jalapeņo jar to suit your taste for heat (sliced circle variety)
Add duck strips to marinade and place in refrigerator ( at least 12 hrs)

Cut 1# bacon strips in half (not thick sliced)
place strip of duck on half slice of bacon
Place one "wheel" of jalapeņo on end of duck strip
roll strip with jalapeņo in center and pierce with toothpick through roll to hold together
Put on barbecue and it is done when the bacon shrivels around the duck
(don't overcook;the bacon will not be to the hard stage)

I just ate a leftover popper that I had in the refrigerator and they are terrific even cold.

Marc
07-20-2008, 08:59 PM
After reading over this thread I decided to roast up one of the mallards I put in the freezer this winter. I was out training the dog in the marsh this afternoon and came home to a roasted mallard with potatoes and carrots. A bit of S&P, garlic powder and a shake of summer savory and in the oven it went. Nothing fancy but still amazing with the veggies smothered in butter and a nice glass of red wine.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/duck_a_la_Marc.JPG

blindman
07-20-2008, 10:38 PM
I've never had duck prepared that way but the picture makes my mouth water.