ducks...which ones are best

[Darksith]

My uncle always looks for the green heads, I haven't seen any on the ponds I have been scoping out...mostly all just female mallards I think. Which ducks should I target, is there a difference in table fare between the floaters and divers?

[Rhyno]

Woodies are my favorite! Don't know how good your duck ID is ,but the "female mallards" could have some drakes mixed in that are just staring to get green heads, or maybe some gadwalls. Either way will be tasty.

good luck

[Steelpulse]

We have Been seeing tons of mallards and teal, teal are my favourite to eat but mallards a close second, there isn't a duck I won't eat even mergansers are good, some say you can't eat these ducks or those ducks or something, I've even run into people who have said to me, whattttt you hunt ducks......you eat them? My answer to them is no we don't eat ducks they are in edible, leaves more for me to hunt haha, anyways keep scouting the hunting around here is epic, if you don't haven dekes just jump shoot pass shoot super fun times all around

[northernsculler]

If in doubt shoot one. Eat it and then you'll know. Often it depends on the where and when. i.e what the ducks have been eating. Best duck ever to pass thru my kitchen were resident divers on a lake that was choked with wild celery. We passed on em for years in favor or teals and mallards coming off the grain until one ended up in the boat. Stroke of luck. Targeted them exclusively at that location from then on.

No matter what you target it will be better then what J.P is offering at the safeway. Heck the Cajuns eat 250,000 coots a year so ignore common misperceptions and trust your fork.

[adriaticum]

If in doubt shoot one. Eat it and then you'll know. Often it depends on the where and when. i.e what the ducks have been eating. Best duck ever to pass thru my kitchen were resident divers on a lake that was choked with wild celery. We passed on em for years in favor or teals and mallards coming off the grain until one ended up in the boat. Stroke of luck. Targeted them exclusively at that location from then on.

No matter what you target it will be better then what J.P is offering at the safeway. Heck the Cajuns eat 250,000 coots a year so ignore common misperceptions and trust your fork.

Or even better shoot a variety, prepare them all the same way and eat them side by side. :)

[adriaticum]

We have Been seeing tons of mallards and teal, teal are my favourite to eat but mallards a close second, there isn't a duck I won't eat even mergansers are good, some say you can't eat these ducks or those ducks or something, I've even run into people who have said to me, whattttt you hunt ducks......you eat them? My answer to them is no we don't eat ducks they are in edible, leaves more for me to hunt haha, anyways keep scouting the hunting around here is epic, if you don't haven dekes just jump shoot pass shoot super fun times all around

You kill and eat mergansers?
I see those buggers on the Vedder all the time and someone told me they don't taste good.
Maybe I ought to revisit this idea.

[russm]

You kill and eat mergansers?
I see those buggers on the Vedder all the time and someone told me they don't taste good.
Maybe I ought to revisit this idea.

Ive heard the same, supposedly they're really fishy.

[albravo2]

At the rate I'm going, the first duck is going to cost about $5000, three times that if I factor in a price for my time. It will taste very expensive, no matter what it has been eating.

[adriaticum]

At the rate I'm going, the first duck is going to cost about $5000, three times that if I factor in a price for my time. It will taste very expensive, no matter what it has been eating.

Ha,ha I feel your pain.
I got to thinking. Last weekend I spend 2 days scouring the bush, spent probably $200 on gas and another $100 on other things and came home with 2 rabbits and 2 grouse.
Then on Monday I went and bought 4 live rabbits at the farm in Langley for $55 and they were twice the size of the wild hares.
Something doesn't add up I thought.
My final thought was "Thank goodness I'm not good with numbers" :mrgreen:

[northernsculler]

At the rate I'm going, the first duck is going to cost about $5000, three times that if I factor in a price for my time. It will taste very expensive, no matter what it has been eating.

I once saw a price list from the market hunting days. A Canvas back was fetching $7.50! At the time a tradesman would have worked almost two weeks to get that money. Wild duck is a delicacy with no comparison and has always been "expensive". 5 grand spread over 20 years of hunting is dirt cheap entertainment.

What ever that first duck is for you just make sure not to cook the breast beyond blood red rare. The rest you can simmer. Legs are the gourmet part.

[Big Lew]

I enjoy many types of duck. I do shy away from resident mallards that frequent fish spawning streams as they tend to be quite fishy. My favourite eating ducks are the widgeon and pintail. You can't go wrong with these two as they are basically vegetarian feeders.

[Cdn-Redneck]

Best duck I ever had was a canvasback

[heyblast]

As Rhyno said you are probably looking at eclipse drakes as well as hens. Woodies would be my favorite but most all ducks are good to excellent table fair. The only one I would stay away from are Rudy Ducks, they are terrible, at least the ones I tried.

[markomoose]

Hows Daffy Duck taste?

[wicket]

teal for me

[northernsculler]

My favourite eating ducks are the widgeon and pintail

Amen to that, Here is the most prolific widgeon eater of 2013. Env Canada wing data confirmed and arthritic plucking fingers to prove it. If you want to hook a kid on waterfowling find a hole where widgeons just want to be. They never wise up. Ever.

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b636/northernsculler/widgeons_zpsd2180244.png (http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/northernsculler/media/widgeons_zpsd2180244.png.html)

[albravo2]

Ha,ha I feel your pain.
I got to thinking. Last weekend I spend 2 days scouring the bush, spent probably $200 on gas and another $100 on other things and came home with 2 rabbits and 2 grouse.
Then on Monday I went and bought 4 live rabbits at the farm in Langley for $55 and they were twice the size of the wild hares.
Something doesn't add up I thought.
My final thought was "Thank goodness I'm not good with numbers" :mrgreen:

Years ago I was a young man, flush with cash, with a pretty smart boat on the fuel dock on a Caribbean island. I was watching the $$ dial on the pump spin. A much older, bent, grey-haired fellow walked up to me. He asked 'This your boat?'. I said 'Yes'. He said 'Let me give you some advice.' I said 'Please do.'.

He said: 'Never add it up', smiled, and walked away.

Best boating advice I ever got. I think hunting is 100% the same. It ain't the cost. It's the value.

[northernsculler]

Guys your gonna scare away the very people we need hunting in this province! The economy of hunting is what you make it and what you want it to be.

You can leave the lower mainland on aug 13th with a cooler of sandwhiches, a 1/4 ton truck, a 100 dollar SMLE .303 and a sleeping bag. Put 400 bucks into the gas tank. On Aug 17th you will be back in the Lowermainland with 4-500 pounds of moose meat. That is well over 3500 dollars of meat! Not bad for 4 days work and a 400 dollar investment!

A good plump mallard makes 8 servings of Ruben sandwhiches or 12 of eggs benedict. Those two grouse above simmered for 2 days and mixed with a pumpkin makes enough soup to eat lunch every day for a month (i.e 20 lunches at 10 bucks a lunch at macdonalds equals 200 (after tax) dollars). Two possesion limits of geese/ducks frozen on the last day of the season is to a family economy huge...........

Of course if you compare wild game to 95 cent a pound USA factory turkey then you cannot hunt economically but if you demand that you or your family eats proper healthy food then hunting is the way to go. Basically you cannot eat cheaper but you can eat ALOT better. What costs money in hunting is flailing around and quiting when your toes get cold or the bugs get bad. The joy aint in the hunting it is in the eating! (OK there is also joy in watching the rest of a buck's shoulder come out of cover and especially there is joy in watching a fast flyer fold and drop like a stone head down and in open water where you can let it float a minute while you finish your tea and contemplate how dam good you are):mrgreen:

Or just don't add it up and enjoy every single second of being alive and healthy enough to do what you love! In that case I bet hunting is still cheaper then booze, anti-depressants etc etc etc.

[rbduck]

I never met a duck I didn't like to eat especially a nice fat corn fed Mallard. As for all the geese my buds and I have been shooting lately the possibilities are endless. Soups, stews, smoking, jerk, roasting, pastrami just to name a few. One partner even makes Brats with them. Same with Snow geese and Sandhills.
Another bud swears by Mergansers after they have spent a few weeks eating wild rice from some of our lakes.
When cooking waterfowl though, NEVER overcook the meat, always just pink.

Ron:mrgreen:

[B-rad]

We have Been seeing tons of mallards and teal, teal are my favourite to eat but mallards a close second, there isn't a duck I won't eat even mergansers are good, some say you can't eat these ducks or those ducks or something, I've even run into people who have said to me, whattttt you hunt ducks......you eat them? My answer to them is no we don't eat ducks they are in edible, leaves more for me to hunt haha, anyways keep scouting the hunting around here is epic, if you don't haven dekes just jump shoot pass shoot super fun times all aroundi totally agree with ya steel pulse,,,,,,,teal are number one in my books also,,,,,,then mallard and gadwall second,,,,,,and lesser and greater scaup and the ring neck are number one for the divers,,,,the birds are starting really good migration now through Kamloops area,,,,,,,I have been shooting a ton of green wing teal,,,mallards,,,,and a few pintail,,,,,and so far have gotta 12 geese,,,,,,happy blastin