Favorite waterfowl

[NuffDaddy]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

ALmost every duck out there eats fish. I'd be willing to bet that the majority couldnt tell what type of duck it is after I cook them.

I can't cook mergs so they are edible. I've tried several times. I can eat the hoodies though.

[NuffDaddy]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

Yeah. Bastards.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398869526.284260.jpg

Ok. You got me. But a merg is still not much different than a cormorant.

[Eric Haynes]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

Yeah. Bastards.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398869526.284260.jpg

Dan, we all know that once a mallard heads south, all it eats is corn and since it eats corn, it tastes exactly like corn on the cob.

[aunt betty]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

ALmost every duck out there eats fish. I'd be willing to bet that the majority couldnt tell what type of duck it is after I cook them.

That bad huh?

[NuffDaddy]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

Yeah. Bastards.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398869526.284260.jpg

Dan, we all know that once a mallard heads south, all it eats is corn and since it eats corn, it tastes exactly like corn on the cob.

I don't think a birds diet has a ton to do with what they taste like. Maybe I'm wrong, but mallards all taste like mallards to me. Fish fed or corn fed. But mergs still taste bad.

[aunt betty]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

Yeah. Bastards.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398869526.284260.jpg

Dan, we all know that once a mallard heads south, all it eats is corn and since it eats corn, it tastes exactly like corn on the cob.

The mallards I shoot have rice in their throats. Oh...
They're Chinese mallards.
They top off every fish dinner with all you can eat rice.

[DeadEye_Dan]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

Yeah. Bastards.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398869526.284260.jpg

Dan, we all know that once a mallard heads south, all it eats is corn and since it eats corn, it tastes exactly like corn on the cob.

I don't think a birds diet has a ton to do with what they taste like. Maybe I'm wrong, but mallards all taste like mallards to me. Fish fed or corn fed. But mergs still taste bad.

Their diet has much to do with their flavor

[NuffDaddy]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

Yeah. Bastards.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398869526.284260.jpg

Dan, we all know that once a mallard heads south, all it eats is corn and since it eats corn, it tastes exactly like corn on the cob.

I don't think a birds diet has a ton to do with what they taste like. Maybe I'm wrong, but mallards all taste like mallards to me. Fish fed or corn fed. But mergs still taste bad.

Their diet has much to do with their flavor

All the mallards I shoot must eat the same thing then.

[aunt betty]

Not all mallards are created equal. Have shot skinny pathetic mallards up north that had throats full of corn and fat southern ones that had throats full of rice.

[RonE]

Not all mallards are created equal. Have shot skinny pathetic mallards up north that had throats full of corn and fat southern ones that had throats full of rice.

Eat Rice, Potatoes make your butt big.

[aunt betty]

Not all mallards are created equal. Have shot skinny pathetic mallards up north that had throats full of corn and fat southern ones that had throats full of rice.

Eat Rice, Potatoes make your butt big.

I agree but what brand?
I have to hide my favorite brand rice in a Riceland bag or there will be blood.

[WisconsinWaterfowler]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

Yeah. Bastards.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398869526.284260.jpg

Dan, we all know that once a mallard heads south, all it eats is corn and since it eats corn, it tastes exactly like corn on the cob.

I don't think a birds diet has a ton to do with what they taste like. Maybe I'm wrong, but mallards all taste like mallards to me. Fish fed or corn fed. But mergs still taste bad.

Their diet has much to do with their flavor

I would argue that it has everything to do with it.

[Redbeard]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398849177.165239.jpg

Gramps

even your grandpa looks like a badass. Seriously what happened to you?!

[GadwallGetter530]

Its not just flavor, Its texture. Spoons tend to have more of a mushy type of meat. Then say a wigeon. I just dont like eating it right off the grill like that. They have to be taco'd or something. Mallards I can put salt pepper alittle olive oil and hot grill im a happy camper.

[RonE]

Pintails, drake pintails.

DSCN1053.JPG

Duck dog.jpg

low water sprig.jpg

[Redbeard]

They are just a glorified cormorant IMO. Fish eating bastards.

Yeah. Bastards.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1398869526.284260.jpg

Dan, we all know that once a mallard heads south, all it eats is corn and since it eats corn, it tastes exactly like corn on the cob.

I don't think a birds diet has a ton to do with what they taste like. Maybe I'm wrong, but mallards all taste like mallards to me. Fish fed or corn fed. But mergs still taste bad.

Their diet has much to do with their flavor

x2

[Rick]

...Its flight resembles that of the Blue-winged Teal; and in tenderness as well as in flavour, it rivals, as an article of food, that beautiful bird. No sportsman who is a judge will ever pass a Shoveller to shoot a Canvass-back.

That's from John James Audubon, who ate them from Ohio to Louisiana and maybe some other places, but he didn't say what they were eating.

Do know I buy into the notion that what something eats for a while can make a flavor difference, but I doubt nearly so much as preparation. Or, perhaps, our preconceptions...

[NuffDaddy]

How do you guys know what a ducks diet is?
Any time I cut a stomach open there is usually something different in it. Even if the ducks are the same species killed from the same place.

[aunt betty]

Its not just flavor, Its texture. Spoons tend to have more of a mushy type of meat. Then say a wigeon. I just dont like eating it right off the grill like that. They have to be taco'd or something. Mallards I can put salt pepper alittle olive oil and hot grill im a happy camper.

I agree. Never could put my finger on why I hate Hollywoods but you nailed it. Its a texture thing.

[Rick]

How do you guys know what a ducks diet is?
Any time I cut a stomach open there is usually something different in it. Even if the ducks are the same species killed from the same place.

How do you know what's in a duck's stomach after it's been ground to solution in its gizzard?

Have a friend who did his Masters thesis on repeating a 1950's study of duck diet on Pool 19 of the Mississippi River to see how it might have changed, and I learned something new when I asked how he knew where they ate something. Said a duck is pretty much a straight tube that only takes about an hour from lips to bunghole.

[GadwallGetter530]

Yes betty. You quoted me. Have anything to say on the topic at hand?

[NuffDaddy]

How do you guys know what a ducks diet is?
Any time I cut a stomach open there is usually something different in it. Even if the ducks are the same species killed from the same place.

How do you know what's in a duck's stomach after it's been ground to solution in its gizzard?

Have a friend who did his Masters thesis on repeating a 1950's study of duck diet on Pool 19 of the Mississippi River to see how it might have changed, and I learned something new when I asked how he knew where they ate something. Said a duck is pretty much a straight tube that only takes about an hour from lips to bunghole.

I meant gizzard. My brain is in overload right now.

That's interesting stuff. But how do you know a duck didn't feed on corn today, mussels yesterday, and some fish the day before? Or do they always eat the same stuff from one day to the next?

[Rick]

Its not just flavor, Its texture. Spoons tend to have more of a mushy type of meat. Then say a wigeon. I just dont like eating it right off the grill like that. They have to be taco'd or something. Mallards I can put salt pepper alittle olive oil and hot grill im a happy camper.

I find that interesting, as I once ate the fillets of a spoon sauteed in butter with just a dash of Lawrys in the same pan with those of a pintail and wood duck and couldn't have told you which was what if not for the size differences. By the same token we frequently eat pot-roasted spoons (er..."wigeon") at the camp along side other species and I've not noticed a difference beyond body shape there, either. Will have to keep and eye, or tongue, out for texture differences next time.

Have, btw, also conducted the "same pan test" with a bufflehead and a greenwing and could detect a flavor difference there, but I'd bet a pair of dressed specklebellies against a spent shell that I could pass buffy for teal on the grill.

[Rick]

But how do you know a duck didn't feed on corn today, mussels yesterday, and some fish the day before? Or do they always eat the same stuff from one day to the next?

Got me? A biologist I ain't. But I'd think the answer to that highly variable and contingent on any number of things.

[NuffDaddy]

But how do you know a duck didn't feed on corn today, mussels yesterday, and some fish the day before? Or do they always eat the same stuff from one day to the next?

Got me? A biologist I ain't. But I'd think the answer to that highly variable and contingent on any number of things.

That's what I figured. I'm sure not a biologist either though.

[GadwallGetter530]

Its not just flavor, Its texture. Spoons tend to have more of a mushy type of meat. Then say a wigeon. I just dont like eating it right off the grill like that. They have to be taco'd or something. Mallards I can put salt pepper alittle olive oil and hot grill im a happy camper.

I find that interesting, as I once ate the fillets of a spoon sauteed in butter with just a dash of Lawrys in the same pan with those of a pintail and wood duck and couldn't have told you which was what if not for the size differences. By the same token we frequently eat pot-roasted spoons (er..."wigeon") at the camp along side other species and I've not noticed a difference beyond body shape there, either. Will have to keep and eye, or tongue, out for texture differences next time.

Have, btw, also conducted the "same pan test" with a bufflehead and a greenwing and could detect a flavor difference there, but I'd bet a pair of dressed specklebellies against a spent shell that I could pass buffy for teal on the grill.

Every ones palate is different I suppose. Its not just spoonies to me. I love eating Gaddys put I've had the same experience. Can't just slap that baby on the grill all the time.

[Rick]

That's interesting stuff.

What I found most "interesting" about my friend's study was that he had the appropriate permits to collect (shoot) his sampling in the Spring and did so on weekends in plain view of a highway, from which someone ratted him out to a poacher hotline. And instead of just asking him what was up and checking their own records, the possum cops formed a task force to swoop in and search area taxidermist freezers, as well as his, for evidence. When the smoke cleared, no apologies were issued, and he was being charged with saving two specklebellies he shot down here for Easter dinner, which violated some sort of 30 or 60 or some-such day consumption rule Iowa has. That would have screwed him career wise and took action from his federal legislators to have stuffed where it belonged.

[Rick]

Every ones palate is different I suppose. Its not just spoonies to me. I love eating Gaddys put I've had the same experience.

I'm among those here who won't knowingly shoot a brackish marsh gray. Maybe just a "bad" one, maybe...

[NuffDaddy]

That's interesting stuff.

What I found most "interesting" about my friend's study was that he had the appropriate permits to collect (shoot) his sampling in the Spring and did so on weekends in plain view of a highway, from which someone ratted him out to a poacher hotline. And instead of just asking him what was up and checking their own records, the possum cops formed a task force to swoop in and search area taxidermist freezers, as well as his, for evidence. When the smoke cleared, no apologies were issued, and he was being charged with saving two specklebellies he shot down here for Easter dinner, which violated some sort of 30 or 60 or some-such day consumption rule Iowa has. That would have screwed him career wise and took action from his federal legislators to have stuffed where it belonged.

That really sucks.

[Goldfish]

Gentlemen and goldfish please keep this thread on topic or I will be forced to lock it. Thank you

How the fuck I get roped onto that?? I'm a topic keeper lippy.

Wood ducks are my favorite, but I don't discriminate at shooting at anything usually.

Do you see any fully plumed woodies up your way?

Oh yea, I just can't hit them. Might be the only pretty puddle duck we see outside the mallard. The rest take off south before they fully plume out it seems.