Surviving Duck Season I’ve eaten spoonies and they’re fine. I think canvasbacks are the best, at least in ca because they all eat rice. I have some mallards, woodies, teal, and more in the freezer that I’ll have to try out.
In the flooded rice fields here in N. Calif. where I hunt we get alot of spoonies, misc. divers (scaup, ring-neck), and I learned a trick years ago to soak the meat over-nite in a pot of water with a little bit of salt and a big bunch of fresh cilantro. Might even drain the water and refill a time or two. Really does wonders for some of the lesser birds. Of course, if you dont like cilantro, that could be a problem. Do love eating wild duck..... cant wait for the fall.
I've done similar taste test with the people I work with. Anything from Redhead, Mallard, Canada goose, gw teal, and ringneck. Folks loved them all. I will say that I killed a limit of Bluewings in early season here in North Alabama, and they were awful! I don't know where they had been feeding but that group was inedible. This was one of my favorite episodes. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Cook it all medium rare. No worries eating spoonies. I do see a higher proclivity for them to have "rice breast" or parasites. I eat a pile of ducks both puddle ducks and divers. From SK to the gulf. I breast em (skin on or off and pluck them whole. Grill, roast, fry, and broil. To me there is some variation but mostly in meat density and texture rather than taste. However, I am not that fond of sea ducks but in defense of them I have only harvested them once.
I'm a firm believer in how it is cooked but my wife picked the bufflehead out of all the mallards and she didn't know it was in there and she didn't like it either lol good video
We ate a lot of geese when I was growing up. We never killed many snow geese, but when we did, they didn’t seem to taste much different than Canadas. We cooked goose breasts in the crock pot, then ground them up and added eggs, mustard, mayo, and sweet pickle relish to make a patte (were hics from the sticks, so we called it goose salad). Wood ducks were the best-tasting ducks. I loved them cooked in the oven surrounded with long grain rice and cream of mushroom soup.
The spoony has become the mallard of ca as we shoot lots of spoonies in northern ca . I think they do get a bad reputation they dont taste as bad as people say. We shoot a lot teal here as well and they have a great taste but small breast. All the ducks u mentioned in the video we shoot here. As far as geese I think speck, Canadian goose , and then snow. Canada geese taste more like beef than a bird but we dont shoot a lot of those here compared to specks and snows.
Having lived in an area where we have everything from mallards to sea ducks and Brant, and I have eaten most everything that is legal to harvest over the thirty years of waterfowl hunting, I have come to the conclusion that no species of waterfowl is bad to eat, but individual birds can be. I have cleaned mallards that were worthless as table fare and I have eaten buffleheads that taste like crab. Snow geese if cooked right tastes very close to beef.
I agree I have shot mallards full of corn and others eating pond weed etc... The corn mallards were plump and yellow skin and tasty and some of the pond weed mallards were skinny with pale thin skin.
I pluck and cut up mallards and wood ducks (while birds not just breasts), fry a little with garlic and onions. Add some spices and water make a broth and then mix it with some basmati rice let it steam cook in the rice on low burner. I add some Afghan rice (palaw) spices too. Tastes amazing specially wood ducks. Never tried divers.
I used to live in Logan, Utah and hunted the refuges on the Great Salt Lake. Spoonies tasted bad, their primary diet was brine shrimp. They also have been tested and had high mercury (www.ducks.org/media/Utah/_documents/Q_amp_As_-_mercury_in_ducks[1].pdf). Up here in Alaska they taste great and we grill them at duck camp over alder coals almost every night. Their diet is similar to teal up here in Alaska.
My rank for ducks by taste Wood duck Pintail Greenwing teal Mallard blue wing teal Canvasback Wigeon Gadwall-the standard in terms of taste Shoveler Ringbills Scaup Redheads Buffleheads Ruddy duck Merganser
Submerge ringer breast in olive oil with salt and pepper overnight. Grill 550 degrees 7 seconds on each side. Let rest 10 minutes. Best meat ever! Been cooking them this way for 15+ years now.
Always thought snow geese and divers were nasty. Honestly I have eaten any in years... truthfully I’ve probably only tried snows once. Looking forward to your results.
Prep and cooking is the most important factor. I live in Minnesota so we harvest a lot of divers in late season. I am meticulous in my cleaning and remove any congealed blood from the shot entry points. Similar concept to bleeding a mammal before butchering. I also let my ducks sit in ice cold water for one day to remove excess blood as waterfowl has a ton of blood in the meat; some blood is good for flavor but you do not want liver flowing blood. I skin all my ducks - no plucking and no skin. Domestic duck skin and fat is great but I prefer skinless breasts for wild duck. Never over cook duck - medium rare to rare in my opinion. My favorite ducks to eat are puddle ducks as I do think they taste better than divers but the divers turn out very well too. For geese, I smoke them like a roast beef to medium rare and then eat them cold. Love your videos.
The other major factor is what did the specific duck or goose eat before you shot it - similar to venison. If the game primarily ate farmer's corn and such, it will taste more mild.
I have found that how you clean and treat your game during the cleaning process contributes more to the way it tastes than anything. I am very particular how I clean my game and it makes a lot of difference
Like you’re saying, preparation is #1. I’ve always been told this duck taste worst than this duck and blah blah blah. I’ve found that coot has less gamey taste than just about all big ducks.
Shovelers up north taste better than the ones here in Fl were I hunt. I always brine my ringers first and they taste great. As long as you don't over cook ducks their all good just some are better than others.
Note about spoonies, we had some early migrators come through right off the rice. Zero “duckiness” at all, if someone wasn’t told, they could’ve passed for beef. The late season birds though were the typical iron-y marshy spoonies that we all know.
I’ve eaten spoonies and they’re fine. I think canvasbacks are the best, at least in ca because they all eat rice. I have some mallards, woodies, teal, and more in the freezer that I’ll have to try out.
In my neck of the woods a lot of people think Canada geese taste awful. I love them. Everyone tells me that goldeneyes are terrible too. I may need to shoot one to find out for myself. And I love the Canada geese.
spoonies taste pretty good in Arkansas snow goose is ok as tacos etc not so much by itself Divers different and not generally as good as puddle ducks trap great, some like woodies better than mallards I do not but they are not really gamy just denser and slightly different taste.
Great video! I got to tell you though, I'm really interested in how you make your sauces??? That's the video I'm really looking forward to seeing. Keep them coming!
Regarding diving ducks, bluebills are great, about as good as mallards or widgeon. I shoot a lot of buffleheads, they are OK, not great. I soak everything before I broil. I hunt a lake and there's no grain agriculture for 100 miles. I enjoy and learn from your videos!
Thank you for telling that buffleheads are decent I’ve shooting a lot lately and people are telling me not to bother shooting at them.they are really common where I live
We eat everything, shovelers, divers, and even whistling ducks. But I've stopped shooting shovelers due to the increase in rice breast in shovelers where I hunt. I also dont shoot whistling ducks anymore after cutting open a particular sour smelling black-bellied whistling duck a few years back. I'd heard of the meat smelling if before based on their diet, but it was the first time I'd ever seen it. The meat itself also had a yellowish tint to it.
I’m in Alaska and we have been eating a variety of ducks. I cooked some shovelers and they were great. Green wing teal was my kids favorite. I haven’t dug into any of the divers yet but we ate a few mallards and they were great. However one mallard was definitely one of the worst tasting birds I’ve ever had. It was hard to get through.
Yeah I've never had a bad tasting duck outside if mallards. Damn near tasted rotten or at least tainted heavily. Could smell it while it was cooking. Took one bite and immediately ejected.
@@eduffy4937 I think the mallards and other ducks get into the salmon carcasses sometimes here in AK. Makes for a horrible taste. I cooked a merganser the other day just to try and it was rough haha. Just cleaning it I could get whiffs of dead salmon.
I would suspect the divers would taste kind of "off" from where a lot of the detritus and fecal matter would settle at the bottom it may injest. But, from what I've learned it's mostly about how it's prepared from what the game was eating, how it was harvested, how it was seasoned, to how it was cooked and served.
Before I did the test, I would have thought the same, but like I said in the video, the ringnecks were fine. It may well be as you say... seasoning, and prep.
Have you tried cormerants or mergansers? Ontario just legalized hunting cormerants, but everyone just assumed they taste like trash. So are shooting and dumping them. I told my buddies if I did shoot one, I'd try eating it. I don't like the idea of shooting something just to shoot it
I shot a common merganser last year thinking I finally had a crack at my first canvasback! It smelled intensely fishy when I got it in the boat. I breasted it out and soaked it for hours. A lot of meat, certainly edible, but not a treat.
In northern CA we shoot a lot of Shovelers so you have to learn how to cook them right. When cooking Shovelers I saute onions then quickly sear the skinless breasts to medium rare then top with either a balsamic vinegar glaze or topped with a sweet chili sauce then place the breasts and onions over rice. The key is to remove the skin and do not overcook them.
Depends on what they eat. In our area in southern Alberta, teal, pintails and mallards taste best, coots are the worst. Everything else is in between and similar to each other. I eat the legs as well as the breasts-a bit tougher but not to be wasted. Canada geese and lesser canadas are tough as nails, most hunters grind the breasts up for sausage and crock pot cook the legs. I have not been fortunate enough to harvest a speckle belly goose, but they have a good reputation for eating.
They are all good you just have to find a way to cook them right goes to show the guys that say they won’t eat a shoveler or divers will eat them if you don’t tell them what they are lol
I personally selective shoot my ducks love teal mallerds black ducks and pintails. To me divers and shovlers taste bad but I make pulled bbq sadwitchs out of them
We got a limit of blue wings and a mallard or 2 and a woodie on opener in MN. Honestly we plan fried them with Cavenders on them. Blue wings actually ended up being everyone's favorite. Very unexpected. I was always told that green wings were the only good teal. Blue wings eat just as good.
They all have a unique flavor. Spoons, Mallard, and teal are good. I've only had coot a few times and I don't really care for it. I'll eat it if it's cooked right. As far as geese I've only had Canada. I have yet to eat snows and specs.
I shoot lots of spoonies and Divers here in cali. I live close to the bay so that's why. Of course pins and mallards are best but if you can cook any duck can be good. Canvasback is best of divers in my opinion. Divers you definitely can taste the fish if they are feeding heavily on them.
We kill allot of divers in my neck of the woods. I have fed ring neck, spoonie, redhead ect.. to many that consider them trash ducks, and have never had a complaint or left overs lol.
Awesome video! I try to eat whatever bird I hunt but some of those divers need some prep work to taste good. Do you brine your ducks at all? Also, what internal temp do you get the ducks to for that perfect medium rare spot?
I never brine or marinate ducks or any wild game. Just season and cook it properly. Pair it with a nice finishing sauce 👍🏻👊🏻💪🏻 I cook till about 128 degrees
I live in Oregon in a little town called Veneda outside of Eugene. My wife and I have been eating cute it is very good. Their gizzards are huge and are very very good also. So don’t knock it let’s try it. I thought the same thing because we called him mudhens. But if you cook it right. Medium Rare. It taste fantastic.
Awesome video. I am a hunter to provide food first. Amount of kills and trophies last. This is what I have learned: 1. People cook wild game much like store bought food and expect it to taste the same. There are different ways to prepare and cook wild game. 2. People go by what others have told them about game. I found that if you don’t tell people they specifies or even the meat in some cases they eat and enjoy it just fine. All in their heads 3. I’m sure waterfowl can taste different upon the region hunted based on the duck/goose diet. I like making fajitas out of our ducks and everyone loves them. Usually it is a mixed bag of different duck meat. Great video.
I've always been told divers taste "fishy" or "gamey" which drives me nuts lol. I think a lot of guys just want an excuse to throw them away honestly. I started plucking mine leaving the skin on and that makes them a lot better in my opinion. We don't get nearly as many birds here in North Eastern Kentucky so I eat the whole duck usually.
It's true though. They do taste like the salt water and fishy. I find that marinating the meat in soya sauce and garlic removes alot of the game smells and odors. Then you have the texture of liver. I like it but it's not for everyone.
Always heard Canada's tastes like shoe leather, but everything I found online said they were really good if you corned them. So I soaked a 12 lbs bird in Corning brine for 8 days in the fridge after flash freezing it. And when I took it out to bag it it smelled so good I wanted to eat my hands. I'm going to make it into shepherds pie for saint Patrick's day I'll let you know. I also shot a spoon this year besides not having alot of meat on it it tasted just like any other duck.
Very lucky where I go I only see mallards, widgeon, gadwall, pintail, and teal. The occasional goofy duck but the only goofy duck I shoot has a red head.
Heard for years snow geese were bad- shot my first one last year and it was the best. I grilled a shoveller and a goldeneye and they were very good. I do not like mergansers.
You forgot the coot! I actually turned this on because I just ate a coot I shot. I was very pleasantly surprised. I could feed that to anyone and they would think it was another duck. I’ll keep eating them for sure.
The only difference I have ever noticed is snow geese in wheat vs grain down here in Arkansas. In wheat they need some aging or they can be rank. Other than that, never noticed any real difference.
Honestly, i think mallards are one of the least favorable ducks i harvest. Mostly i take woodies, teal, and ringnecks. Ill take any of those 3 over a mallard any day.
To be honest I cook them all, even mergansers, my wife and kids enjoy it... the only ducks I will not eat are common and surf scoters... I’ll give them away to someone that will. I do not believe in them going to waste. Eat them or don’t shoot them... I mean unless you are gonna hang him/her on the wall.
Shoveler sit on sewage waste ponds here. I’d rather not shoot them. If I was in the delta and seen shovelers sitting on an agri field, I’d shoot a full limit.
Cannot tell any difference in a spoonie. The big difference in snows is whether they've been on wheat or waste grain (for context, Im an East AR hunter as you are).
@@SurvivingDuckSeason absolutely. I hunt (not as much as I used or would like to these days) in your neck of the woods. And, from quite a few years experience, in my opinion the grain vs wheat is a huge difference.
@@SurvivingDuckSeason have just found your channel recently and am absolutely loving the thoughtful info combined with action! Keep it going sir, we might run into each other this season.😁👍👍👍
Do you eat Divers, Shovelers, or Snow Geese? Do you like them?
Thanks for watching! If you like this video please like and subscribe!
Surviving Duck Season I’ve eaten spoonies and they’re fine. I think canvasbacks are the best, at least in ca because they all eat rice. I have some mallards, woodies, teal, and more in the freezer that I’ll have to try out.
In the flooded rice fields here in N. Calif. where I hunt we get alot of spoonies, misc. divers (scaup, ring-neck), and I learned a trick years ago to soak the meat over-nite in a pot of water with a little bit of salt and a big bunch of fresh cilantro. Might even drain the water and refill a time or two. Really does wonders for some of the lesser birds. Of course, if you dont like cilantro, that could be a problem. Do love eating wild duck..... cant wait for the fall.
All of the above and yes!!!!
I think this is just a testament of how good of a cook Joel is.
I’ll eat shoveler depending where they have been feeding. Most of what most people I think are going off the rendered fat when it comes to taste.
I’m a big fan of “if it flies it dies”, and I love eating anything that flies!
Even flies?
Even hummingbirds?
@@aliharajli95 huge source of protein.
Ever heard of hummingbird poppers?!
We found using your sous vite method. That's the spoonies and ringnecks were as good as all the other ducks and geese.
I've done similar taste test with the people I work with. Anything from Redhead, Mallard, Canada goose, gw teal, and ringneck. Folks loved them all. I will say that I killed a limit of Bluewings in early season here in North Alabama, and they were awful! I don't know where they had been feeding but that group was inedible.
This was one of my favorite episodes. Thanks for sharing it with us.
It would surprise most hunters to know that blue wings only eat a tiny amount of plant matter in their diet. Most divers eat more plants than BWT do.
Cook it all medium rare.
No worries eating spoonies. I do see a higher proclivity for them to have "rice breast" or parasites.
I eat a pile of ducks both puddle ducks and divers. From SK to the gulf. I breast em (skin on or off and pluck them whole. Grill, roast, fry, and broil. To me there is some variation but mostly in meat density and texture rather than taste.
However, I am not that fond of sea ducks but in defense of them I have only harvested them once.
I'm a firm believer in how it is cooked but my wife picked the bufflehead out of all the mallards and she didn't know it was in there and she didn't like it either lol good video
We ate a lot of geese when I was growing up. We never killed many snow geese, but when we did, they didn’t seem to taste much different than Canadas. We cooked goose breasts in the crock pot, then ground them up and added eggs, mustard, mayo, and sweet pickle relish to make a patte (were hics from the sticks, so we called it goose salad). Wood ducks were the best-tasting ducks. I loved them cooked in the oven surrounded with long grain rice and cream of mushroom soup.
The spoony has become the mallard of ca as we shoot lots of spoonies in northern ca . I think they do get a bad reputation they dont taste as bad as people say. We shoot a lot teal here as well and they have a great taste but small breast. All the ducks u mentioned in the video we shoot here. As far as geese I think speck, Canadian goose , and then snow. Canada geese taste more like beef than a bird but we dont shoot a lot of those here compared to specks and snows.
Peter Lederer we think of Specklebellies as the best of the best in waterfowl. We call it flying rib-eye.
Agreed I’m a Central Valley hunter so a bit south of you, and we shoot a lot of teal and spoonies as well. I think pretty much everything is good.
Awesome comparison Joel. Nice to see the different reactions. I’m sure anything you cook is great!! God bless you and your family. Prayers every day.
Having lived in an area where we have everything from mallards to sea ducks and Brant, and I have eaten most everything that is legal to harvest over the thirty years of waterfowl hunting, I have come to the conclusion that no species of waterfowl is bad to eat, but individual birds can be. I have cleaned mallards that were worthless as table fare and I have eaten buffleheads that taste like crab. Snow geese if cooked right tastes very close to beef.
I agree I have shot mallards full of corn and others eating pond weed etc... The corn mallards were plump and yellow skin and tasty and some of the pond weed mallards were skinny with pale thin skin.
I pluck and cut up mallards and wood ducks (while birds not just breasts), fry a little with garlic and onions. Add some spices and water make a broth and then mix it with some basmati rice let it steam cook in the rice on low burner. I add some Afghan rice (palaw) spices too. Tastes amazing specially wood ducks. Never tried divers.
#1 Wood duck
#2 Teal
#3 Mallard
#4 Wigeon
If you add Cans #1 then I totally agree with your ranking
I used to live in Logan, Utah and hunted the refuges on the Great Salt Lake. Spoonies tasted bad, their primary diet was brine shrimp. They also have been tested and had high mercury (www.ducks.org/media/Utah/_documents/Q_amp_As_-_mercury_in_ducks[1].pdf).
Up here in Alaska they taste great and we grill them at duck camp over alder coals almost every night. Their diet is similar to teal up here in Alaska.
I'm pretty sure Los Banos is the spoon center of the universe and that is why they taste crappy.
My rank for ducks by taste
Wood duck
Pintail
Greenwing teal
Mallard
blue wing teal
Canvasback
Wigeon
Gadwall-the standard in terms of taste
Shoveler
Ringbills
Scaup
Redheads
Buffleheads
Ruddy duck
Merganser
I’d be interested to see this same style of video but with coots or mergansers mixed in.
Submerge ringer breast in olive oil with salt and pepper overnight. Grill 550 degrees 7 seconds on each side. Let rest 10 minutes. Best meat ever! Been cooking them this way for 15+ years now.
Always thought snow geese and divers were nasty. Honestly I have eaten any in years... truthfully I’ve probably only tried snows once. Looking forward to your results.
Prep and cooking is the most important factor. I live in Minnesota so we harvest a lot of divers in late season. I am meticulous in my cleaning and remove any congealed blood from the shot entry points. Similar concept to bleeding a mammal before butchering. I also let my ducks sit in ice cold water for one day to remove excess blood as waterfowl has a ton of blood in the meat; some blood is good for flavor but you do not want liver flowing blood. I skin all my ducks - no plucking and no skin. Domestic duck skin and fat is great but I prefer skinless breasts for wild duck. Never over cook duck - medium rare to rare in my opinion. My favorite ducks to eat are puddle ducks as I do think they taste better than divers but the divers turn out very well too. For geese, I smoke them like a roast beef to medium rare and then eat them cold.
Love your videos.
The other major factor is what did the specific duck or goose eat before you shot it - similar to venison. If the game primarily ate farmer's corn and such, it will taste more mild.
Wood Duck and teal are the best eaters. After that its all about the cooking. Always eat what you shoot.
I have found that how you clean and treat your game during the cleaning process contributes more to the way it tastes than anything. I am very particular how I clean my game and it makes a lot of difference
Excellent review thanks for sharing
Like you’re saying, preparation is #1. I’ve always been told this duck taste worst than this duck and blah blah blah. I’ve found that coot has less gamey taste than just about all big ducks.
Shovelers up north taste better than the ones here in Fl were I hunt. I always brine my ringers first and they taste great. As long as you don't over cook ducks their all good just some are better than others.
Great video! Keep up the cooking videos for sure!
More to come!
Been saying this a long time!! Great test!!
I did shoveler with gadwall and definitely could tell a difference. Not a fan of the shoveler, gonna have to keep that as popper meat
I agree if cooked right they all it great
Note about spoonies, we had some early migrators come through right off the rice. Zero “duckiness” at all, if someone wasn’t told, they could’ve passed for beef. The late season birds though were the typical iron-y marshy spoonies that we all know.
I’ve eaten spoonies and they’re fine. I think canvasbacks are the best, at least in ca because they all eat rice. I have some mallards, woodies, teal, and more in the freezer that I’ll have to try out.
Morgan_Yoder I read one time that what the ducks eat are the main consideration as to what they taste like.
Addison Estes ya it’s true. Their diet is important.
In my neck of the woods a lot of people think Canada geese taste awful. I love them. Everyone tells me that goldeneyes are terrible too. I may need to shoot one to find out for myself. And I love the Canada geese.
spoonies taste pretty good in Arkansas snow goose is ok as tacos etc not so much by itself Divers different and not generally as good as puddle ducks trap great, some like woodies better than mallards I do not but they are not really gamy just denser and slightly different taste.
Great video! I got to tell you though, I'm really interested in how you make your sauces??? That's the video I'm really looking forward to seeing. Keep them coming!
The only duck I have had that I didn't like was goldeneye but I think it was the recipe I used, it was the first time. The best I have had is pintail.
Teals are my favorite duck. I love Canadian geese!!!
Regarding diving ducks, bluebills are great, about as good as mallards or widgeon. I shoot a lot of buffleheads, they are OK, not great. I soak everything before I broil. I hunt a lake and there's no grain agriculture for 100 miles. I enjoy and learn from your videos!
Thank you for telling that buffleheads are decent I’ve shooting a lot lately and people are telling me not to bother shooting at them.they are really common where I live
@@Jonester_23 don't listen to them
We eat everything, shovelers, divers, and even whistling ducks. But I've stopped shooting shovelers due to the increase in rice breast in shovelers where I hunt. I also dont shoot whistling ducks anymore after cutting open a particular sour smelling black-bellied whistling duck a few years back. I'd heard of the meat smelling if before based on their diet, but it was the first time I'd ever seen it. The meat itself also had a yellowish tint to it.
I’m in Alaska and we have been eating a variety of ducks. I cooked some shovelers and they were great. Green wing teal was my kids favorite. I haven’t dug into any of the divers yet but we ate a few mallards and they were great. However one mallard was definitely one of the worst tasting birds I’ve ever had. It was hard to get through.
Yeah I've never had a bad tasting duck outside if mallards. Damn near tasted rotten or at least tainted heavily. Could smell it while it was cooking. Took one bite and immediately ejected.
@@eduffy4937 I think the mallards and other ducks get into the salmon carcasses sometimes here in AK. Makes for a horrible taste. I cooked a merganser the other day just to try and it was rough haha. Just cleaning it I could get whiffs of dead salmon.
@@The_cast_frontier oh yeah. We get mallards in minnow ponds and snail ponds here quite a bit. Then theybget gnarly
I would suspect the divers would taste kind of "off" from where a lot of the detritus and fecal matter would settle at the bottom it may injest.
But, from what I've learned it's mostly about how it's prepared from what the game was eating, how it was harvested, how it was seasoned, to how it was cooked and served.
Before I did the test, I would have thought the same, but like I said in the video, the ringnecks were fine. It may well be as you say... seasoning, and prep.
Have you tried cormerants or mergansers? Ontario just legalized hunting cormerants, but everyone just assumed they taste like trash. So are shooting and dumping them. I told my buddies if I did shoot one, I'd try eating it. I don't like the idea of shooting something just to shoot it
I shot a common merganser last year thinking I finally had a crack at my first canvasback! It smelled intensely fishy when I got it in the boat. I breasted it out and soaked it for hours. A lot of meat, certainly edible, but not a treat.
In northern CA we shoot a lot of Shovelers so you have to learn how to cook them right. When cooking Shovelers I saute onions then quickly sear the skinless breasts to medium rare then top with either a balsamic vinegar glaze or topped with a sweet chili sauce then place the breasts and onions over rice. The key is to remove the skin and do not overcook them.
Snow goose is some of my favorite eating
Awesome vid man very interesting gonna start keeping the spoons
Right on!
Depends on what they eat. In our area in southern Alberta, teal, pintails and mallards taste best, coots are the worst. Everything else is in between and similar to each other. I eat the legs as well as the breasts-a bit tougher but not to be wasted. Canada geese and lesser canadas are tough as nails, most hunters grind the breasts up for sausage and crock pot cook the legs. I have not been fortunate enough to harvest a speckle belly goose, but they have a good reputation for eating.
Lemme guess. You did the bare minimum on coot (salt and pepper) then it tasted bad so you labeled them all as bad. Seems like it must be your cooking
Woodies are my absolute favorite wish you had them in there!
All ducks and geese taste good!!! Some take a little work but still taste good. Now mergs is where I say no
I will not eat another lawn dart if I can help it.
They are all good you just have to find a way to cook them right goes to show the guys that say they won’t eat a shoveler or divers will eat them if you don’t tell them what they are lol
I think the main problem with cooking duck is most people eat it well done. I so much better rare.
Totally agree!
Absolutely! As little fat as the wild birds have they can dry out quick. Proper cook is vital!
I personally selective shoot my ducks love teal mallerds black ducks and pintails. To me divers and shovlers taste bad but I make pulled bbq sadwitchs out of them
^ Goals.
I'm only a few videos in, but I'm digging the way you do videos!
Thanks!
Taste test we did with elk, whitetail and antelope back straps had similar outcome.
I think most important thing is to not over cook any bird... a Medium rare bird is MMMMMM GOOD
In order...
Wood duck
Canada Goose
Mallard
Teal
We got a limit of blue wings and a mallard or 2 and a woodie on opener in MN. Honestly we plan fried them with Cavenders on them. Blue wings actually ended up being everyone's favorite. Very unexpected. I was always told that green wings were the only good teal. Blue wings eat just as good.
I think shoveler tastes great rare/med rare
They all have a unique flavor. Spoons, Mallard, and teal are good. I've only had coot a few times and I don't really care for it. I'll eat it if it's cooked right. As far as geese I've only had Canada. I have yet to eat snows and specs.
I shoot lots of spoonies and Divers here in cali. I live close to the bay so that's why. Of course pins and mallards are best but if you can cook any duck can be good. Canvasback is best of divers in my opinion. Divers you definitely can taste the fish if they are feeding heavily on them.
Specks pretty good better than canadas in my experience.
Thanks. Enjoyed watching.
If you kill it, you eat it! Period!! I seen about a 4- 6 man limit just thrown in a ditch! Makes me sick
Great video! I cooked up a merganser on my channel. I thought it was rather good.
We kill allot of divers in my neck of the woods. I have fed ring neck, spoonie, redhead ect.. to many that consider them trash ducks, and have never had a complaint or left overs lol.
Amen brotha
Well shoot! I've passed on a whole lot of spoonies! Perhaps I should start tossing em on the pile.
Awesome video! I try to eat whatever bird I hunt but some of those divers need some prep work to taste good. Do you brine your ducks at all? Also, what internal temp do you get the ducks to for that perfect medium rare spot?
I never brine or marinate ducks or any wild game. Just season and cook it properly. Pair it with a nice finishing sauce 👍🏻👊🏻💪🏻 I cook till about 128 degrees
@@SurvivingDuckSeason awesome! Any sauce you recommend for ducks?
Wood duck is the best.
great video thanks, enjoyed watching!
I live in Oregon in a little town called Veneda outside of Eugene. My wife and I have been eating cute it is very good. Their gizzards are huge and are very very good also. So don’t knock it let’s try it. I thought the same thing because we called him mudhens. But if you cook it right. Medium Rare. It taste fantastic.
Snow geese are the best eating waterfowl on the planet
Have you had coot? I’ve heard they are horrible. Do you always breast out your birds or have you plucked them and cooked them whole?
I've tried coot for the first time last season and it tasted like chicken. Like the dark meat on chicken
I actually really like coot. But ducks are a little bit better
Nothing wrong with costs except there's not much meat on them. Taste is completely fine.
I think I'll make some quartered spoonie biryani this year
I'm a well done guy. I know, people love this stuff rare. I'd have to have that cooked through. LOL
Awesome video. I am a hunter to provide food first. Amount of kills and trophies last. This is what I have learned:
1. People cook wild game much like store bought food and expect it to taste the same. There are different ways to prepare and cook wild game.
2. People go by what others have told them about game. I found that if you don’t tell people they specifies or even the meat in some cases they eat and enjoy it just fine. All in their heads
3. I’m sure waterfowl can taste different upon the region hunted based on the duck/goose diet.
I like making fajitas out of our ducks and everyone loves them. Usually it is a mixed bag of different duck meat. Great video.
Great video
I've always been told divers taste "fishy" or "gamey" which drives me nuts lol. I think a lot of guys just want an excuse to throw them away honestly. I started plucking mine leaving the skin on and that makes them a lot better in my opinion. We don't get nearly as many birds here in North Eastern Kentucky so I eat the whole duck usually.
It's true though. They do taste like the salt water and fishy. I find that marinating the meat in soya sauce and garlic removes alot of the game smells and odors. Then you have the texture of liver. I like it but it's not for everyone.
The best I think is a red head wrapped in bacon on the grill. They are the best
Always heard Canada's tastes like shoe leather, but everything I found online said they were really good if you corned them. So I soaked a 12 lbs bird in Corning brine for 8 days in the fridge after flash freezing it. And when I took it out to bag it it smelled so good I wanted to eat my hands. I'm going to make it into shepherds pie for saint Patrick's day I'll let you know. I also shot a spoon this year besides not having alot of meat on it it tasted just like any other duck.
matt, most important thing with a Canada goose is DO NOT OVER COOK THEM.... medium rare!!! They are like beef.. I can’t get enough of them!
Very lucky where I go I only see mallards, widgeon, gadwall, pintail, and teal. The occasional goofy duck but the only goofy duck I shoot has a red head.
Spooners I have had were very good
Heard for years snow geese were bad- shot my first one last year and it was the best. I grilled a shoveller and a goldeneye and they were very good. I do not like mergansers.
My dog doesn’t think so. If they are eating rice, not horrible.
Great video!
Aaron Snatic thanks!
Spoonies are ok, soak and marinade. Blue bills are Def a step down from spoonies.
Great great info so thanks a bunch
You forgot the coot! I actually turned this on because I just ate a coot I shot. I was very pleasantly surprised. I could feed that to anyone and they would think it was another duck. I’ll keep eating them for sure.
Coot tastes more like the meat on a chicken leg to me. My friends and I liked it so much its a guaranteed kill on sight for coot during the season
Yes
The only difference I have ever noticed is snow geese in wheat vs grain down here in Arkansas. In wheat they need some aging or they can be rank. Other than that, never noticed any real difference.
I would like your recipe book
Woodducks are my fav
teal and mallard are my picks woodys are good too divers are a little stronger then puddlers young snows are ok
I have eaten snow geese and there not that bad as long as you marinate them long enough
I raise ducks and geese on my farm. But new to it and now my ducks are of age. basically I am told domestic ducks are mallards.
I’d say mallards would be the best. If you can find a way to make geese taste good please let us know!
Watch our videos and find out.
I love shovels.
What tastes better between store bought goose, or duck?
Honestly, i think mallards are one of the least favorable ducks i harvest. Mostly i take woodies, teal, and ringnecks. Ill take any of those 3 over a mallard any day.
To be honest I cook them all, even mergansers, my wife and kids enjoy it... the only ducks I will not eat are common and surf scoters... I’ll give them away to someone that will. I do not believe in them going to waste. Eat them or don’t shoot them... I mean unless you are gonna hang him/her on the wall.
Turtles gotta eat too
Awesome video. 👍
Canvas back is the best
Shoveler sit on sewage waste ponds here. I’d rather not shoot them. If I was in the delta and seen shovelers sitting on an agri field, I’d shoot a full limit.
Still poop ponds in the country and they’re still full of hollywoods 😂😂😂
Isn't that every pond💀
Personally, I won't waste a shell on a spoonie. Just me.
Cannot tell any difference in a spoonie. The big difference in snows is whether they've been on wheat or waste grain (for context, Im an East AR hunter as you are).
Yeah, I also think the birds age may as well. We don’t see much winter wheat around us any more. Do you think the grain helps them to taste better?
@@SurvivingDuckSeason absolutely. I hunt (not as much as I used or would like to these days) in your neck of the woods. And, from quite a few years experience, in my opinion the grain vs wheat is a huge difference.
@@graydoncarruth5044 thanks 👍🏻💪🏻👊🏻
@@SurvivingDuckSeason have just found your channel recently and am absolutely loving the thoughtful info combined with action! Keep it going sir, we might run into each other this season.😁👍👍👍
@@graydoncarruth5044 great! I’m glad you found the channel! Thanks 👍🏻😀
A tip always let your duck get room temperature
Jacoby Russell when? before or after cooking
Before let it sleep in buttermilk over night take it out and let it get room temp then cook it