# WHATS YOUR FAVORITE DUCK



## love bird killing

MY FAVORITE DUCK IS THE TEAL BECAUSE OF THEIR FLYING ACTION I SHOT 22 TEAL THIS YEAR NOT BAD. I LOVE IT WHEN THEY FLY PAST ME AND ALL I HEAR IS WHISTELING BY THEIR WINGS.ALSO I LOVE THE BAY DUCKS TOO. I SHOT 35 BAY DUCKS THIS YEAR THEY WERE BLUEBILL,CANVASEBACK,REDHEADS,BUFFLEHEADS, AND ONE DUCK I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER SHOOT AN OLD SQUIAL


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## SDNDhtr

a banded dead one in my hand.


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## bowhuntr4ever

it wwould have to be a pintail


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## BandHunter

Though I dont get to shoot many of them cause I dont hunt water I would say a Buffle Head!!
Bandhunter


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## honker

mallards that cup and commite to the robos :beer:


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## honkbuster3

The teal is my favorite duck because they are a challenge to shoot and the green wing teal was the first duck that I ever shot and I still love watching the dog bringing back a dead teal . :beer:


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## qwakwhaker883

Woodies. Nothing better than a flock of woodies over the dekes!


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## Straycat

To eat: Greenwing teal

To pass shoot: Bluebills in high wind

To decoy: Pintails


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## greenheadfallon

spoonbills :idiot:


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## DeltaBoy

To eat: Greenwing or bluewing teal

Big Water: Cans or Bills

To decoy: Drake Mallards


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## mallard

It is hard to pick a favorite.Mallards tornadoing into a field,Bluebills and canvasbacks sounding like jets as they roar over the top of you before shooting time.It is hard to pick just one.


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## pennsyltucky

wood ducks in a brushy puddle in the middle of the woods. u bout gotta wait with the gun up on ur cheek!


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## Lil Sand Bay

Woodies, they respond great to a wood duck call


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## Chuck Smith

Feild.......Drake Mallards

Water.......Cans, Bluebills, Mallards, woodies (in the wooded river bottoms)

Like others have mentioned....My alltime favorite....A dead banded one in my hand! :beer:


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## tb

I've actually given this thought from time to time. Has to be a buck pintail, they are simply awesome.


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## R y a n

There's nothing like a bunch of big bull cans working into your spread in blustery conditions over big water....










Other ducks are great, but these beautiful birds are the king of ducks for a reason....

Ryan


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## BandHunter

Kings I dont know about that...And they taste like mud..But to each there own!!
Bandhunter


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## Wingmaster55

I like Wood Ducks because first duck I ever shot and pretty much the only duck a few mallards if we get lucky but here in Iowa jump shooting on the rivers thats about all you'll see is woodies!


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## R y a n

BandHunter said:


> Kings I dont know about that...And they taste like mud..But to each there own!!
> Bandhunter


WHAT? I'm not even going to bother with that response. Do some research on google before replying.... Yes they are considered the king of ducks... haven't you ever heard that?

Canvasbacks were the prize possession of waterfowlers during the market hunting era. Their table fare is considered to be the best among all ducks.

Have you EVER even eaten a canvasback before? Probably not, as the bag limit has been drastically reduced due to staggering population declines. Mud? Oh my god far from it! You are just a little "Mallard Conditioned" being from ND... that has to be the answer....

Wow :huh:

Ryan


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## Chris Schulz

Ben Elli said:


> BandHunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kings I dont know about that...And they taste like mud..But to each there own!!
> Bandhunter
> 
> 
> 
> WHAT? I'm not even going to bother with that response. Do some research on google before replying.... Yes they are considered the king of ducks... haven't you ever heard that?Have you EVER even eaten a canvasback before? Probably not, as the bag limit has been drastically reduced due to staggering population declines. Mud? Oh my god far from it! You are just a little "Mallard Conditioned" being from ND... that has to be the answer....
> 
> Wow :huh:
> 
> Ryan
Click to expand...

To each their own....


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## R y a n

Chris Schulz said:


> To each their own....


I agree to each their own... to a degree... however if you are going to state something like "tastes like mud", that is not implying the same. That kind of response shows that he doesn't even likely know a can if he saw it fly over his head, and/or has never eaten one. Both of which are very likely.

Do a Google search of the following: canvasback and king of ducks

Review 3 or 4 of the descriptions. You tell me. Not my opinion... rather it is the accepted opinion of many generations of waterfowlers....


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## Original Goosebuster

I would say anthing that comes into the decoys and is a legal game bird. If their in range, their fair game!!!!
:sniper:


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## BandHunter

So you are telling me that divers dont taste diffrent then puddlers? They taste way diffrent...I dont care if some internet site says that they are the kings....I mean seriously who says there the kings? Generations of water fowlers? I started this thread to see what kind of bird gets everyones blood boiling when they have it in there hands.... It was more sarcasim then anything... Really it was... IF you look at the top I love buffleheads I think they taste like crap, but they are a beautiful bird and a tuff target...I think a prime spoon bill is a beautiful bird, but they all taste like poop what is the differance... Have a laugh and let it go...
Bandhunter


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## mr.trooper

Come on, guys. Everyone knows the Northern Shoveler is the KING of the ducks.


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## goosebusters

:lol: :lol: :lol: :rollin:


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## SmellCat

It doesn't get any better than shootin greenheads in the corn!


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## eyes to the skies

Ben Elli said:


> There's nothing like a bunch of big bull cans working into your spread in blustery conditions over big water....
> 
> 
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> Other ducks are great, but these beautiful birds are the king of ducks for a reason....
> 
> Ryan


 WATCHED A BULL CAN TODAY AT MY LUNCH BREAK HE WAS JUST LOAFING IN SOME OPEN WATER THEY ARE GORGEOUS NEVER BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE ONE IN THE DEKES THOUGH GOLDENEYES ARE PRETTY AWSOME AS WELL


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## goosebusters2

If I had to oick it would probably be a mallard, but I'm not to picky


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## RNT man

a big flock of teal :beer: :sniper: :sniper: :sniper: :sniper:


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## USSapper

the stationary green ones about 15 yards in front of me


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## addictedtogeese

WIGEON ALL THE WAY!!!


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## bandman

to eat: COOT, now how can you argue w/ that??? ummmmmm!

field decoy: more and more coot

open water decoy: and of course the obvious, COOT!

you guys gotta quit wasting your time with them mallards, wooducks, pintails, etc. i hate when they come into my coot decoys, i have a predator call on my landyard just to scare them damn pesky birds away. Honestly now, how can you beat the beautiness of a coot. them pretty puke green feet, bellies full of fellow duck sh$t. now come on i urge you to give it a try! if you disagree w/ any of this you are simply crazy and havent experienced the true aspect of "duck" hunting yet. now go get em'
:beer: :beer:


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## greenheadfallon

Mmmmmmm COOT............... I think i just threw up in my mouth. uke:


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## honkbuster3

greenheadfallon said:


> Mmmmmmm COOT............... I think i just threw up in my mouth. uke:


 HAHahaha :toofunny:  :rollin: There was a recipe on this website about cooking coot. I should try it sometime  Has anybody else tryed it????


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## mallard

honkbuster3 said:


> greenheadfallon said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mmmmmmm COOT............... I think i just threw up in my mouth. uke:
> 
> 
> 
> HAHahaha :toofunny:  :rollin: There was a recipe on this website about cooking coot. I should try it sometime  Has anybody else tryed it????
Click to expand...

You will have to ask fieldhunter about his gourme coot recipes.


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## Goldy's Pal

As far as the Bull Can being the "king of ducks" goes, I'll agree they are hands down the toughest bird to kill. They rarely hit the water dead and to finish one off sometimes turns your average hunt into a full blown "kill the Can" adventure. :lol: or "kill the King." 
I can't however agree on the taste, (recipe please  ) how some guys on here can be diver crazy just baffles me, but hey, whatever. 8)

I guess I can't just pick 1 bird, I like a lot of ducks for different reasons, taste, color, elusiveness, speed, size, shape, sounds, other unique features, and so on. 
:beer:


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## R y a n

Goldy's Pal said:


> As far as the Bull Can being the "king of ducks" goes, I'll agree they are hands down the toughest bird to kill. They rarely hit the water dead and to finish one off sometimes turns your average hunt into a full blown "kill the Can" adventure. :lol: or "kill the King."
> I can't however agree on the taste, (recipe please  ) how some guys on here can be diver crazy just baffles me, but hey, whatever. 8)
> 
> I guess I can't just pick 1 bird, I like a lot of ducks for different reasons, taste, color, elusiveness, speed, size, shape, sounds, other unique features, and so on.
> :beer:


Hey Goldy!

Yep they were the preferred duck of choice back in the market hunting days on the Chesapeake Bay! Many of the Cans shot in this area don't compare to the table fare of a corn fed mallard! No doubts about that! However a good Wild Rice fed Canvasback is a fine delicacy!

Here is a great recipe for them:

---------------------------------------------------------
Instructions:
The canvasback, depending on its diet before you shot it, can be very tasty indeed. I would recommend the following preparation:

1. Pluck and draw the duck.

2. Remove the breasts but do NOT skin.

3. Use a filet knife to do this part and be careful around the wishbone or you'll miss a bunch of meat.

4. Refrigerate the breasts (wrap in plastic).

5. Roast the carcass until browned (350 for an hour will do).

6. Take the carcass and place it in a large stock pot.

7. Cover bones with cold water, add a quartered (Vidalia 1015 onion)onion, skin and all or some other sweet variety is my preference quartered.

8. Add a carrot and a couple of cloves of fresh garlic.

9. Simmer stock at least 3 hours (I cook mine all night at a very low temp - bubbles rise very slow and not too often).

10. Strain the stock and reserve.
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For the sauce, add a 1/4 cup of clover honey to a 1.5 quart sauce pan.

1. Heat over medium heat until the honey starts to slightly darken.

2. Remove from the heat and add 2/3 cup of a nice white wine (the better the wine the better the sauce - *don't use any cheap stuff*).

3. Return to high heat and reduce by half.

4. Add 3 cups of duck stock and reduce until it gives a demi-glaze sauce consistency (about 2/3 of a cup remains).

5. Add a tablespoon of hoisen (you can get this in the oriental section of your grocery) and mix in for about a minute.

6. Remove from the heat. (Optionally, you can add a tablespoon of butter once completed.)

7. Right before your sauce is ready, salt and pepper your duck breasts.

8. Heat a cast-iron or other type of non-stick skillet to medium high.

9. Put the breasts in skin side down and cook until skin becomes somewhat crisp.

10. Turn and cook for about a minute on the other side.

11. The duck should be *rare* (I've never gotten sick from eating rare duck.)

12. If a canvasback (diver duck) is over cooked it doesn't taste near as good - the difference is like night and day).

13. Slice the breast long ways and ladle sauce on top.

14. Serve with the remaining white wine and vegetables of choice.

This is an easy recipe that will make duck lovers out of most anyone! Print this recipe out and try it sometime! You won't be disappointed!

Ryan

.


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## Bob Aronsohn

As far as hunting and eating are concerned I like the Bluebill's. I like hunting the Greater Scaup, man I've had some great times hunting those Bluebills. The Canvasback is one of the most regal waterfoul you will ever draw a bead on! I like the taste of teal very much. Any waterfoul I eat I like "well done"

Bob A.


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## mach

I like the greater scaup and wigeon in pass shooting..wave after wave. :sniper:


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## Ryan_Todd

i would have to say a nice big greenhead. with the pinny in close second.


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## cut'em

I'm voting for canadians big black and whites ones that land in cornfields, I'm amazed that guys still hunt ducks :lol: :lol: Actually I still do and it's got to by the Drake Woody now that's a great looking bird.


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## MrSafety

Definately a bull Can...........I really like when they bank toward you with the sun behind you showing theie silver-white backs.........nothing flies steadier or straighter.........


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## Mad2go!

By far the best duck to hunt or eat is of course the Eider Duck. You cann't beat taking these hugh birds over decoys. The colors in a mature drake are really nice. This time of the year here in newfoundland the eiders are migrating. They stop over to flaten up


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## BurnZ

By far to shoot and eat would be the elusive Wood Duck. Sitting in the middle of the woods next to a small pond where you hear their wings before you can even see them. That and they are one of the most colorfull ducks i have seen. Except for the Mandarin duck, i think they are only in china but here is a pic of one, It would be awsome to have one of these mounted on the wall.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/s ... ulata.html


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## Bird_Killer09

I would like to shoot and mount my favorite duck the King Eider


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## torf

Its hard to pick just one. Hunting ponds and fields its hard to beat a big northern greenhead, but im starting to really like hunting bigger water ever since last year when we had a great bluebill/bufflehead shoot on a very cold and very windy day. My vote still has to go to big late season greenheads.


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## dakota31400

Toss up between the Red Head and Canvasback....Always liked shooting Widgeon in the South too.


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## northerngoosehunter

Theres nothing better that spending a morning in the marsh with your hunting buddy and each comming home with a woody. Its a great feeling.


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## jkern

I love eating those little Teal, but any other puddler except for Spoonies will do. Certain divers aint bad for the table, depends on your personal taste.

Other than eatin...I love shootin Greenheads but I am not a Mallard purist. I love the way Gadwalls get edgy, almost to the point of not even trusting members of thier own flock...but on the other hand, they can be real retards. I love the challange of Pintails, they swing and swing and look so good, then just go away...the Snow goose of the duck world. I love how responsive Widgeon can be to a call, to the point of almost landing in the blind. I love hearing Teal on a pre dawn marsh and how they come ripping over the cattails just slightly high enough to not rip your head off. Shooting Bills brings me back to my youth and is almost as "sporty" as Teal.

I just love ducks, duckhunting, and everything about it. 25 out of 29 years of my life have been spent chasing em and I wouldnt have it any other way. :beer:


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## Scout7

Excellent post JKERN :beer:

My fav. would have to be a fully plumed green wing teal. Never shot a good one for the wall


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## roostbuster

greenheadfallon said:


> Mmmmmmm COOT............... I think i just threw up in my mouth. uke:


you guys have obviosuly NEVER actually tried a coot have you? someone said stomachs filled with duck poop??? they eat more vegetable matter than a mallard does. before you rip on mudhens i'de go out and shoot a couple, bring them home and do this....

breast them, and skin them

let the breasts soak overnight in italian dressing

rub with some kind of seasoning (i use canadien steak seasoning)

wrap with bacon, then toothpick an onion on top

throw them on the grille (this was in my dorm days so i used a george foreman)

cook up a healthy portion of instant white rice

when everythings done, get a bowl of rice, cut the coot into bite size pieces, mix it in with the rice, sprinkle some soy sauce over it all and your ready for one of the better dinners i've ever had.

where coot got its bad name from i'll never know, unless i've just been VERY lucky and never eaten one of the "bad ones"... b/c personally i've had mallards that tasted worse than any coot i've ever had.


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## jkern

"They are what they eat."

Never tried a Coot before, they are just to ugly to eat if ya ask me.

Got afew Greenwing Teal out of a flock last year that totally tasted like butt. I dont know what these particular birds got into but man they were rank.


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## DakotaDog72

I like most ducks, but the one that gets my blood pumping is a good old Mallard drake.


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## roostbuster

cut'em said:


> I'm voting for canadians big black and whites ones that land in cornfields, I'm amazed that guys still hunt ducks :lol: :lol: Actually I still do and it's got to by the Drake Woody now that's a great looking bird.


what the heck is a canadian??? is that some kind of new CANADA goose subspecies or what?


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## roostbuster

jkern said:


> "They are what they eat."


exactly... which would explain why they taste so good.


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## duckduck...goose!

they say next year the avian bird flu will be in ducks and hunters need to watch out..................im gunna give all the ducks i shoot to my neibourgh lol


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## baja

a plump cornfed canvasback....slow cooked with some Grand Mariner on my Traeger electric barbeque....


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## Horker23

Pinnys


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## goose0613

My favorite is the hen Ruddy Duck. :huh:


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## djleye

> cornfed canvasback


?????


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## greenheadfallon

duckduck...goose! said:


> they say next year the avian bird flu will be in ducks and hunters need to watch out..................im gunna give all the ducks i shoot to my neibourgh lol


Im just gonna cook them better :beer:


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## jbaincfl

Pin - Tail


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## pinkfoot

mine would be pintail in a north easterly on 7.4 metre tide evening flight on the lincolnshire-norfolk coast of the wash, aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh realy exciting stuff.


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## jhegg

Pinkfoot,
You wouldn't be shooting that with a 10 ga now, would you?
Jim


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## goosebusters

I would have to say #1 Malloose (Mallard Goose) AKA Hutchie AKA Cackler

#2 Big bull sprig AKA pinny AKA Simon and/or Garfunkel AKA Pintail

And with Hunters Choice in Nodak we should be able to harvest some of those good Simon and Garfunkels.


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## fungalsnowgoose

After growing up and Hunting the big rice lakes of Northern Mn I have to say Bills over big water

Tornados of mallards in the field

and shovlers on the highway

I had one of those crazy things fly into the side of my truck a few years ago.


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## Dunk221999

Def. Late Season Field Mallards  :beer:


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## octnov

:beer: :beer: Favorite duck drake mallard, followed closely by the drake woodie. I have a good recipe for coot, don't bother to dress the bird out ,just place in a zip lock bag, then bury the sucker 6 feet deep. Better yet why waste the shell on it in the first place.


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## fungalsnowgoose

I've tried coot before and I'd rather lick my own butt then ever eat them again. That was the most terrible meal I ever ate in my life.


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## snoduf

Bluebills or Goldeneyes which ever I'm hunting at the time.


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## Leo Porcello

I think the post is whats your favorite duck. Not what is your favorite duck to eat.

Eiders are my favorite to shoot!


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## Bert

I have eaten just about every duck that flies. I have prepared them in just about every way imaginable.

What I have found is that for the most part, guys overcook, over season and over marinade all waterfowl.

First and foremost, what makes a good meal of duck is where and when you eat it. Anything that lands in my ponds in the woods of northern Minnesota tastes great when I kill it and walk 100 yards to my log cabin and roast it for a couple of minutes over an open fire. (woodies, mallards, teal) and eat it, still red in the middle with a few cheap, domestic beers and some good friends.

I actually prefer late season divers on my grill over mallards or any other puddle duck. Canvasback being my favorite...ringbill, bluebill and redhead in that order.

Early ducks tend to taste more gamey to me but any of them will taste like liver if you cook them too long.

In college back in the day, we got into the grain fed mallards pretty good.

We put them in a bread pan (picked) and poured concentrated frozen orange juice over them and roasted them in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes. Now...could have been the beer talking, but I have never had anything like it.

I have tried that method with all other ducks and have been dissappointed.

Later the better,
Rarer the better,
An open fire or grill and a beer are must haves,
Spoonbills and bluewinged teal are first cousins,
Coots are what they eat (vegitation)


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## R y a n

Great post Bert

I'd have to agree with your thoughts to a T...

I think for everyone else responding... the question was what is your favorite duck to hunt/shoot/pursue

I think though that table fare quality and style play into that decision too



Ryan


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## zaconb

Edier!


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