How many Ruddy Ducks can you take legally in 1 day in CA?

[Hschweers]

In Europe they hang them by the feet for like 5 days not something I do. I have eaten them all but coots( not that desperate) haven’t found one I don’t like yet. Northern mallards skin on in the cast iron is tough to beat. I also like liver and onions. Waterfowl is my favorite game meat.

If you like every duck you’ve tried, then I assure you you’ll like coots too. Sure, they have a bad name, and people say they taste like mud, but what I’ve found is the majority of the people that talk down about them haven’t tried them. When I get wild game, the goal is to not only save the delicacies, it’s to figure out how to make it all edible (even if that means a little more doctoring for certain animals/parts). To me, a good duck gets plucked and cooked whole or breasts just seared in the cast iron and that’s the main course. A bad duck still gets eaten, it’s just in the way of poppers or philly steaks. Coot will fit that bill no problem, and it adds another pile of birds to your freezer.

Edit: coot gizzards and hearts are just as good as any other duck’s too. Those are probably the best parts!

 

[KurtR]

If you like every duck you’ve tried, then I assure you you’ll like coots too. Sure, they have a bad name, and people say they taste like mud, but what I’ve found is the majority of the people that talk down about them haven’t tried them. When I get wild game, the goal is to not only save the delicacies, it’s to figure out how to make it all edible (even if that means a little more doctoring for certain animals/parts). To me, a good duck gets plucked and cooked whole or breasts just seared in the cast iron and that’s the main course. A bad duck still gets eaten, it’s just in the way of poppers or philly steaks. Coot will fit that bill no problem, and it adds another pile of birds to your freezer.

Edit: coot gizzards and hearts are just as good as any other duck’s too. Those are probably the best parts!

I don’t doubt you. My 2 reasons for not shooting coots is when I’m piling mallards up in corn fields I have enough to eat with me and my kid shooting.

The other one i aint man enough to take the ridicule from all my buddies haha you shoot coots up north you better be able take shit in shovel fulls

 

[JShane]

Didn't want to bother with plucking so just opened them up and deboned their breast halves.

Got em soaking in water with Salt and Sriracha.



Plz forgive my ignorance here, "dry age"? How does a person "dry age" them? Specifially do I need to make sure to gut them first before having them wait? Does this mean there's also a "wet age" method as well?

Another question, do I need to be concerned with making sure to remove the entrails as soon as I can?

I'm asking because, for example, been real busy with work and other events during the week after-work like the boys scouting stuff, and helping him with homework, so the ducks were in the cooler until from Sun. to Wed. I was leary about waiting that long, but it's been unusually cold here lately so I figured that would have bought me more time so I can delay processing them. They were in the meat bags in the cooler and were not gutted yet.

My birds go straight in a small fridge right after the hunt. No gutting, no plucking, nothing. Whole bird as it was when I picked it up off the water. I'm in Florida so my weather is much warmer on average. Birds stay in the boat til the hunt is done then straight home to the fridge. I've posted a few pictures in the deer aging thread on the meat processing section in here that can give some insight. I have no off flavors, no decay of the innards either as i save the heart, some livers, and gizzards.

 

[Oregon]

I do things a bit different. Without exaggeration, I used to classify all my ducks as Sunday ducks. Which meant I only cleaned ducks on Sunday. Whether shot on Monday Friday or Sunday. I changed that up about 10 years ago. Now my rule of thumb is I clean ducks when I get to 21 on my garage floor(possession limit)
I shoot a lot of ducks. I hunt practically everyday of the season. I eat a lot of ducks. every day I eat duck. Every day. I pick a lot whole for duck dinners(or breast/thigh with skin on). I grind a bunch with 30% bacon. I throw the breasts in the InstaPot with beef broth and have a Tupperware of shredded meat at all times. My everyday sandwich I take with me is shredded duck and BBQ sauce. If I'm doing an afternoon hunt my brunch is a bowl full of shredded duck, green chili, cheese heated up. I put one egg over easy and half an avacado. I call that a Wigeon Bowl. Damn good. But the whole picked ducks cooked medium rare on the pellet grill is the best.

 

[GARLICSALT]

@Oregon is my new favorite on here. That's how you do it!

I do things a bit different. Without exaggeration, I used to classify all my ducks as Sunday ducks. Which meant I only cleaned ducks on Sunday. Whether shot on Monday Friday or Sunday. I changed that up about 10 years ago. Now my rule of thumb is I clean ducks when I get to 21 on my garage floor(possession limit)
I shoot a lot of ducks. I hunt practically everyday of the season. I eat a lot of ducks. every day I eat duck. Every day. I pick a lot whole for duck dinners(or breast/thigh with skin on). I grind a bunch with 30% bacon. I throw the breasts in the InstaPot with beef broth and have a Tupperware of shredded meat at all times. My everyday sandwich I take with me is shredded duck and BBQ sauce. If I'm doing an afternoon hunt my brunch is a bowl full of shredded duck, green chili, cheese heated up. I put one egg over easy and half an avacado. I call that a Wigeon Bowl. Damn good. But the whole picked ducks cooked medium rare on the pellet grill is the best.
View attachment 357615

 

[JShane]

I do things a bit different. Without exaggeration, I used to classify all my ducks as Sunday ducks. Which meant I only cleaned ducks on Sunday. Whether shot on Monday Friday or Sunday. I changed that up about 10 years ago. Now my rule of thumb is I clean ducks when I get to 21 on my garage floor(possession limit)
I shoot a lot of ducks. I hunt practically everyday of the season. I eat a lot of ducks. every day I eat duck. Every day. I pick a lot whole for duck dinners(or breast/thigh with skin on). I grind a bunch with 30% bacon. I throw the breasts in the InstaPot with beef broth and have a Tupperware of shredded meat at all times. My everyday sandwich I take with me is shredded duck and BBQ sauce. If I'm doing an afternoon hunt my brunch is a bowl full of shredded duck, green chili, cheese heated up. I put one egg over easy and half an avacado. I call that a Wigeon Bowl. Damn good. But the whole picked ducks cooked medium rare on the pellet grill is the best.
View attachment 357615

Did we just become best friends please? Holy lord those birds look outstanding. Wigeon bowl will be tried this year thank you for that.

 

[KurtR]

Duck kabobs are always a hit


Mongolian goose


Then my favorite pan seared skin on mallard with a black berry reduction

 

[VernAK]

third most expensive bird on the menu in upscale restaurants during market hunting days. For a reason.

Yup!.......a great little bird but I've never seen very many.

 

[WCB]

HAHAHA...guys comparing the taste of ducks...They can all taste like ducks or they can all taste like sausage.

 

[KurtR]

HAHAHA...guys comparing the taste of ducks...They can all taste like ducks or they can all taste like sausage.

Generally what i hear when people dont know how to cook it. They also prefer walleye and pheasant as they are a bland tasteless meat that is over seasoned

 

[TheGDog]

Love Pheasant.. and Quail!

 

[Oregon]

If you like pastrami, I make a pile out of mallards and geese as well. I follow the meateater recipe on the Internet. This stuff is good!!!! I'll make 40-50#s of pastrami, Freeze, then gift a ton, and save enough to make sandwiches through my summer fishing season. It is so easy.

 

[Oregon]

Here's another little nugget. @KurtR has his breasts in a beautiful looking sauce. This sauce will make a wife pick the plate up and drink the rest. Note: cut recipe in half.
This pairs so good with fowl.

 

[SteveHazard]

Didn't want to bother with plucking so just opened them up and deboned their breast halves.

Got em soaking in water with Salt and Sriracha.



Plz forgive my ignorance here, "dry age"? How does a person "dry age" them? Specifially do I need to make sure to gut them first before having them wait? Does this mean there's also a "wet age" method as well?

Another question, do I need to be concerned with making sure to remove the entrails as soon as I can?

I'm asking because, for example, been real busy with work and other events during the week after-work like the boys scouting stuff, and helping him with homework, so the ducks were in the cooler until from Sun. to Wed. I was leary about waiting that long, but it's been unusually cold here lately so I figured that would have bought me more time so I can delay processing them. They were in the meat bags in the cooler and were not gutted yet.

They're fine. Probably better like that. If birds are kept cool you do not need to clean them right away, provided it didn't get hammered real bad. I clean those same day.

 

[JShane]

drake ruddy duck i shot last Sunday. Not a thick layer of fat under the skin but I chose to pluck him anyway for I guess demonstration purposes.

 

[JShane]

so here's both sides of the ruddy breast. As you can see no off color in the skin or on the breast anywhere. I use a mini fridge as an aging chamber that holds about 10 to 12 at a time single stacked.

 

[JShane]

lastly a picture of all the legs from the birds harvested along with the above ruddy. Don't know if this fully fits the OP's initial question for sure but here it is FWIW

 

[TheGDog]

How did you pluck them so cleanly? I'm asking because I noted that these Ruddy's seem to have a lil bit of those under feathers like the coots have.

When I tried to pluck a coot and saw just how much under-feathers there were, I was like Bump That! Skin go Bye-Bye! So just did the same thing with these Ruddy's. Is there some trick for easily removing all those baby-fine feathers most easily? I remember reading back-in-the-day where they would dip ducks in hot wax? Then peel off the hot wax after it's all cooled down?

Also saw another contraption with a bucket which has a rotation/spinning platform on the bottom of the bucket with a buncha rubber fingers standing upright. They guy turned it on... couple seconds later? A plucked bird!

So anyhoo, assuming you don't have some fancy-schmancy way of doing it, I ask you for tips and tricks.

 

[KurtR]

How did you pluck them so cleanly? I'm asking because I noted that these Ruddy's seem to have a lil bit of those under feathers like the coots have.

When I tried to pluck a coot and saw just how much under-feathers there were, I was like Bump That! Skin go Bye-Bye! So just did the same thing with these Ruddy's. Is there some trick for easily removing all those baby-fine feathers most easily? I remember reading back-in-the-day where they would dip ducks in hot wax? Then peel off the hot wax after it's all cooled down?

Also saw another contraption with a bucket which has a rotation/spinning platform on the bottom of the bucket with a buncha rubber fingers standing upright. They guy turned it on... couple seconds later? A plucked bird!

So anyhoo, assuming you don't have some fancy-schmancy way of doing it, I ask you for tips and tricks.

Haha the old wax. My dad almost burned our garage down melting the wax. Mom was not impressed. Now I pluck them and use a torch then a good scrub and good to go. I’m selective on which birds I pluck. Early season birds have to many pin feathers.

 

[JShane]

How did you pluck them so cleanly? I'm asking because I noted that these Ruddy's seem to have a lil bit of those under feathers like the coots have.

When I tried to pluck a coot and saw just how much under-feathers there were, I was like Bump That! Skin go Bye-Bye! So just did the same thing with these Ruddy's. Is there some trick for easily removing all those baby-fine feathers most easily? I remember reading back-in-the-day where they would dip ducks in hot wax? Then peel off the hot wax after it's all cooled down?

Also saw another contraption with a bucket which has a rotation/spinning platform on the bottom of the bucket with a buncha rubber fingers standing upright. They guy turned it on... couple seconds later? A plucked bird!

So anyhoo, assuming you don't have some fancy-schmancy way of doing it, I ask you for tips and tricks.

Good ole fashioned elbow grease. I'm dry plucking by hand. When I get an area plucked and the under down feathers are still present, I'm rubbing my thumb forcefully across the skin to pull the down feathers. I'm gonna end up with arthritis one day if I don't come up with something that will atleast help a little. But the plucked bird with clean skin is worth it.