Coastal ducks - taste

[teej89]

I'm torn on this subject... I moved to WA and most of the guys over here hunt the coast for birds. I went out to check it out and scout and I understand why, they're everywhere.

However, from what I've heard from everyone is they "taste like garbage". I love eating what I hunt, that's the drive behind it all for me and after cooking puddle ducks from the flats of central WA last year I love it. And love the flexibility you have with cooking them.

Can anyone shed any light into these coastal birds tasting bad? In my mind with the right prep there's gotta be something to make em taste good. I can't imagine everyone just throws em out like a crow.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

In my experience people just suck at cooking.

Before I take someone’s word on how x animal tastes I wanna see how well they can cook a skin on chicken thigh/pork chop/steak.

“So mule deer tastes awful.. you have a 6er of bud heavy in your fridge and some ketchup and your last 5 meals were McDonald’s... yeah that’s all I need to know”

I shot a bunch of golden eyes one year and didn’t know how to cook them so punted and had them made into sausage, turned out pretty good.

Im curious if seaducks would make good liverwurst

 

[thusby]

A good cook can work wonders. I had a buddy who used to make a great stew out of coots. I can't imagine a sea duck is a worse ingredient to start with than a coot.

 

[LuketheDog]

In my experience people just suck at cooking.

Right here^

 

[teej89]

Thanks guys, makes me feel better. Other than groundhogs and crows I've eaten everything I've shot. I couldn't imagine taking ducks and throwing em in the trash. If you're gonna take the time to kill em you oughta take the time to learn to cook em.

 

[geetar]

One of my best wild game culinary experiences came from a coastal North Carolina duck hunt where we cooked the birds that night without ever freezing them. Made jalapeño poppers with them and maybe it it was just the camp experience but I would eat those things again any day. Don’t hesitate to try coastal ducks. Like @wllm1313 said most people just suck at cooking. These birds were bluebills, buffleheads, ruddy ducks, ect.

 

[MarvB]

Yeah some people can fugg up a soup sandwich... it’s all in proper prep, knowing a bit about what you’re doing, and not being afraid to experiment. Coots and divers are NOT gonna taste like a grain fattened mallard but I’ve had some pretty damn respectable coot cacciatore before, have turned snow geese into jerky and summer sausage, and made ringbills, golden eyes, buffers, etc into a good marinaded fajita that folks typically reach for seconds on...but shooting and dumping? Unacceptable! You might as well break clays...

 

[mmazour]

I hunted sea ducks for 4 days with an outfitter in NW Washington, and he had them all made into pepperoni sticks. These birds were mostly scoters, as the "one" halrequin you are allowed most people take as a trophy. We at the sticks every day and even took some home on the plane since they were good. Like above, I have made snow goose polish sausage and also served plenty of diver as marinated poppers.