Duck prep

[WildWill]

What do you do with your ducks after you're done hunting? I've seen people throw them away, just cut out the breast, gut pluck and freeze same day, gut pluck dry age, no gutting or plucking dry age. If you age what's your method and how long? I have a fridge on the back porch that's a pool side drink fridge in the summer and my aging/curing fridge in the fall and winter. Last two years I've plucked and gutted before hanging 5-7 day's in the fridge. My buddy just throws them unplucked and ungutted in his garage fridge for no more than a week and then plucks, guts, and packages them and seems to do fine. This year I hung them in the fridge unplucked and ungutted gonna try the first tomorrow.

 

[Sask hunter]

Breast them out. Later in the seaosn I pluck the nice ones

 

[shannerdrake]

As long as it’s cold enough and the aren’t too shot up, I like to hang mine a couple days. Four is about as long as I’ll go without gutting. If it’s 30-50deg I’ll hang outside. When it’s really cold, I’ll hang them in the garage. If it’s hot out I’ll put them in the basement fridge until I can get to them.

If we get a couple singles early in the hunt, I’ve been known to pluck a few waiting for them to get up to feed. Just leave enough feathers for identification.

We have almost exclusively fat mallards where I hunt and their fat is a thing of beauty.

Therefore I try to whole pluck a few for the smoker. But I definitely pluck the breasts and leave the skin on. The legs I’m less concerned about because they just get the crockpot and shred treatment.

 

[Scott85]

Agree if they aren’t too shot up and it cold enough I’ll let hang for a couple days. I’m working on making a plucker for next season.

 

[Nick87]

Paging @JShane. He has dry aging them down to a science and doesn't waste a scrap. Hopefully he'll be along shortly with some input.

 

[shannerdrake]

Agree if they aren’t too shot up and it cold enough I’ll let hang for a couple days. I’m working on making a plucker for next season.

A friend of a friend has a homemade plucker he uses to process chickens. It’s worked out for us to drop a few ducks in there and it’s a thing of beauty.

 

[WoodMoose]

I've seen people throw them away,

that's such a waste - then why would people hunt them

just cut out the breast,

seldom - to much other good meat on a duck

gut pluck and freeze same day

very seldom (due to lack of freezer when I am hunting)

gut pluck dry age

that's my go to method (except i pluck first, then gut). We have a duck plucker at camp, makes short work of it

no gutting or plucking dry age.

I've done that a few times, but not my preferred (so far)

 

[JShane]

I've got a dorm fridge dedicated to being a dry aging chamber. Smaller birds teal and woodies go for 3 to 4 days whole unpluckedd not gutted. Every other species get 5 days same way.
Once the aging time has passed the birds are plucked, debone the breast, remove the legs, save any wild frois Gras I get, and save the heart. Gizzard I've tried but im not a big fan of. From their it's all vacuum sealed and tossed in the freezer.this is a redhead and a gadwall breasts 5 days aged just prior to vacuum sealing.

 

[JShane]

drake woodie at the plucking stage, about to breast him out. There is a video of Hank Shaw breasting out a duck that I have used that technique.

It does a much better job of fileting the breast off the bone leaving very little meat behind.

 

[JShane]

Any pics or insight into the pluckers would be greatly appreciated. Thats my next addition to the process as I'm gonna end up with arthritis otherwise.

I've found if I pluck then dry age the skin dries out too much. Leaving the feathers insulates the skin to prevent this.

 

[Keep on]

I do 5 or 6 days in the garage once it's cold enough. Whole duck/goose ungutted.
I don't have an extra fridge, so if it's too warm they get cleaned and sit for 5 or 6 days in the fridge.

 

[seeth07]

I went to France in high school and the kid I stayed with had a small farm. They had ducks and geese on the farm. Out in their barn, there was a cooler setup and it had dozens of ducks and geese hanging by the neck. I asked them why they don't clean them and get them into the freezer. The response I got was

"They need to age for the best meat quality. We know when they are ready once the wire works it's way through the neck and cuts the head off"

I tried this finally myself two years ago myself in my walk in cooler. Apparently it takes about 4 months. Noticeable difference in taste? Nope lol

 

[Scott85]

Any pics or insight into the pluckers would be greatly appreciated. Thats my next addition to the process as I'm gonna end up with arthritis otherwise.

I've found if I pluck then dry age the skin dries out too much. Leaving the feathers insulates the skin to prevent this.View attachment 258949View attachment 258950

I’m doing a diy plucker with their kit and shroud and a 1hp electric motor from Amazon. http://thefowlplucker.com/order-now/

 

[WildWill]

I've got a dorm fridge dedicated to being a dry aging chamber. Smaller birds teal and woodies go for 3 to 4 days whole unpluckedd not gutted. Every other species get 5 days same way.
Once the aging time has passed the birds are plucked, debone the breast, remove the legs, save any wild frois Gras I get, and save the heart. Gizzard I've tried but im not a big fan of. From their it's all vacuum sealed and tossed in the freezer.View attachment 258946View attachment 258947this is a redhead and a gadwall breasts 5 days aged just prior to vacuum sealing.

Do you hang your ducks?

 

[JShane]

Do you hang your ducks?

No they rest in the shelves on the fridge. I spread them out the first 24 hours to allow good air flow. If I have multiple days of hunts with more than 6 birds I keep the groups together by days harvested and move them around as needed

 

[Wild Bill]

I’m doing a diy plucker with their kit and shroud and a 1hp electric motor from Amazon. http://thefowlplucker.com/order-now/

I've got a buddy who used their DIY kit and attached it to a salvaged dryer motor that he got for dirt cheap from an appliance place. The thing absolutely rips (in a good way).

 

[Nick87]

Pretty sure there was a member here who made one with a drill and a bracket that kept the drill stationary so you could move the bird around the plucker on the drill

 

[JShane]

I knew I had one last wood duck to process from Friday's hunt. I've decided to run am experiment with these 3 birds. I processed one at 2 days one at 3 and the last at 4 days dry age to see if there us a noticeable flavor difference. These are day 4 bird pictures. Hope some of this is helpful .

 

[BucksnDucks]

• Hang (up to a week at proper temps)
• Pluck- to leave fat on puddle ducks. I'm guilty of breasting but do enjoy a whole bird.
• BRINE- I'm a firm believer this adds a lot of quality to product.

Some birds like widgeon, gadwall, snows or divers go in the grinder for sausage or jerky
Mallards, Woodies, Teal, Pintail, Specks and the rare Can are for the grill or cast iron.

 

[Firedude]

Random question. Why do you age ungutted? Seams counterintuitive so there must be a good reason that I'm unaware of.

I'm getting back into bird hunting and am learning as well. So far I've been breasting , legging, and fridge aging. Or plucking whole (gutted) and aging for 7-10 days. Very excited to try some of these.