Waterfowlers

[Swamp Puppy]

who does it? i am afflicted....

 

[Markcanby]

I would love to but I dont hunt before light, dont hunt in the rain, an dont hunt in the mud!

I am a upland guy.:lol:

 

[cookshot]

Afflicted is a great description. Swamp puppy makes some calls that he sent me a sound bite of. They are awesome. I love me some upland too though... Its nice to hike 7 or 8 miles one day and sit still in a blind the next. How was your season this year? I got three bands.

 

[Thuggin4Life]

i am gonna try this year been getting the boat to look like a bird boat.

 

[dude young]

Hi, my name is Dude, and I am a Quack Addict. There is something just a bit off about a fella that wants to get up before the sun, gets excited when it's raining, looks forward to sitting, in the dark, and the rain, with a wet dog, waiting for that single moment. The one just before it's time. The world goes silent. All is calm. Then, just then, the unmistakable sound of whistling wings overhead.

And then all hell breaks loose! Oh, god. I gotta go down to 82nd Ave and see if there's some camo clad pusher on the corner.

 

[the_intimidator03]

well i must say i have a passion for waterfowl. If there was any bird i want to hunt its ducks or geese.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

hard to beat ducks IMHO. i love working birds and watching them respond to the call and come into the dekes just the way you planned. it can be frustrating, but nothing more rewarding than a hunt that works out right. upland is great too. i love quail, grouse, and pheasants. can't beat a nice big blue for table fare.

 

[Mike123]

LOVE to shoot ducks... HATE to eat them.

I like Goose... but duck is just the worst tasting thing there is.
I've tried marinating etc etc.... still tastes like duck!

 

[Thuggin4Life]

you have to smoke them. some of the better tasting somked meat i have smoked up.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

yeah, smoked is good. chili is good also. i usually make jerky out of it or have it turned into peperoni.

 

[Mike123]

It would take a lotta covering up to get it down my throat... lol.
Phil told me about how to make goose enchaladas... that was amazing.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

Mike - the trick is to get the blood out of the meat before you try to do ANYTHING with it. soak the breasts or better yet, breast strips, in a salt water/brine to draw out the blood. i soak for about 12 hours changing the water every 4 hours or so. once you have done that, marinade the meat in whatever you want for another couple of hours. then you are good to go.

 

[Mike123]

Ahhh ok thanks for the tip!

 

[the_intimidator03]

mike what species of duck as well? some taste better than others some taste like... well crap

 

[Swamp Puppy]

mike what species of duck as well? some taste better than others some taste like... well crap

good point. To expand on that a bit, where did you shoot the birds? Coastal ducks and marsh ducks won't taste as good as ducks that spend most of the time in fields. Tidewater ducks eat a lot of bugs and small invertibrates which seriously degrades the meat quality. a nice grain/seed fed duck will take a whole lot better.

Mallards, Pintails, Teal, Gadwall, and most of the other puddlers will taste waaaaay better than the Buffies, Bluebills (Scaup), Goldeneye, and the other members of the Diver species. Widgeon are sort of a inbetween prospect. They are puddlers, but depending on what they have been eating they can taste ok or reeeeaaaaalllllly bad.

as a generall rule, i don't bother with divers unless someone i am hunting with wants to take them home with them. I can't even stand cleaning the stinky things.

Coots are NOT ducks...and no attempt should be made at eating one unless you are a louisiana cajun and luvz you sum coot gumbo.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

i know it's june...and i have a lot of fishing in front of me before i can think of this.... but i'm ready!

was one greenie away from my first ever "all green" limit....but i just couldn't lay off that widgeon. lol. I love widgeon. Probably my favorite bird to hunt.





.....And since there is a bird season before waterfowl season....

 

[Swamp Puppy]

.............and after a hard day of bird hunting. This is where you find your dog. lol

 

[the_intimidator03]

I must say... I have not bagged a mallard.. My first duck was a drake pintail followed it up that day with a drake and hen greenwing teal. Need to figure out hitting moving objects with scatter gun again

 

[Mike123]

Any duck tastes bad... mallards, teal, widgeon... etc. hahahaha.. I've ate them from Jefferson area, South Santiam river, albany ponds, and ducks from ponds up in the woods.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

I must say... I have not bagged a mallard.. My first duck was a drake pintail followed it up that day with a drake and hen greenwing teal. Need to figure out hitting moving objects with scatter gun again

practice is the key. spend some time during the summer going out and breaking clays. Sporting Clay courses are the best as they are giving you lots of different looks and angles on the clays. much like real hunting scenarios. just starting out though, trap works good for just getting the feel of properly bringing the gun up and making the shot. skeet is good to get a fluid swing down.

the biggest tip i can give you is to keep swinging the gun after the shot. 99.999999% of the misses on birds are misses behind the target due to an improper swing, stopping your swing, or not leading the target enough. start behind your target and swing through it. after you shoot continue to swing along the same line in a continuous motion.