8
8SteelTown
Guest
So I went on a solo hunt for duck with high hopes. Borrowed my buddies flat bottom boat and set out. Wasn't too difficult to get it out by myself and get it into the water and load up before sunrise.
Used the small motor and got myself into position. There were some other people hunting near me. At first light, a swarm of birds flew overhead. They were mixed with low flying dark cranes, high flying mallards, and some fast flying smaller ducks (couldn't identify due to lighting). The guys up the way from me started BLASTING and everything got vertical and took off. 1st shot I took down a shoveler. Couldn't reach anything else and didn't want to sky bust (again 3" loads w/ #3's). Waited a bit and saw a merganser doing a circle dance on the water after some fishies. I knew it was a duck based off the color and the orange feet (don't want to hear anyone's opinion on this). Dropped the merganser. Probably wasn't the best idea to hunt from the boat, as everything was seeing the multiple boats in the water and just getting too high to reach or were turning around. The fowl activity declined sharply and the only thing moving were Ruddy's. The dudes down the way were training their new dog so they were shooting at every Ruddy on the water. Decided to call it a day and got a Ruddy on the way back to my truck. After a few pics, I started to dress the Merganser and was whole'ing the bird due to its size and noticed it had a 2" fat layer on it. I was immediately stoked thinking of all that delicious fatty flavor! I started plucking the shoveler and decided there wasn't much meat on it and was just going to breast it. I sliced down the center bone and pulled back the skin to see a nasty parasite ridden bird. Grabbed my shovel and dug a hole and buried that beast. I had plans to go to my buddy's house and roast a mallard that night and figured we'd rotisserie the merganser. SoCalRebelHunter told me that I was not going to be happy with that bird but if you don't try, how do you know (reference eating coots). Basting in juicy fat was sure to be tasty, right?! Cooked the merganser perfectly... was just about medium rare and so juicy. When my buddy opened the BBQ lid, he almost puked from the smell. I said I had to try it since I killed it. Took a knife and cut a big slab off. Took a big bite and immediately spit it out. Like chewing up a mouth full of fish oil capsules. No brine in the world could tame that flavor. You live, you learn, and you cross certain birds off your "never again" list. The mallard turned out nice with a red pepper flake maple syrup glaze finished with a tart cherry compote topping.
Used the small motor and got myself into position. There were some other people hunting near me. At first light, a swarm of birds flew overhead. They were mixed with low flying dark cranes, high flying mallards, and some fast flying smaller ducks (couldn't identify due to lighting). The guys up the way from me started BLASTING and everything got vertical and took off. 1st shot I took down a shoveler. Couldn't reach anything else and didn't want to sky bust (again 3" loads w/ #3's). Waited a bit and saw a merganser doing a circle dance on the water after some fishies. I knew it was a duck based off the color and the orange feet (don't want to hear anyone's opinion on this). Dropped the merganser. Probably wasn't the best idea to hunt from the boat, as everything was seeing the multiple boats in the water and just getting too high to reach or were turning around. The fowl activity declined sharply and the only thing moving were Ruddy's. The dudes down the way were training their new dog so they were shooting at every Ruddy on the water. Decided to call it a day and got a Ruddy on the way back to my truck. After a few pics, I started to dress the Merganser and was whole'ing the bird due to its size and noticed it had a 2" fat layer on it. I was immediately stoked thinking of all that delicious fatty flavor! I started plucking the shoveler and decided there wasn't much meat on it and was just going to breast it. I sliced down the center bone and pulled back the skin to see a nasty parasite ridden bird. Grabbed my shovel and dug a hole and buried that beast. I had plans to go to my buddy's house and roast a mallard that night and figured we'd rotisserie the merganser. SoCalRebelHunter told me that I was not going to be happy with that bird but if you don't try, how do you know (reference eating coots). Basting in juicy fat was sure to be tasty, right?! Cooked the merganser perfectly... was just about medium rare and so juicy. When my buddy opened the BBQ lid, he almost puked from the smell. I said I had to try it since I killed it. Took a knife and cut a big slab off. Took a big bite and immediately spit it out. Like chewing up a mouth full of fish oil capsules. No brine in the world could tame that flavor. You live, you learn, and you cross certain birds off your "never again" list. The mallard turned out nice with a red pepper flake maple syrup glaze finished with a tart cherry compote topping.
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