I used to hunt ducks a lot, when I lived in northern Alberta. But my ex-wife didn't care for the taste of duck and loved pheasant, so I gravitated to pheasant hunting instead. I still hunted ducks a lot, some over dekes, but mostly jump shooting prairie creeks and sloughs. More than once I've walked up to a dugout slough and killed a limit of flushing mallards with 2 shots. Not my chosen hunting method, but you take what Ma Nature gives you and don't ask questions!
I agree, the equipment list and workload for good decoy hunting is mor than for a lot of other sports, but it's worth it. I don't mind the extra money I spend on non-toxic shot because I don't shoot enough of it to be a burden, but if I hunted 20 days a season, it would sure add up. I load my own shells using Ballistic Products ITX shot... the stuff is phenomenally deadly and it allows me to hunt with my old double guns, so it's worth the extra dough for me. I have good duck hunter friends down here on the Gulf Coast now, so I expect to do a lot more duck hunting than I did on the past 15-20 years when I lived in in duck deserts.
I can't abide crowds, so I scout for places that are lightly hunted. Guided hunts are a good way to go, reasonable prices are there for the asking if you look. Here in TX there are a number of good guide outfits in the Panhandle and down here on the coast. Guys who don't blink at paying $5000 to hunt trophy deer will choke at a duck guide charging $500 for a weekend, though. I gu s it takes all kinds.
As for eating... there is no meal finer than roast mallard with wild rice. I grew up eating 'em, and I cook them just like Mom did. Slice up an apple and an onion and an orange, stuff the bird with the fruit, roast 'em for 20 minutes at 450 or so. Meat should be medium rare, and they are self-basting with all that good fat under the crispy skin. Even better, cook them in a covered charcoal grill. Mallard, blacks, pintails, woodies are best. Most of the other puddle ducks are too small to bother plucking, so they get breasted out and I flash fry them in butter with light breading, salt and pepper, and chopped garlic in the melted butter. Gadwall, shoveler, and some of the stronger ducks get brined and marinated, then roasted like mallards. But you have to leave the skin on. Cover them with bacon if you must, but I like duck that tastes like duck, not pig. YMMV.
Plucking gals up in Canada are easy to find at the nearest Hutterite colony. Down here I have yet to find some, but there should be some gals who do that work. Otherwise you can do it yourself if you invest in one of those rubber fingers machines. They work even better if you scald the birds first, but add a few drops of Dawn dish soap to the water to break the seal on the feathers so the hot water can penetrate.
Last edited by DocRocket; 09/14/17.
