36 replies to this topic

[clampdaddy]

I'm not a fan of Auto Life either. Over priced and nobody there knows anything about rifles. They just want to sell you a benelli shotgun, a case of shells, and send you on your way.You could try Bilsons in turlock for a pair of waders. I bought a set there last year. It's nice to be able to try them on before you buy. Their prices are average but they seem to be good people. Just don't go there if you're in a hurry and don't know what you're looking for. They employ alot of local high school kids so I useually just point to what I want. If you need help from a clerk that actually knows about hunting products it can take a few minuits for the youngsters to fetch the manager who also runs the gun counter.

[Moe]

I've picked ducks every way you can imagine including dipping the rough picked birds in wax. About 12 years ago I decided to get one of these and it makes the job go a lot faster and the birds come out clean as a whistle.http://www.toprateda...g/DuckNaked.htmWhenever I hear people say how they hate duck I take it with a grain of salt. Most people that don't like to eat duck have gone out and shot a duck or two without regard to what they're shooting. I'm pretty picky about what I shoot and target the birds that are most likely to have a mostly vegetarian diet steering away from snail and fish or whatever other bugs or creatures they can catch on the bottom of some stinky scum covered pond. Mallards and sprig, usually. My favorite is canvasback but they can be hard to come by as they're open water birds and don't much frequent the marshes. The last place I used to score on them is the Columbia River north of Wenatchee, WA. A really great way to cook either ducks or geese is to breast them out and cut the skinned meat into bite sized chunks. Get a can of Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup and instead of mixing it with water use Burgundy wine. Place the meat in a casserole dish and cover it with the soup and wine and bake it for an hour in a 400 degree oven. Serve it hot over rice or with a wild rice casserole. You can find that recipe in any Better Homes and Gardens cook book.Another good way to fix duck is to cut it up the same way as described above and just fry it with a bunch of bacon. Serve it hot on pan cakes for breakfast. It's a good camp meal. Duck is almost always overcooked to where it has no flavor left. It's actually best served rare. I like it medium rare.

[Arise]

I could not agree w/ you more Moe.

[Old timer]

Moe does that make you a duck plucker?

[bzzrd feedr]

Moe We've got one of those duck pluckers at our club, not that brand but very similar and it works well. The trouble is the rubber fingers wear out quickly. We clean about 1600 birds a year and changing the fingers and the mess that the feathers make just makes waxing simpler for us. When we burn the waxed feathers and the wings, feet, guts it gets rid of a big mess. Many of our duck club members don't have their wives along to clean up after them. Mucking out the feather room is an ugly messy job. I'm with you on being selective on shooting quality and I also try my best to shoot drakes, but that's just me. No Great Northern Shovelers!

[Moe]

I have my picker out in the shed. It directs the feathers into a 55 gallon drum lined with a plastic bag and there's little mess to clean up. Since I'm the only one using it I've yet to wear out a finger but if I do they're easily changed. I have to agree about the shovelers. Nasty and greasy. We have a lot of wood ducks around here and if you're hunting near the trees, which is easy to do, you get a lot of them on the decoys. I shot a bunch of drakes my first year here mostly for the skins. I took them to a taxidermist to have them skinned and tanned to give away to fly tying buddies who covet the feathers for Spey patterns. I thought the birds would cook up good but I was wrong. Yucko.

[Old timer]

yuck yuck yuck also on wood ducks.. we also have a lot of them here