Good eating Wood Duck

[Glenn W]

Well, it won't much of a feast as I only had 1 bird, but he had been aging in the fridge since Thursday morning (I gutted and let it hang Wed night). plucked the whole bird, did the S&P and a little Apple inside, OJ, Apricot preserves and maple syrup for a glaze, 475 oven, medium rare--- better than a corn fed Greenhead (not that I've ever had one, ).
personally my favorite 2 birds to eat are the Wood Duck (roasted) and BW Teal sauted--- don't get enough of either.
Go get em next week you Md boys.

[Deep C]

You know... Here comes a hard confession... Wood duck is I think the only kind I have never shot... I've seen em in places I couldn't shoot or during other seasons while hunting other species of animal I didn't want to spook.
They are way cool looking and being freshwater birds I'd imagine they gotta be good.
I grew up on the Jersey rivers (salt) we had fly bys of puddle ducks hopping from pond to pond but never any woods... I'm envious... Enjoy the bird...

[hunt4fish]

Glenn,

Post up that recipe you just did up on that bird.That sounds mighty tasty.

[freebird2]

Glenn you are a better man than me I have never had the stomach to eat one we used to shoot them in my brother in laws hog farm lagoon.(shit pool) I have never had the desire to eat one since I think it would be easier to eat a hooded merganser.

[Glenn W]

Shane, that's just plain ass nasty--- I don't blame ya bro with memories like that.
I guarandamteeyou they were eating the duck weed, or vegetation on top. A woodie would starve before he ate animal matter.

The recipe is the classic sweet roasted duck thing. The secret in any duck is medium rare (unless it's stewed). The sweet glaze on a puddle duck or young goose goes very well will the sweet red and rare meat.

[Bert Rodgers]

By far the best eating duck. Too bad you only got one. I bet the wife was pissed off when you refused to share any.

Bert

[JMS-ILM]

I have never had the stomach to eat one we used to shoot them in my brother in laws hog farm lagoon.(shit pool)

let me guess.....this occurred in Bladen County?

i drive thru a hog farm to get to one of my spots...in bladen county....and the lagoon almost always has hooded mergs on it and every now and then will have teal, gadwalls, and the occasional black duck. my guess is they like to eat the chocolate covered corn kernels floating around out there !

i think wood ducks are about the most consistent on the table. teal used to be my favorite until i got a hold of one killed in an eastern NC impoundment that had been gorging on mosquito larvae..... . mallards will cheat on you in a heartbeat too. i was plucking some ducks we killed near a large reservoir in mississippi years ago when we made an annual trip there. this one greenhead in particular had a large bulge in his neck/craw area. i dissected it to find out what was in there. his shit was so packed full of 2-4" shiners it was disgusting. .


fried scoters....now thats some mighty fine chow !