What are the best eating wild duck and geese?

Got any recipe to share?

Young pink feet geese!!

Just superb.

In North America it'd be the Canvasback for ducks and Specklebelly for geese.

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Originally posted by Scott King:
In North America it'd be the Canvasback for ducks and Specklebelly for geese.

Canvasbacks now taste horrible. In Maryland, which was the center of market hunting, the canvasback was the duck in most demand for the table. The wild celery that they fed on is now gone, and the canvasback eats mostly clams. If you enjoy the taste of rotten muddy clams, you will love canvasbacks.

Ducks...Wood ducks are tops! Teal and Mallards are good.

Geese are fun to hunt and make good jerky..but Ive never had one I thought tasted "good"...I usually give them away to the jerky makers and the odd ball that claims to like em

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Originally posted by Bwana1:

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
In North America it'd be the Canvasback for ducks and Specklebelly for geese.

Canvasbacks now taste horrible. In Maryland, which was the center of market hunting, the canvasback was the duck in most demand for the table. The wild celery that they fed on is now gone, and the canvasback eats mostly clams. If you enjoy the taste of rotten muddy clams, you will love canvasbacks.

Terrible news.

I've never hunted Can's on the east coast and have admittedly not hunted then anywhere in 30 years or so.

As for the geese, Thanksgiving day I roasted a honker from ND in a covered roasting pan. Plucked of course, covered in bacon strips and stuffed quite full of traditional stuffing, I pulled the bird out when the thermometer read 155 degrees.

The bird was perfect! The breast had just a hint of pink in the center, plenty juicy and flavorful. I prefer the meat the next day, refrigerated cold, sliced as cold cuts with sweet hot mustard.

Old gees are a nightmare to roast but a youngster if still a bit pink is excellent. Especially if they have had a few weeks on the corn fields to fatten up!,

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Ducks...Wood ducks are tops! Teal and Mallards are good.

I'll take wood duck over the rest.

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Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Ducks...Wood ducks are tops! Teal and Mallards are good.

I'll take wood duck over the rest.

Yes!.....the wood duck is by far and away the best tasting duck..at least here in the upper midwest.

Mallards and teal, woodies good too. Divers are semi-palatable.

I would vote for teal, although widget not are a close second. Young pinks after a good feed on fatties and stubbles also good.

What's the name for pinks so I can see a photo of them?

What the name for pinks so I can look at a photo?

Brants from cold bay Alaska were best eating to me

Any of the ducks as long as they have light colored feet. Dark footed ones eat off the bottoms and taste terrible.

I can only vouch for Canada geese. The young ones are very good.

We like to breast them, grill them, baste them with bacon grease, garlic salt and course ground pepper. Don't over cook them. Geese are a little too thick so we butterfly them.

Canadas are best braised unless you get young birds, which can be roasted.
The braised ones are complimentd by adding some fruit [I use dried ] , a bit tart like apple ,lemon, raisins .

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Originally posted by mete:
Canadas are best braised unless you get young birds, which can be roasted.
The braised ones are complimentd by adding some fruit [I use dried ] , a bit tart like apple ,lemon, raisins .

Interesting...so do you cut up the birds and fry them in a pan first? I'm interested in trying this...directions and recipe if you could

Canvasback and Redheads off rice beds or celery are great, and still get them rarely here.

Personally, a teal or mallard off a grain field are universally good.

Geese, all are good as long as it's under a year old, I have never tasted anything good off the. Spring light goose season.

I don't get enough birds to make me look for anything other than roasting them. Just make sure they are not overdone...medium rare is about right.

If given an option, teal is always my pick.

Gray Ducks (Gadwalls), pintails, and mallards would be my choices, not considering size, in that order.

AFA geese go, no doubt the specklebelly would be first, but I've had enormously good meals out of Canadas.

Simple after hunt recipe (if you've got a lot of birds and are pushing the possession limit, as in parts of W. Canada, esp. Sask.), breast birds out (Canadas esp. because of size) and simply cook then in a iron, or any kind, skillet in about a stick or more of salted butter. Do not overcook, rare to v. rare is best. Put on plate, add salt and pepper to taste, and slice or let hunter's slice. Canada breasts done in this manner rival the best of steak as long as they are not overcooked. If you've got the time, make gravy out of pan juices. This is so simple I hesitate to post it, but not too many hunters know this quickie and it is very good. It also can be a main meal with accessory dishes.

how do you know how old a duck or goose is or what they have been eating BEFORE YOU SHOOT THEM?? seems people here have definite opinions about what tastes good( rice fed, under 1 year old) but after it is in the bag you are at the mercy of a dead bird. most ducks and geese i have shot/tried to eat made good dog food....

Well now come on Jerry! Don't be a party pooper!

You're right, what splashes down in the pond is what you've got, but its never all bad news.

Waterfowl makes very good processed meat, ala sausages. This year I've had some very good summer sausage and pepper sticks. Waterfowl can be roasted, grilled, and I've used thinly sliced breast meat for philly cheese steak and fajitas.

As has been said, waterfowl has to be medium rare.

yes, what you shoot is what you get.

I don't shoot shovelers or mergansers for that reason.

Where I hunt diving ducks, pretty much the only food source is plants, so I know that anything that has been there a while is good, and everything from opening weekend is good.

Geese, if you are shooting them the early season, the young of the year are a bit smaller and have a kind of dirty look to them. If you live in the southern tier states, you get a longer season and better shooting, but you will have issues finding the better eating birds on the wing.

Another hint is if they smell skunky when you are cleaning them, they are.

Teal are the best ducks to me.

As for geese in my opinion it has to be speckle bellies. Most goose is too red and rich for me though.

Guys have always told me sandhill crane is the best but while I have gotten them, I have never tried preparing it. I never had any trouble giving them away though.

Once some years ago we had a big party with really fancy uptown girls attending. We had gotten geese and one of the guys knew someone to make goose pate from the livers and other pieces. I wish I had gotten the recipe for that. It went fast and I believe more ladies were eating it than guys. Some I suspect would have vomited right there had they known the origin of the tasty dip. Well, I guess it could have been good wine and drinks too that they enjoyed lol .

Heym 450/400. Me using a recipe is painfull !
This is braising , starting with a goose for example , cut it into about 12 pieces .Brown in olive oil .Add chopped onion , celery, carrot. Salt and pepper to taste, with chopped parsley. Take [ as one example a lemon ] thinly slice and add to pot .add a full bodied wine .Maintain needed wine /water level to your taste. Simmer with lid open a bit till done .Serve with pasta,or polenta,or smashed potato. Serve with in season veggies of your choice ! Enjoy !

Years ago, during my college day, we had good black duck hunting at a sewerage treatment plant. It was the only open water when all else was frozen solid. Tried cooking them, and no one could stay in the kitchen.

Sandhill Crane the rib eye in the sky.

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Originally posted by Bwana1:
Years ago, during my college day, we had good black duck hunting at a sewerage treatment plant. It was the only open water when all else was frozen solid. Tried cooking them, and no one could stay in the kitchen.

That's why I avoid the city. If my dog won't retreive it, then I won't bother!!!!!!!!!!

I need some recipe for mallards and wood ducks.
The mallards been eating wheat and corn kernels and the wood ducks are eating hazelnuts.

I pluck birds and remove breast with leg and thigh attached with skin on. Rub with good steak rub. I like Brown Sugar Bourbon rub.
Grill med rare and let rest for 5-6 minutes and serve with any sides you would eat with a good steak. Slice and pop a cold beer or nice red wine.

This is a hard question to answer since there has never ever been a good eating duck. It is impossible to enjoy eating one!

I have only eaten Canadian Geese. A little dry, but not too bad!

The best is to stop by the store and get a rib eye.

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This is a hard question to answer since there has never ever been a good eating duck. It is impossible to enjoy eating one!

To each his own I suppose, but we think wild ducks are generally wonderful. I eat rib eyes all the time, but I would put my wife's roast duck up against them anyday or various ways of cooking the breasts.

RECIPE PLEASE.

I'll have to talk to her and get it, but it's not arcane.

There are dozens of recipes for wild duck on the net.

If you stick to the steadfast rule of nothing more well-done than medium then you'll enjoy duck much more. The proper way is to eat mallard first (or teal or woodie if mallards are hard to come by) then compare others. If you try redhead first you may not go back for more of any duck. Canada goose tastes like liver wrapped in swamp grass if you like that sorta thing.

As Gato said, lotsa recipes out there but breast out the duck with the skin on....salt and pepper then place skin side down in a hot skillet with butter/olive oil mixture until skin is seared golden brown....then finish in the oven for about 10 minutes until MEDIUM or LESS. You won't even need a sauce but a demi from veal stock would be perfect.

The gentleman's duck, a Pintail of course.

I only kill Mallards, Pintails and Widgeon where I hunt.
I breast out my ducks then soak the fillets in whole milk overnight. Dry them off, stick a couple cloves of pickled garlic in the center of breasts then wrap in a slice of bacon. Grill on BBQ low until the bacon is cooked. Meat is still pink and moist inside. Never had anyone turn them away.


I smoke some of my late season Mallards. Pluck breast. Clip out breast with bone in and skin on. Brine in salt water for an hour. Smoke'm over a pan of water. Let cool in fridge. Remove skin just before eating. Slice thin on crackers. Super!

I "corn" all my goose breasts. Cook them in crock pot. Just like Corned Beef. Easy and very tasty.

Friend makes atomic buffalo turds out of his Canada meat. Very hard to stop eating these.
Take half a jalapeño, spoon in some creamed cheese and minced onion, bury a sliver of goose breast about the size of your pinkie in the cheese mix and wrap the whole thing in a slice of bacon, secured with a toothpick. Grill until the bacon is crisp. Dang!