The First Rule of Duck Club is

Jeff Reardon

Jeff Reardon

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Put the plug in the boat BEFORE backing the trailer into the river.

Once we got that straightened out, it was a pretty good morning. Big front moving through. 54 degrees with a south wind and rain when I left the house a little after 4 am. 42 degrees, north wind, and a mix of rain and sleet when I pulled the decoys a little after 8. 32 degrees and severe clear now.

Not a lot of ducks moving, but the ones that were liked my spot. A pair of teal came in early in the fog and were past me before I could get the gun up. A half hour later a mixed group of 8-10 big ducks--mallards and blacks, I thought--went straight overhead, then turned and came back. Most of the group circled over the decoys out of range; two dropped right in. For a change they were crossing right-to-left--a much better direction to get the barrel lined up with the correct eye. And the one in the lead was a drake pintail--my first, and a pretty rare bird to have in the bag here.

Ten minutes later I got my one drake hooded merganser of the year for fly tying feathers. Recipes welcome--I eat one a year, and have not enjoyed it yet. Soon after the wind shifted hard from south to north, and while birds still flew, it was clear I was now in the wrong spot, so I picked up and headed in for breakfast.
 
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That was a good report. Were you with or without a dog?

I recall dropping the boat at the launch near cape disappointment on a trip a long time back.
I unhooked it and floated it off the trailer, tied it off and went to move the truck off the ramp.
When I came back, it was sitting on the ramp and no longer floating!

It was only in about 10 inches of water and I had the cork for it in the truck. I always left it uncorked because otherwise it'd fill with rainwater just sitting there.

I am glad that the dropoff wasn't into deep water. It was also good that I had one of those hand operated tube style boat pumps with the snorkel. A guy can work up a pretty good sweat pumping water with one of them.
 
Sadly, no dog. My wife and I are both allergic to the point of emergency room visits when we visit a house with multiple dogs.

I had high hopes for either an Irish Water Spaniel or a standard Poodle, both said to be tolerated well by many with dog allergies. They are better than something like a Springer Spaniel or a setter, but still make me sneeze.
 
then it is imperative that we hook this hunter up with someone nearby that has a ready, willing, and able dog.

Otherwise he'll miss out on the full experience.
Do not tell me that he's getting all of it, without a dog to help out.

Can any of you figure out a way?

It'd be good.
 
Oh, I've got plenty of partners with dogs. Just no dog when I hunt solo.

Besides, I'm still mourning Troy Field's Pearl.
 
Amen Jeff about putting the plug in BEFORE you put it in the water. Another tip....make sure it is the RIGHT plug. I learned that not all plugs are the same size in a similar fashion.

Sounds like it was a good day.

How have you cooked merganser in the past?
 
It's hooded merganser. I shoot one drake per year, because I love the feathers for fly tying. I've never shot any other mergs. The last hoodie I shot was cubed and put into a chili pot with about a gallon of tomatoes, beans, pork, chiles, veggies, chorizo, garlic and other highly flavored things, and the whole damn pot came out smelling like a 50/50 mix of chili and fish stew. (Execpt I like fish stew, and this was like some evil demon fish stew.)

I'm thinking jerky, which if I can't choke it down can be dog treats for my hunting buddies.
 
How much prep goes into your mergansers? Do you soak them at all when you are getting ready to cook them? I learned from Steve the importance of soaking strong meated birds like sea ducks and mergansers. Basically here is his soaking method:

Before I tell you what is in it let me tell you that I think that preparing the ducks/geese that go in it is as important as the marinade itself. Regardless of the type of duck that I am using I cut the meat into the size that I will ultimately be cooking. Remove all of the fat and cut out any large, damaged areas or clots. Soak in iced salt water for at least 24 hours, changing the water frequently to get as much blood out of the meat as possible. With really dark meat birds like scoter, I will actually squeeze the meat to remove as much blood as possible. Once you have gotten as much of the blood removed as possible you can then marinate it.

His recipe is here if you didn't know. If you haven't prepped like that before, it might be worth giving it a try and seeing if it will work. If not, jerky works well and the dogs will love you anyway...though I imagine if you don't do a thorough job prepping the merganser for jerky then you will likely still have a problem with it when you eat it. I've never had a duck that was inedible and/or unpalatable if I took the time to properly prep the meat and be sure not to overcook it. I have also had good luck with buttermilk for soaking strong birds.

Can't promise you'll like it any better but I can definitely tell the difference between mergansers that are prepped in a way as above vs just cooked right away. If you already do all that, then I've got nothin for ya [:)]

Duckboats.net: Resources & Reference: Recipes: Steve Sutton's Marinade for Ducks
 
I've dome similar with whistlers and eiders. Ice bath witlh salt, strong marinade with a lot of acid--mine was garlic, lemon, olive oil, spices. I don't know what hoodies eat--but they are the stinkiest duck I've ever dealt with. I would not target them except for my feather addiction. I know people who will shoot them for the feathers and throw away the carcass, but that's not me.
 
I am sure they eat the stinkiest fish out there.

If I get any hooded mergansers, I would be happy to save the feathers for you. If you would like...
 
Jeff,
John B from up in VT told me that pineapple juice is the secret. Give the strips a ride in that before you season it for the jerky dehydration process.
Hank Shaw has some interesting ideas for ducks on his webpage and podcast on game cooking.
Agree on the feathers. Trout really like that hackle.
 
I liked to grind all the divers and mergansers into duck pepperoni. There was a butcher shop in town that would make it for me for cheap, and it was good too.
 
I never could make a hoodie palatable, why is why I stopped shooting them!
 
I can't tell you the last time I shot a merg of any kind as I am a bit of a puddle duck snob. However I have been using the snack stick and sausage method for the majority of my birds for the last few seasons and it is a huge hit. Sacrilege to use puddle ducks in the grinder for sure, but our late season coastal black ducks who have been gorging on snails could probably give mergs a run for their money...

I still brine my birds overnight in salt water before vacuum sealing and freezing. Not sure it's really needed when you grind but I do it anyway. I have made all kinds of snack sticks and sausage with ducks now and everyone loves it. This was my last batch which was half jalapeno and half mozzarella. I also did a YouTube video showing my process as I get a lot of DMs on Instagram about the process.

Again this method isn't for everyone but I got tired of paying to have my birds processed for me and wanted to be more hands on with the entire process. Not to mention the ability to do whatever flavors I wanted.

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https://youtu.be/9Bt93tKeGbQ?si=8SxPNnCWw0YpYX99
 
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