Thoughts on plucking a bird.

Brandon Yuchasz

Brandon Yuchasz

Well-known member
I would like to try roasting a whole duck this year its something I have never done with a duck. My chances of shooting any type of puddle duck at this point are very slim where I live. However I do get into lesser and greater scaup often. Would they make a good choice?

If not there is a chance for redheads still so I could do one of those if a bill is not going to work well.

Thanks for any and all advice everyone.
 
I dont see why not. Really, I think if a guy takes the time to really cook something instead of the old soak it, salt it, grill it method, pretty much any duck can be made to taste quite well.
 
Mike, the birds look nice and clean. How are you doing it. Ooldfashioned, plucking mahcine, or parafin or some other way I dont know about. Thanks and Congrats on a good season.
 
Holy Cow Mike! Those look great. Do you and Mac only hit them in the head? :-)

Brandon,
In the past couple years I've been happier with Blue Bills roasted then many puddle ducks. Early season Bluewings are probably the best tasting duck in my opinion but BB, Ringnecks and Redheads come close. The couple Cans I've had were good but most of the country can't have them this year. Leave the Goldeneyes and Buffies for breasting and marinating.
The biggest thing is to make sure it is at least close to being fully feathered. Young of the year can be hard to pluck but they should be getting better now.

Tim
 
Those are some of the mallards me and Mac got on the weekend. I high graded them and only plucked the fat ones that weren't too badly shot. The rest got breasted.

Rutgers, I usually hand pluck birds if I only have 5 or so to do, but for a pile like that (23) I use a homemade plucker. It is an old dryer motor and a thing with a bunch of rubber triangles on it. It takes me 2 min to do a bird clean. I've used a power plucker with rubber fingers on it too, but I like this one better. I have not found a power plucker that does a nice job on geese though, but I'm sure a commercial farm plucker would work great. I tried mine on a farm turkey one time and it didn't work very well.

MIke

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Mike,

That pile of mallards is probably twice as many that I get all season!

I prefer plucking mallards might have to make one of those pluckers, looks like it'll save me a few hours.
 
Last week, I put 2 Specklebelly geese, a teal, and 2 gadwalls on the Big Green Egg smoker over hickory and pecan wood. They smoked for about 3 hours. Once done, I pulled all of the meat (and skins) and made a dirty rice. Fan-freakin'-tastic! I took some to work the next morning and everyone gobbled it up.

There's lots of possibilities with smoking/cooking whole birds.
 
Its funny how things work out. I went out this morning with the intention of coming in with two bluebills or broadbills to pluck I saw them but never brought them back to bag. I did shoot a tripple on bufflehead drakes and no it wasnt a scotch. Only have done that twice in my life both times it was a group of buffies fighting the wind that made it possible. After that I managed to scratch out a hen Mallard. I never shoot hens when possible but honestly didn't think twice about taking her until after the fact. I wanted a nice roasting duck.

Now I need to put up another hen tube this summer. Every hen cost me money for materials on boxes and tubes. Kinda my own pay back system.

So here we go!!!

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Brandon, that is a roasting bird to be proud of. Just don't cook it too long, it only takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours at most for a whole duck at 350 covered for all but the last 15-20 minutes. Now when you get some fat bluebills you will have something to compare them too.

Tim
 
Brandon,

Deep fry that bird. If you know how to deep fry a turkey, you can do a duck or goose. 350 degree oil for 15 minutes for a mallard. Juicey!
 
Mike;

I've never used or seen an automatic plucker before. All my hunting experience has been strictly the `old fashioned' way. I only saw my first plastic dcoy about 3 years ago .... always fir - pine and spruce heads. The only automatic pluckers I ever saw were thumbs and the whole family on the kitched floor picking scalded ducks.

You said that you use an old dryer motor ...... am I correct in guessing that it has a relatively low RPM?
How stiff are those rubber triangles? What type of rubber/where did the rubber come from. Does the thickness matter, what size triangle?
Have you used it on coots, old squaw and eiders? Do you go with or against the feathers?

Thanks;


Philip Finck
 
Mike I would also like to know what kind of rubber you used (hard? soft?). I have seen the "rubber finger" kind that they sell in cabelas.
I have seen pluckers rip the birds too. You guys do a nice clean job. I doesn't look like you scalded them either.
 
Mike;

I've never used or seen an automatic plucker before. All my hunting experience has been strictly the `old fashioned' way. I only saw my first plastic dcoy about 3 years ago .... always fir - pine and spruce heads. The only automatic pluckers I ever saw were thumbs and the whole family on the kitched floor picking scalded ducks.

You said that you use an old dryer motor ...... am I correct in guessing that it has a relatively low RPM?
How stiff are those rubber triangles? What type of rubber/where did the rubber come from. Does the thickness matter, what size triangle?
Have you used it on coots, old squaw and eiders? Do you go with or against the feathers?

Thanks;



Hi Philip, and let me say good luck on your first season with the new business.

The motor is just a regular deal, it really flies when it is spinning. Don't know the rpm. The rubber is really soft and I don't know where it came from. Mine are about 5" on each side and rubber is about 3/8th thick. I do them dry and for best results leave the bird to stiffen up and cool first. It will rip the skin if I press hard enough. I go with the feathers and it does the legs nicely. I tried it on a scoter once with no luck, but they are just about the easiest bird to quick skin and breast don't you think? Like under 2 min a bird easy. The kids in Juneau showed me how to do it.

If you have bunch of pluckers to do, it is worth looking into I think. No scalding, no wax, nice clean bird in minutes.

Mike



Philip Finck
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Thumbs!!! it's why they were made.
Hold the bird, breast up in one hand, with the birds head towards you. Place your free thumb hard against the skin and push with the feathers not against them. You should be able to rip a one inch swath from the neck to the anus all in one motion. Couple of minutes is all it takes.
 
Dude,
If you ain't pickin' you ain't eatin!

I love picked ducks . . . we'll talk recipes later.

Did you wax her? That's the way to make em nice and clean. I don't know, but I suspect "duck wax" and "trap wax" are probably the same thing. Parafin works, but crumbles. Duck wax comes off in big pieces.

Gimme a call!

NR
 
doesn't take too long to thumb off a duck!
when i am in the mood, i get it done before coming home--stuff is biodegradable--birds seem to like it for nesting- breast most other stuff---will have to get my partner to time a picking, just to see if my old thumb is still in working order--helpped him with a sprig and gaddie whilst he did one black!
 
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