# Beneficial Use or Wanton Waste?



## Shadow Man (Feb 22, 2017)

I'm sure most of you have read the press release from the DWR concerning the waterfowl that was left to waste in davis county recently, there was even conversation on this forum about it (slob killers) in that thread Wyogoob asked the question if it was ok to waste half a bird? This got me thinking and I asked several friends what was considered beneficial use and I got several different answers, so I thought I'd throw the question out, what is considered beneficial use and where is the line between that and wanton waste?


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

This can be a touchy subject as I know there is a wide range of views for what is beneficial or waste, especially with waterfowl. Everybody I know personally, only breasts out waterfowl including geese. They don't consume or use the legs and thighs. I also know some guys that feed their divers to their dogs. 

I stopped shooting divers, because I don't like to eat them and I don't feed them to dogs. As far as legs and thighs, for all upland game, I will always consume the legs and thighs and they make excellent table fair. I wonder if I should find something to do with waterfowl legs and thighs. Any suggestions of what to do with those?

Another question I have had is if you shoot shovelors with the intention of throwing them away because of the mercury warning, is that wanton waste?


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Duck legs and thighs are crazy tasty. Slow cooker until they fall apart...smoked...confit...ground up into sausage/burger. There isn't really a good reason in my mind to not keep the legs. It doesn't take that long to salvage them either. And yes, I even save the itty bitty teal legs. Usually I wait until I have a grundle of duck legs in the freezer and then make one large batch of something.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Alaska Fish and Game said:


> You must salvage all the edible meat of game birds for human consumption. For ducks and snipe this is defined as the meat of the breast. For swans, geese (including brant) and cranes this is defined as the meat of the breast and meat of the legs and thighs (femur, tibiotarsus, and fibula)


I tend to agree with the Alaska waterfowl regulations. I'll save goose and swan legs, but have never saved duck legs. With how many ducks I'm shooting these days, I would need to save them for 3 years before I had enough to do anything with them.


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## wagdog (Jan 6, 2009)

johnnycake said:


> Duck legs and thighs are crazy tasty. Slow cooker until they fall apart...smoked...confit...ground up into sausage/burger. There isn't really a good reason in my mind to not keep the legs. It doesn't take that long to salvage them either. And yes, I even save the itty bitty teal legs. Usually I wait until I have a grundle of duck legs in the freezer and then make one large batch of something.


This^

I'm with johnnycake. If you are skinning out your ducks, keep the legs and thighs. Keep the hearts and gizzards too. Make sure you check their livers as well. I had some livers this season that were so fatty they were yellow. Hearts and gizzards freeze well. I make duck sausage out of diver ducks. It tastes like Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage and tastes great.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

The legs always seem to collect more BB's than any other part of the bird. For me this is the case with ducks, geese, pheasants, grouse and chukar. Maybe I just shoot low.:?


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## wagdog (Jan 6, 2009)

Fowlmouth said:


> The legs always seem to collect more BB's than any other part of the bird. For me this is the case with ducks, geese, pheasants, grouse and chukar. Maybe I just shoot low.:?


I got ****y at the beginning of the season. I was nailing a lot of head shots with very few (if any pellets) showing up in the breast and none in the legs/thighs. That has changed dramatically. All the chukar I have shot have had pellets in the legs with broken bones. Some have been too shot up to save :sad:


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

The past several years I have intentionally let my kills per shot ratio decrease as I was tired of cleaning body shot birds. I definitely burn through a lot more lead and steel these days but +90% of the time lately my upland birds are pellet free from the neck down, waterfowl ~60-75%. I didn't do any duck hunting this year, but of the ~45 grouse and ~20 ptarmigan I've shot so far with a shotgun I maybe had to clean a couple pellets from 3-4 of the breasts and none from the legs. Grouse legs are way to precious to risk a body shot!


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## quackaddict35 (Sep 25, 2015)

Obviously leaving an entire bird off to the side of the road to waste is never acceptable. 

However if you feel what you take from what you kill is acceptable to you and is used in some way then I don’t have a problem. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Shadow Man (Feb 22, 2017)

toasty said:


> Another question I have had is if you shoot shovelors with the intention of throwing them away because of the mercury warning, is that wanton waste?


Yes, Utah CFR states that you are guilty of wanton waste if you "intentionally abandon protected wildlife or a carcass.


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## Slap That Quack (Mar 2, 2017)

This is why everybody should have a dog. Every duck I don't like goes to her, and she loves it, and that is a beneficial use to boot.


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## tigerpincer (Dec 5, 2009)

I eat much of the duck I harvest but for those I don't I have an easy solution. I cut the meat into strips and dry it in my oven on 170 degrees overnight to make jerky. It makes a great high protein dog treat for my pack of GSP's. They absolutely live it. Have you seen how much they wanna charge you at any local retailer for doggy duck jerky n who knows what all goes into the product from the stores?


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

tigerpincer said:


> I eat much of the duck I harvest but for those I don't I have an easy solution. I cut the meat into strips and dry it in my oven on 170 degrees overnight to make jerky. It makes a great high protein dog treat for my pack of GSP's. They absolutely live it. Have you seen how much they wanna charge you at any local retailer for doggy duck jerky n who knows what all goes into the product from the stores?


Any dog jerky is expensive. I just won a 12 month supply from Black Gold.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

johnnycake said:


> The past several years I have intentionally let my kills per shot ratio decrease as I was tired of cleaning body shot birds. I definitely burn through a lot more lead and steel these days but +90% of the time lately my upland birds are pellet free from the neck down, waterfowl ~60-75%. I didn't do any duck hunting this year, but of the ~45 grouse and ~20 ptarmigan I've shot so far with a shotgun I maybe had to clean a couple pellets from 3-4 of the breasts and none from the legs. Grouse legs are way to precious to risk a body shot!


Every upland bird I shoot is heading away, either straight or quartering. I'm happy just to hit them, and can't be choosy about where the pellets go.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

I keep breasts, legs, and sometimes gizzards from my birds, as I see it that's about 90% of the edible parts of a duck so I'm ok with that. I can't fathom not keeping legs, especially on geese or big ducks. I suppose that keeping hearts and livers would use a bit more but I haven't ever been able to develop a taste for them. As far as guys that shoot shovelers and divers but won't eat them, that doesn't make any sense at all to me. I would rather let a bird go than shoot it and waste it. I try not to shoot shovelers, I usually only shoot 1 or 2 a year, and I won't shoot goldeneyes either but most divers are pretty tasty.


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## SCtransplant (Jul 31, 2015)

I won't shoot ducks that I won't eat. I don't pull the trigger on mergansers, most shovelers, and most bluebills. 

I could be better at using more of the birds I do kill, and most of the time when I clean a bird it just depends on my mood- breast/pluck/legs etc. 

I have buddies that love duck organs, I will be trying that next year.


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## wagdog (Jan 6, 2009)

If you are going to give duck organs a try, make sure you look up how to clean them first. The hearts and liver are the easiest. The gizzard takes a little more time. The trick to gizzards is (after getting the grit and grinding plate gone) to make sure you get all the silver skin off that you can. The other trick is frying them all! I can eat a dad gum roofing shingle if it's fried...I might need some Crystal Hot Sauce or Tabasco too :grin::grin:


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## MuscleWhitefish (Jan 13, 2015)

We get a bunch of divers around here and I will shoot them. I have found the best thing to do with them is to turn them into sausage and snack sticks. Mix them in with other meat and fat, then you are good to go

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I picked up a meat grinder last week and put it to work making goose bratwurst. I did 5 pounds of meat mixed with the original flavor seasoning and 6 pounds mixed with the spicy Italian seasoning. They are mixed with pork sausage, stuffed in a pork casing and taste pretty dang good. Tomorrow I am going to make duck/goose summer sausage and use the 1lb. casings. I'll put them in the fridge overnight and cure them in the smoker on Wednesday. I'm just starting to learn all the things you can do with a grinder. I sure wish I would have picked one up sooner.


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## MuscleWhitefish (Jan 13, 2015)

Fowlmouth said:


> I picked up a meat grinder last week and put it to work making goose bratwurst. I did 5 pounds of meat mixed with the original flavor seasoning and 6 pounds mixed with the spicy Italian seasoning. They are mixed with pork sausage, stuffed in a pork casing and taste pretty dang good. Tomorrow I am going to make duck/goose summer sausage and use the 1lb. casings. I'll put them in the fridge overnight and cure them in the smoker on Wednesday. I'm just starting to learn all the things you can do with a grinder. I sure wish I would have picked one up sooner.


After you pick up a stuffer you will say the 'Why on earth did I spend so much time trying to stuff sausages with a grinder.'


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

MuscleWhitefish said:


> After you pick up a stuffer you will say the 'Why on earth did I spend so much time trying to stuff sausages with a grinder.'


True. I bought the grinding attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer, and it works great. It doesn't stuff worth a crap. The LEM works really well, though.


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## 7summits (Nov 28, 2017)

About half way through the season I couldn't eat another duck. I brought a bunch of breasts to work and a coworker took them home and made jerky with his Traeger. Better than store bought beef jerky by far. Not one person who tried it didn't love it. After that, every duck and goose went on the Traeger, and next year will be no different. I already miss it. Just wish we would have done this sooner.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

paddler said:


> Every upland bird I shoot is heading away, either straight or quartering. I'm happy just to hit them, and can't be choosy about where the pellets go.


Wild chukars are definitely in the "just hit the devil-bird" category, if that is what you are chasing. But grouse are pretty cooperative especially in the early season in my experience. Once my dog gets on point I try to maneuver around until I can see the birds. Then it is just a question of the most likely shooting lanes and getting in position so that it will fly laterally or at me. I like to get the bird between me and the dog before giving the flush command so the dog is flushing the bird towards me. If the flight doesn't provide a good shot, I'm not above a well placed head shot as the bird is sitting on a limb. Or if the bird is far enough away from the dog on the ground, grouse will typically stretch out their necks to look for you if you stop moving, right before they decide to fly. That makes it very easy to keep pellets out of the meat.

As for ducks (and I'd assume geese, but I've shot so few I can't really speak to them), with a good decoy set up head shots are pretty easy. Pass/jump shooting gets a bit trickier.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

7 pounds of duck/goose/pork summer sausage ground, seasoned and stuffed. The LEM grinder stuffs pretty fast. I will let these sit in the fridge overnight and fire up the smoker tomorrow.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

johnnycake said:


> Wild chukars are definitely in the "just hit the devil-bird" category, if that is what you are chasing. But grouse are pretty cooperative especially in the early season in my experience. Once my dog gets on point I try to maneuver around until I can see the birds. Then it is just a question of the most likely shooting lanes and getting in position so that it will fly laterally or at me. I like to get the bird between me and the dog before giving the flush command so the dog is flushing the bird towards me. If the flight doesn't provide a good shot, I'm not above a well placed head shot as the bird is sitting on a limb. Or if the bird is far enough away from the dog on the ground, grouse will typically stretch out their necks to look for you if you stop moving, right before they decide to fly. That makes it very easy to keep pellets out of the meat.
> 
> As for ducks (and I'd assume geese, but I've shot so few I can't really speak to them), with a good decoy set up head shots are pretty easy. Pass/jump shooting gets a bit trickier.


Well, I don't shoot sitting birds, so that's why I take the shots I can get. The ruffeds often flush into the nearest tree, trying to flush them out and get a clear shot is tough. They typically try to keep the tree between me and them. Trying to move around the tree to get a clear shot almost always results in a going away shot. The blues often flush wild because they're typically in skimpy cover under conifers, so won't hold. Sometimes they'll flush from high in one tree and fly to another. Those shots are tough.

I only shoot them with a camera if they're in a tree.


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## JerryH (Jun 17, 2014)

Is there anywhere in the SLC area that sells fresh pork hanks? 

It was a sad day when Hi-Grade Meats closed its doors


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

My first batch of goose/duck summer sausage turned out pretty good. 4 hours of smoking, internal temperature of 165. I don't think the gauge on my smoke vault is reading correctly, it took a lot longer than I thought to finish the sausage. I used a meat thermometer and checked temperature frequently. I finally had to bump the burner up on the smoker to finish. It tastes great!


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