# To pluck or to breast? That is the question



## crowfoot (Dec 7, 2014)

Do you guys prefer to pluck or breast your ducks? And why?


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I usually breast my ducks, but if it's a big fat mallard then I pluck it and put it in my smoker. With the breasts I slice them up and marinate them and make jerky. That reminds me I need to make some duck jerky before the deer hunt.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

I make jerky with my ducks, so taking the breast makes the most sense for me. If I used them for a main course I would consider plucking depending on time constraints.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Pluck that baby! If not the whole bird I'll always pluck the breasts and then save up the skinned legs to make soup, confit, or stock.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I use the whole duck including the heart and gizzard.

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/16-waterfowl/16893-cleaning-ducks.html

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/16-waterfowl/132610-butchering-duck.html


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

Breast only. Legs of larger ducks go to neighbor who absolutely loves them. Make salami mostly with 2 or 3 meals from teal during the season. Haven't plucked a duck or goose in well over 10 years.


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## JuniorPre 360 (Feb 22, 2012)

wyogoob said:


> I use the whole duck including the heart and gizzard.
> 
> http://utahwildlife.net/forum/16-waterfowl/16893-cleaning-ducks.html
> 
> http://utahwildlife.net/forum/16-waterfowl/132610-butchering-duck.html


I think I have a recipe for mallard hearts in a book. They are supposed to taste amazing.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

JuniorPre 360 said:


> I think I have a recipe for mallard hearts in a book. They are supposed to taste amazing.


Cool, post it up in Recipes.

I like liver from puddle ducks, especially if they are feeding on grain.

.


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## JuniorPre 360 (Feb 22, 2012)

wyogoob said:


> Cool, post it up in Recipes.
> 
> I like liver from puddle ducks, especially if they are feeding on grain.
> 
> .


This is the book I got it from. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/duck-duck-goose-hank-shaw/1115292566 I'm not sure if I can post recipes online from a book. What do you think?


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Earlier in the season I usually just take breasts, legs, and gizzards from my birds but when we start getting those big, fat northern mallards down later in the year I will always keep a few whole for roasting. I will also always keep a few geese whole for roasting for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Breasted or not I always age all my birds at least 9-10 days before eating, it makes a big difference in how "ducky" they taste. I love to roast a couple mallards in a dutch oven with potatoes and onions, and finish them off with my wife's peach and apricot jam......roasted potatoes in duck fat......so good!!:mrgreen:

I've also been messing around with corned gizzards lately-I will often save gizzards up from all my birds-ducks, geese, pheasants, and grouse-until I have 2 or 3 pounds worth, and then corn them for a few days and then crockpot them for about 24 hours. The come out super tender and taste like ham-they are great fried up with some eggs and potatoes!


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## Idratherbehunting (Jul 17, 2013)

I pluck the breasts and then breast them out with the skin on! Cook that skin on and it tastes almost like you've got a layer of bacon on the breast. 

After reading Goob's thread the other day about the young mallard, I saved the full carcass of my last two mallards and I'm going to make Pho. We'll see how it goes.


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## SidVicious (Aug 19, 2014)

I pluck most of my ducks. At least the breast meat. I skin divers (With the exception of Canvasbacks) and coots. Also, any ducks that have that orange looking fat, you'll want to skin. That is where the off taste comes from. Also, you want to keep in mind where you are hunting. Ducks coming off the Salt lake, I will skin. Puddle Ducks coming from areas where they are eating a lot of plants or grains I will always pluck. That skin and fat is the best part of the duck when you get good, fat ducks that have been eating good stuff. It is a little more work, but absolutely worth it.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

JuniorPre 360 said:


> This is the book I got it from. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/duck-duck-goose-hank-shaw/1115292566 I'm not sure if I can post recipes online from a book. What do you think?


Post the link or change the recipe a little and then post it with a disclaimer saying where or who its taken from.

.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

From http://utahwildlife.net/forum/16-waterfowl/132610-butchering-duck.html

I prefer to pluck my ducks and eat them whole. I find the hind quarters and the trunk to have a considerable amount of meat and are quite tasty, especially on a puddle duck. I would never think of leaving those parts in the marsh. If a bird is shot up or full of pin feathers I will skin them and then cut them into pieces.

I've often heard "There's nothing on a duck besides the breast." Again, there's a lot of meat on a duck besides the breast meat and to prove it I've butchered a young mallard and weighed all the parts. Here it is all broken down:



The whole mallard weighs 16oz; no giblets (neck, heart and gizzard), no liver, and the bones in the wings and legs were removed.

The breast, bone in, weighs 9oz:


The rest of the duck weighs 7oz:


Breast, boneless, weighs just under 8oz:


In this picture the legs and thighs and the trunk were removed from the carcass and weighed. Total weight is 5.5oz for the three edible portions of duck...not bad:


The back part of the carcass was also removed. There's only a small amount of meat on this part. Also find the breast bone in the lower right of the photo. There's usually a good amount of meat left on the bones when a duck is "breasted out, especially around the wishbone and shoulders.


The legs and thighs are my favorite part of a duck. They weighed 3oz on this young mallard drake:


So if you're jerkin' that breast out and tossin' the rest of the duck in the mud you're wasting about 33% of your tasty ducks.

Look at it this way: if you would keep all of the duck you'd only have to shoot 200 a year instead of 300. Think of the savings in shells, gas, Mojo batteries, and wear and tear on guns and equipment. I'm thinkin' you could fill the freezer by Thanksgiving and screw the duck hunting when it's cold and frozen up. :smile:

.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

The only problem with plucking and leaving the skin on is you can't see if they have rice breast (sarcocystis). I know we are told it is safe to eat, but not this guy. If I leave the skin on I always peel it back and look for this stuff. Just something to think about.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

What the heck kind of McGyver scissors are those? Bottle opener? Flat blade screwdriver? Looks like some kindof serrated blade between the handles? Is it made by Leatherman?


-DallanC


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## crowfoot (Dec 7, 2014)

So far I have been breasting my ducks but I have been seeing more mallards and gadwalls lately so I'm thinking I may pluck the larger ones. The mallards have been easy to pull the feathers out of lately too. I'm not sure on the teals though. They seem pretty skinny other than the breasts


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> ......................................................................
> 
> So if you're jerkin' that breast out and tossin' the rest of the duck in the mud you're wasting about 33% of your tasty ducks.
> 
> ...


That's a goodun'.

.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

DallanC said:


> What the heck kind of McGyver scissors are those? Bottle opener? Flat blade screwdriver? Looks like some kindof serrated blade between the handles? Is it made by Leatherman?
> 
> -DallanC


They're poultry shears by Chicago Cultery.

Dangit, now I'll haf ta get out all my poultry shears, take pictures, then Photoshop, then Photobucket, build a thread, edit it a coupla times.....and then no one will read it.......nevermind.

Poultry shears for crying out loud. Didn't you get poultry shears for Christmas when you was a kid?

.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Fowlmouth said:


> The only problem with plucking and leaving the skin on is you can't see if they have rice breast (sarcocystis). I know we are told it is safe to eat, but not this guy. If I leave the skin on I always peel it back and look for this stuff. Just something to think about.


Out of the couple hundred ducks I've shot in the last decade I've only ever had 2 with rice breast, but after seeing what it looks like that was more than enough to get me to inspect every bird's breast too!


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## Karl (Aug 14, 2016)

wyogoob said:


> I use the whole duck including the heart and gizzard.
> 
> http://utahwildlife.net/forum/16-waterfowl/16893-cleaning-ducks.html
> 
> http://utahwildlife.net/forum/16-waterfowl/132610-butchering-duck.html


Wyogoob had an excellent thread on this already.

If I am backpacking and I shoot a bird, then I will skin it and roast it over a campfire.

If I am just hunting then I will gut them and ice them, then scald them and pluck them for the freezer at home.

They are easier to pluck if you scald them in boiling water first.

And some feathers need to be burned off with a hand torch as well.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Pumpgunner said:


> Out of the couple hundred ducks I've shot in the last decade I've only ever had 2 with rice breast, but after seeing what it looks like that was more than enough to get me to inspect every bird's breast too!


You've been lucky if you only had 2 birds with it. I get a half dozen or so each season it seems.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Fowlmouth said:


> You've been lucky if you only had 2 birds with it. I get a half dozen or so each season it seems.


I got 3 in one hunt two years ago and probably 8-9 total last year. The fact that I shoot a lot of shovelers doesn't help my cause, but I've seen it in teal, mallards, and pintails as well.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Fowlmouth said:


> You've been lucky if you only had 2 birds with it. I get a half dozen or so each season it seems.


I really wonder if it has something to do with a bird's location-I try not to shoot spoonies and I don't hunt the GSL WMA's very often. I remember reading somewhere that the parasite that causes it survives very well in the GSL waters.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

If you shoot smiley's you deserve rice breast.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I see rice breast in pintails, gadwalls and mallards every year. I don't shoot spoonies, ruddys or goldeneyes on purpose.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Pan seared breast with the skin on from fat November pintails is the best duck I've ever had. Cross hatch the skin, cook skin side down first to crisp it, then just a couple of minutes on the other side. Like this:


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Those look just about perfect Jon!


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Fowlmouth said:


> I see rice breast in pintails, gadwalls and mallards every year. I don't shoot spoonies, ruddys or goldeneyes on purpose.


I'm with you on that Fowl. I would add buffleheads to that list too, I've never had one that was that great to eat. My trigger finger still gets the best of me from time to time though and I will slip up and shoot a goldie or spoonie or two-they can be hard to pass up when they decoy in perfectly!


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

i just breast them out. i make jerky it with my ducks.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Pumpgunner said:


> Those look just about perfect Jon!


They were, Cody. The only problem is that pintails are difficult to get when they're in prime condition. I don't kill many in October and November when they're really fat.



Fowlmouth said:


> I see rice breast in pintails, gadwalls and mallards every year. I don't shoot spoonies, ruddys or goldeneyes on purpose.


Rob, I've read that Ruddy ducks are really good eating. Back in the market hunting days they were called butterballs. If I have the chance I'm going to try some:

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/12/ruddy-ducks-the-original-butterball-turkey/67472/

I'm also ordering the book mentioned in the article.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Karl said:


> Wyogoob had an excellent thread on this already.
> 
> If I am backpacking and I shoot a bird, then I will skin it and roast it over a campfire.
> 
> ...


Funny, no one scalds birds anymore. Growing up we scalded ducks, geese, chickens, even pheasants.

.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Wow, that's a really interesting article! I know that canvasbacks and redheads were prized but I never knew they held ruddies in such high regard. I've passed on shooting them several times because I assumed that they wouldn't be good to eat, but maybe next time I will have to give one a try!


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

paddler213 said:


> Rob, I've read that Ruddy ducks are really good eating. Back in the market hunting days they were called butterballs. If I have the chance I'm going to try some:


They are tasty little buggers, but they have such a big breastplate and so little meat. They are also a pain to skin as are most divers. That's really the only reason I try to avoid shooting them. They have saved me more than once from going home empty handed though.


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