East Side vs West Side for eating ducks

[sumpnz]

My elk hunting partner has resisted the idea of duck hunting out where we elk hunt (Olympic coast) as he claims west side ducks, even skinned, taste nasty.  He says they're only fit for dog food.  But that east side ducks, while still far from his favorite meat, are vastly better.

I really would like to get into duck hunting, but would like some input from folks that know more about this than either him or me.  If I won't eat it I see little point in killing it.  So if I'd need to go to the east side of the state for ducks worth eating I probably won't bother in the short term as I won't have time for that for quite a few more years.  If west side ducks are good eating I'll start figuring out where to go locally.

[Special T]

Anything eating corn tastes better. I think it's all in how you prepare them. Worst case senerio you turn them into pepperoni.

[CP]

West side ducks taste great, so do East side ducks.  Treat them right, age them properly, cook them them properly and they are all good eats.

[Chesterdog]

I hunt and eat ducks almost exclusively on the west side and here are some of my thoughts:  Mallards, pintails and larger ducks always get gutted, plucked, coated in seasoning and roasted whole.  We crank the oven up to as hot as it will go and roast em for about 30 min.  The breast meat comes out like rare prime rib.  Always place a drip pan with water in it below the ducks. (I forgot to add the water one time and my wife almost called the fire department there was so much smoke in my kitchen. It smelled awful!) Teal, although quick and sometimes hard to shoot when they come zooming in, are some of the best eating ducks.  We breast em, coat in flour, salt and pepper and quickly pan fry (maybe make a red wine sauce if we have enough breasts).  They make little nuggets that are amazing.  My hunting buddies and I have "Seattle Wives" and they pick and eat mallard carcasses to the bone. If gaminess is a concern you can brine some of it out.  Never shoot what you don't eat.  If I end up with a few uneaten ducks at the end of the year that missed the table they make excellent crab bait.  I'm not sure the legality of that last sentence, but what the hell. I hate wasting meat.  Another thing to think about, is going for grouse on the peninsula if you're looking for something a little closer to chicken.

[metlhead]

Ask your buddy why he would eat a westside elk and not go east to hunt. They all taste the same. Sure some eastside ducks eat more grain, but they don't live in grainfields. They eat everything within reach, wherever they be. And grain turns to fat which is on the outside and not marbled into the meat. My family eats over a hundred ducks every year from both sides of the state. Shoot away and bon appetit

[NW-GSP]

The majority of the ducks are migratory and are not spending that much time on our area so since the ones that go to both the east and west side originate from the same area before migration I have to say he is wrong. Local ducks would taste different when comparing east vs west but not the ones that migrate.

[lokidog]

Go Hunt! Duck tastes like duck. Divers and fish ducks are stronger tasting, generally, so if worried, start out with puddle ducks. Sure, corn fed mallards are probably better tasting than ones eating snails and marsh weeds, but it won't be too different IMO.

I rarely pluck ducks as I mostly do Salisbury steak after grinding them.

And, please, oh please, don't throw the legs/thighs away from anything larger than Teal or Buffleheads. One duck or two, the legs hardly seem worth messing with, but if you save the legs separately and cook a bunch all at once using a slow cooker, they are tender and tasty and taste great eaten like wings in whatever sauce you like best.

[Ddouble]

Fighting for duck meat... I soak in a salt water brine overnight then this load I marinated in OJ and fresh ginger. Smoked with pecan wood for about 30 minutes. It was amazing best I've cooked so far. Added it to a duck risotto.

[sakoshooter]

Ducks migrate. E vs W makes no difference. They swim around eating the floating corn off the surface of sewage treatment ponds on both sides of the Cascades, LOL.

[Stein]

There is the possibility a duck you shoot on the westside has been eating stuff out of the ocean and the fat will be pretty nasty.  It will be an orange color rather than a whitish.  For mallards, they will eat a bunch of different things but I think they prefer grain which is in great abundance right now.

That said, 95% of the quality is in how you cook it.  If you get an orangy mallard, it may change how you cook it but my family chows them up either way.

[lokidog]

There is the possibility a duck you shoot on the westside has been eating stuff out of the ocean and the fat will be pretty nasty.  It will be an orange color rather than a whitish.  For mallards, they will eat a bunch of different things but I think they prefer grain which is in great abundance right now.

That said, 95% of the quality is in how you cook it.  If you get an orangy mallard, it may change how you cook it but my family chows them up either way.

The only one I have noticed a difference in is Wigeon, and that was down on the OR coast not the ones out here.  I think eating eel grass made them bitter as when they first showed up, they tasted good, but then about two weeks later they tasted like crap.