mergansers

[lokidog]

I shot about 8 of those things that kept showing up at the lake at my Parents' house where we duck hunt.  They were slaughtering the fish and making a mess.  I was carrying one by the feet and a 14in trout fell out of its throat.  I will shoot every one of those things that I see but I sure as heck wouldn't eat them.

Don't get caught for wonton waste of game....

They taste just fine.  They are a bit stronger so just use a more flavorful sauce, or soak as mentioned.  Plus, also as mentioned earlier, you are saving a lot of baby, and not so baby, fish.

[Crispy]

Last year was my first merganser free season  .

The lake we hunt is full of common mergs with the occasional hoodie thrown in, so we end up taking them if nothing else is flying. Mature drake hooded mergs are quite pretty.

At this point I've eaten enough of them to know that sometimes it's better to be bored. Maybe bacon wrapped and grilled after a buttermilk or brine soak might not be horrid. 

[lokidog]

Curry with lots of onions and apples.  I do most of my ducks this way including divers and fish eaters.  I also do not soak them.  It is pretty hard to tell the difference between mallards and mergs when cooked this way IMO.  The bummer about common mergs is that even though they are quite large, they have quite small/thin breasts.