First Time Sea Duck Hunting in ME

lazypengu1n

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My first time Sea Duck hunt in ME this past weekend. Those things are fast and if you aren't paying attention can come in out of no where. The big hen on the left was the biggest of them all. I ended up breasting and quartering the legs (I hope thats the right term) and going to let it marinade in some Seafood Soy Sauce. I'll post back later if it made any difference when I cook em.
 

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LOL.

I am also Asian but all the cooking tricks that we knew failed. These seaducks unfortunately live up to their reputation as being extremely vile as you will soon find out. We tried many different ways of cooking and found that par -boiling with a ton of ginger took out the majority of the fish flavor. Even so, it was pretty much fishy shoe leather after that. The old tried and true braising method afterwards didn't pan out. I really hope you can find a way to make it palatable as I would go back hunting for them again if I could eat them.
 
Do you have a turkey fryer?
I've put coastal ducks in the fryer and they disappeared from the table.
 
btw, congratulations. nice haul there.
yes, they are fast and low. you have to keep you're eyes peeled and be ready, much more so that puddle ducks.
 
I haven’t done sea duck hunting but I would like to go at least once, shoot a handsome one and have it mounted for my collection. I know the reputation of how these things taste so I haven’t bothered to set myself up with a guide/ boat. It’s funny because I live not far from the CC canal and can hear the sea duck hunters blasting away if I’m ever home on a Saturday morning during the season, which is rare. I’ve thought of leaving a note on the windshield of the truck/trailer that’s parked at the harbor when those guys are out there, asking if they’d mind an extra gun on board just once but that’ll wait til after COVID is a distant memory! ;)
Nice group of birds you have there though. Good luck cooking
 
I was listening to MeatEater podcast. Those guys eat a lot of game. They said they avoided swimmer-ducks because they tend to taste fishy. Because, well, that's their diet. I found that fascinating.

I also find it fascinating the biggest and seemingly most desired duck to eat (Mallard) is the same one that's the most prolific.
 
Some of my earliest memories are of going with my dad and his brothers and their buddies hunting sea ducks out on Long Island Sound off the Connecticut coast. I'd sit in the back of the wooden rowboat and help untangle the frozen decoy lines. I remember absolutely freezing but being out on the sea and hearing the shotguns was awesome. My favorite thing was just looking at the different shotguns. Some brought fancy over/under guns in wooden cases with red felt liners. Others, like my dad used cheap, almost sacrificial ocean guns like his Mosburg model 200 KA which was so cheap back then that it was almost disposable. We had a whale surface and roll almost belly-up just a few feet away as the sun was coming up one morning. It was about twice the size of the 18 foot boat and it was like seeing a sea monster! Pretty cool sight for a little kid.
I loved looking at the guns and being with the adults at sea but I really hated the ducks. The meat was just too greasy and gamey for my 8 year old pallette. I was more if a Poptarts and Fruitloops kind of kid. But I ate it anyway so I fit in with the adults.
 
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