DNR Police doesn't enforce the law that they admit is illegal.

[NorthBeachPerso]

I guess so. However, I beleive it probably taste a little "gamey". Their shotgun blasts of the very tiny ducks doesn't make sense to me. However, I am sure we probably have some hunters on this forum that can better clarify whether or not eating this wildlife and using shotguns for very tiny ducks is at the crack of dawn at single digit wind chills is worth the effort. I don't understand why killing little animals is such a recreation for some people. Supposedly people eat them. But, something so small, what is there to eat? Maybe they get a whole bunch together and might eventually get a meal out of it. The geese on the other hand are a larger bird. But, I see very few people shooting them.

However, I did hear of a "Avian Flu" that the "Federal Government" is now monitoring in other States that they are concerned about and may spread to other States. They are equally concerned of it jumping to humans, although they acknowledge there are no kown cases so far.

Instead of a shotgun what would you suggest, a rifle?

To answer another question, what "little ducks? Mallards, Canvasbacks and Scaup (bluebills) are considered larger ducks. Goldeneyes and Ringnecks are medium while Ruddys and Buffleheads are smallish.

While large geese are much smaller than you'd expect, a lot of what you see is down, a couple inches of it.

Yes people eat all the species I listed, typically the breasts on the smaller ones while the whole bird on the larger. A couple of them have a very strong fishy taste due to their diet (small clams and mussels) if not prepared properly taking that into account.

I haven't even touched on Long Tailed Ducks (Old Squaws) or the three species of Scoter (locally called Bay Coots, they're not the actual Coot species). They also have a strong fishy taste.

Avian Flu has been an issue for the last several years across the flyways. Waterfowl hunters have been asked to watch for any birds not acting normally and report them. As for human transmission, that's a small issue. The bigger one is that as waterfowl congregate in larger flocks in closer proximity the disease can spread throughout the group with about a 90% mortality.

Surely you remember a few years ago when the County Fairs suspended/discontinued their fowl displays and judging due to Avian Flu?

 

[Gilligan]

Do people really like to eat ducks or geese?

Oh heck yeah! But not dippers (buffleheads)...has to be wood ducks or mallards for me. Some of the hunters that I let hunt from my blinds will take a lot of dippers but they are given to some local folks that know exactly how fix them and get rid of the fishy taste.

 

[Gilligan]

Supposedly people eat them. But, something so small, what is there to eat?

I'm guessing you've never eaten dove or quail either....nor hunted same.

 

[Gilligan]

However, I am sure we probably have some hunters on this forum that can better clarify whether or not eating this wildlife and using shotguns for very tiny ducks is at the crack of dawn at single digit wind chills is worth the effort.

Has been done for sport and a living both...for a few hundred years around here. Harry Truman loved to hunt ducks and geese when he could get away to the club up in 7th District. He and many other "famous" political figures hunted ducks from there. Several 7D families provided hunting guides for those folks.

 

[Gilligan]

Market gunning....once a staple of southern MD waterfowl harvesting.

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

Oh heck yeah! But not dippers (buffleheads)...has to be wood ducks or mallards for me. Some of the hunters that I let hunt from my blinds will take a lot of dippers but they are given to some local folks that know exactly how fix them and get rid of the fishy taste.

Years ago when I was really into seaducking I always had a couple or three older people (by older I mean late 70s/early 80s, and this was over thirty years ago) who would call me every year around the first of October to tell me that they'd take every Old Squaw or Scoter I could shoot.

 

[Gilligan]

Great article in this issue of Wildfowl magazine. Skip Knowles explores the history of duck hunting by presidents from the 7D Jefferson Islands Club blinds and skiffs.

https://downmagaz.net/fishing_magazine_hunting/69300-wildfowl-usa-november-2015.html

 

[Wickedwrench]

Oh heck yeah! But not dippers (buffleheads)...has to be wood ducks or mallards for me. Some of the hunters that I let hunt from my blinds will take a lot of dippers but they are given to some local folks that know exactly how fix them and get rid of the fishy taste.

Oh man, you're my kind of people. Not too many except those from our region call a bufflehead a "dipper". I recall getting admonished harshly one time for congratulating a young man on Facebook for his first duck, which was a drake bufflehead. I got called all kinds of stupid for saying "nice dipper" because it was a diving duck. Some people aren't meant to get local slang and I prefer not to waste my time arguing over it.

As far as table fare, I have eaten many of those over the years as well as goldeneyes and scaup("blackheads"). It's certainly an acquired taste but if you season a wooden plank good enough, it can be edible.

 

[jrt_ms1995]

... if you season a wooden plank good enough, it can be edible.

That's how they say you prepare shad; season a wooden plank with sh*t, bake the shad on it, throw away the shad and eat the plank.

 

[buddscreek]

Years ago when I was really into seaducking I always had a couple or three older people (by older I mean late 70s/early 80s, and this was over thirty years ago) who would call me every year around the first of October to tell me that they'd take every Old Squaw or Scoter I could shoot.

i'm like those men. i haven't found any wild game i don't like. my mother can cook any of that stuff and i have been paying attention.

 

[stgislander]

That's how they say you prepare shad; season a wooden plank with sh*t, bake the shad on it, throw away the shad and eat the plank.

Carp from where I'm from.

 

[Gilligan]

As far as table fare, I have eaten many of those over the years as well as goldeneyes and scaup("blackheads"). It's certainly an acquired taste but if you season a wooden plank good enough, it can be edible.

the old black fella that "came with" our 300 yo Howard county farm when Pop bought it knew how to prepare the most awesome ground hog stew.... Some things just need to be fixed up right. ;-)

My Mom knew exactly how to make the squirrels and rabbits I'd bring in from the woods taste like a delicacy.

I grew up on a farm in what was then VERY rural HoCo but we always had the properties in Calvert and, particularly, 7D in southin merlin that we'd spend time at every year..fishing in the summer and hunting birds and deer in the winter. Family first arrived in 7d and Calvert back in the mid 1600s.

 

[stgislander]

<cough><cough><slave owner><cough>

 

[Gilligan]

<cough><cough><slave owner><cough>

well yeah....so? I moved on from slave owner to slave driver though...

 

[Wickedwrench]

the old black fella that "came with" our 300 yo Howard county farm when Pop bought it knew how to prepare the most awesome ground hog stew.... Some things just need to be fixed up right. ;-)

My Mom knew exactly how to make the squirrels and rabbits I'd bring in from the woods taste like a delicacy.

I grew up on a farm in what was then VERY rural HoCo but we always had the properties in Calvert and, particularly, 7D in southin merlin that we'd spend time at every year..fishing in the summer and hunting birds and deer in the winter. Family first arrived in 7d and Calvert back in the mid 1600s.

One of my mother's best dishes was squirrel pot pie. She grew up near the Ozarks and her family ate everything they could hunt or trap. My father still tells the story of eating barbecued possum sandwiches at a picnic out there. Of course, he thought it was pulled pork until they told him otherwise the next day.

 

[RoseRed]

One of my mother's best dishes was squirrel pot pie. She grew up near the Ozarks and her family ate everything they could hunt or trap. My father still tells the story of eating barbecued possum sandwiches at a picnic out there. Of course, he thought it was pulled pork until they told him otherwise the next day.

 

[Gilligan]

Yr missing out on the finer cuisines in life.

 

[Kyle]

I agree.

Possum Pot Pie and Squirrel Burger sound much better.

The titles roll off the tongue much better.

 

[RoseRed]

Nope.

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

Yr missing out on the finer cuisines in life.

Roadkill cuisine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org