I've heard it said that the best way to cook merganser is to season it heavily, lay it on a board and bake at 350* for 2 hours, remove from oven, throw away the merganser and eat the board.

As for shooting wildlife for practice I am wondering why there is no season for cormorants? These fish eating birds are all over around here wherever there is fish holding water. They do a number on the fishery. I'm sure they taste as bad as mergansers but they should be culled.
Fact is that is some areas they are: https://lancasteronline.com/sports/m...2705c1d8b.html
However, reading this article I noted that the federal agents culling the cormorants are using small caliber air rifles with pellets! Funny how we must use steel shot but these guys are using lead pellets to cull these birds.