TN Deer Hunter

I eat them all bluebills, buffleheads, redheads, shovelers, any duck that we kill gets eat if not in jerky it is on the grill. or cut up, battered and fried

Paulpskp

NO I don't like mud with feathers on it. Yes I know that their bill is to strain plankton but I perfer the corn fed mallard.

tbrunson

Nasty, nasty stuff.

A5Mag12

As said if you know how to cook they are just fine. I've even fed them to many people who swore they are trash. None could tell the difference.

Chris M

For those of us who apparently don't know how to cook them, please let us know your technique so that these ducks don't go to waste. I've only killed 2, and both were inedible for my wife and I. The dogs liked them, though. I defnintely want to find a way to prepare them so that they are palatable.

huntnteen

We shoot spoonys quite often, i have never had a problem getting them eaten, i turn all ducks, exept Teal, into jerkey and all i do is soak in salt-water overnight then soak in a maranaide for a night, i also just lather in bullseye bbq sauce then stick in the dehydrater overnight. i have never had a reason not to shoot them. i hope i have helped

Chris M

I tried making jerky out of the last couple spoonies I had in the freezer, and all I ended up with was dog treats.

I breasted the ducks, cut the meat into small strips, soaked it in salt water for 24 hours. Rinsed & soaked in salt water for another 24 hours. Let it marinade in a soy sauce, garlic, chili powder mixture for 24 hours, and put the strips in the dehydrater overnight. The jerky was done this morning. I took one bite, and after chewing on it for about 10 seconds, I spit it out and started dry-heaving as I reached for a carton of orange juice to wash out the flavor.

Maybe the spoonies in other places don't taste as bad, but the ones I got in Alviso (Just outside San Jose, CA) are just plain nasty. At least the dogs like it, so it's not going to waste.

A5Mag12

I only cook ducks one way. Cut up whole duck including heart and gizzard usually at least 2 ducks but as many as 12 depending on size of group eating and avilable pot size. Brown the ducks with as little grease as possible, fat ducks don't need grease added. Brown the duck until you almost burn it but not scorched and don't let it dry out, add a little water if needed. Add only salt while doing most of the browning adding black pepper and then lots and lots of minced garlic towards the end of the browning, it is important to keep stirring. DON'T BURN THE GARLIC. Then add water well over the duck. Almost filling the pot if cooking several ducks. This just has to be learned, too much water only means you have to boil it longer, too little and you ruin the whole pot. Bring to a rapid boil for 10 min. then cover and turn down the fire but keep a boil going. Cook this down until when you spoon up some of the gravy or soup if you prefer and watch for the water to seperate out in the spoon. When this just about stops it is ready. Serve over long grain (cooked seperate) rice in bowl or deep plate with a big hunk of french bread for soppin and a tall glass of cold milk.

Chris_H

People don't usually regard shovelers as being a delicacy. I've never had one, but I'd imagine they'd taste horrible considering that three-fourths of their diet is animal crap. People say that wood duck is nasty, but thats on of the best ducks I've tasted IMO; what little meat there is.

mossyisland

Yall need to do your research on shovelers. First and most important they are not divers.They are a puddle duck just the same as a mallard, gadwall, etc. They haveI call a "catch and trap mouth" they feed invertebrates into their mouth into the frontwhile blowingthe water back out the sideand trapping the invertabrates in. They eat the same things most puddle ducks eat. I hear the same thing from 90% of my customers that come in and hunt with me. I cook shovelers at least one of the nights they hunt with me. I let them bad mouth them and bad mouth them and then I let them eat about 4 or 5 and then tell them what it is. They go away with a different attitude about shovelers. Most people will say it depends what they are sitting on, but that is true in every ducks case. I wouldn't eat a mallard that has been in the saltwater very long. So please lets stop all the rumors about shovelers and do some research on them before you comment because it looks like the majority of you didn't even know they were puddle ducks.

Here is the best way to cook them: Strip them up and season them with cajun seasoning, then put a jap pepper and piece of cream cheese and wrap the strip around these. Wrap a piece of bacon around these and put them on a grill