Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
02-24-2008, 05:04 PM
#21
Fork Horn
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Northeast Illinois
Posts: 283
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
Mossyisland,
Well said!!!
I havs killed and eaten many Shovelers and can say they are fine to eat. If you are grilling duck, never over cook it. I'll marinade mine for 8 hours in 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1Tbs Worcestershire, 1 tsp Garlic powder, 1/2 cup italian dressing, 15 whole cloves. Cut in 1" cubes before marinading. After soaking, place on a skewer with a small piece of bacon on each side and alternate with a piece of onion, then sweet pepper, then tomato, then pinapple, then the duck with the bacon again until the skewer is full. Cook on a pre heated grill at Med-high for3-1/2 minon a side turning only once. DO NOT OVERCOOK!!!!! You will think you are eating Fillet.
This is the only way I cook duck and I have teenage friends of my daughter begging me to make it for them.
Well said!!!
I havs killed and eaten many Shovelers and can say they are fine to eat. If you are grilling duck, never over cook it. I'll marinade mine for 8 hours in 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1Tbs Worcestershire, 1 tsp Garlic powder, 1/2 cup italian dressing, 15 whole cloves. Cut in 1" cubes before marinading. After soaking, place on a skewer with a small piece of bacon on each side and alternate with a piece of onion, then sweet pepper, then tomato, then pinapple, then the duck with the bacon again until the skewer is full. Cook on a pre heated grill at Med-high for3-1/2 minon a side turning only once. DO NOT OVERCOOK!!!!! You will think you are eating Fillet.
This is the only way I cook duck and I have teenage friends of my daughter begging me to make it for them. 
02-24-2008, 07:06 PM
#22
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: down in a hole
Posts: 1,441
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
ORIGINAL: 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
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
Northern Shoveler
anas clypeata
Description: 17-20" (43-51 cm). Large shovel-shaped bill. Male has green head, white body, and chestnut flanks. Female mottled brown with pale blue shoulder patches; similar to female Blue-winged Teal, but much larger.
Voice: Low croak, cluck, or quack.
Habitat: Marshes and prairie potholes. Sometimes on salt or brackish marshes.
Nesting: 8-12 pale buff or greenish eggs in a down-lined cup of grass concealed in vegetation, often some distance from water.
Range: Breeds from Alaska east to northern Manitoba, and south to California and Great Lakes region. Winters from Oregon across southern half of United States to Gulf Coast and north to New Jersey.
Like the closely related Blue-winged Teal, the Northern Shoveler is among the first ducks to arrive in the fall and the last to leave in the spring. It feeds on minute aquatic animals by straining water through comb-like teeth along the edges of its long, expanded bill. It eats seeds, aquatic plants, and fecal matter. Because if often feeds in stagnant ponds, it is particularly susceptible to botulism, a fatal bacterial FOOD POISONING.
I never said that the shoveler was a puddle duck. And, one more thing. Don't get so angry if some people don't like the way shovelers taste! If someone doesn't like the taste of a shoveler, then thats their taste buds businerss.
I admit that this doesn't say that a shovelers main diet is fecal matter, but I heard/read somewhere that they do.[:-]
02-24-2008, 11:14 PM
#23
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
Posts: 1,837
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
ORIGINAL: 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.
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.
Buy yourself a box of High-Mountain Jerky Cure and just follow the instructions, it`s real easy. I`ve done duck, goose, deer, and bear with the same cure. Different flavours too.
Ron
02-25-2008, 06:40 AM
#24
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Texas
Posts: 7
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
Chris H the part you highlightedand the part about eating fecal matter is true about most all puddle ducks. If you ever get a chance go look at a wastewater treatment facility (sewer plant) and you will see every specie of duckthere. Thats why theytell you to cook them toat least medium to kill any bacteria that may be there.I know most people thinkshovelers are bad but they are not. I don't like them because I like shooting bigger puddlers and shovelers are so plentiful here I let them go early in the hunt. But I try to get a limit too, and often have a few smileys mixed in the bag. If there are any doubts about shovelers pass'em up. I do think some other duckstaste better (especially teal) butI get after all of them.
02-29-2008, 11:30 PM
#25
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location:
Posts: 33
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
I have never had a problem with eating shovelers. This is how i prepare most of my ducks. Breast out the duck season them with salt, whole black pepper, and minced garlic. Place the breast in a slow cooker pour either chicken stock or beef stock (I prefer beef stock) over them about half inch over the meat. 2 oregano leaves, basil, half onion sliced, cook at low to medium heat for 3.5 hours. Once done slice the breast thin and serve with the sauce as a dip. I have made skeptics turn to lovers. Enjoy
03-01-2008, 07:35 PM
#26
Join Date: May 2007
Location:
Posts: 29
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
To those who eat shoveler, and say it tastes OK - where are you hunting the duck? Freshwater or saltwater?
Last season was my first hunting season. I started late in the game, and didn't really know where to go, I was a little too late for some of the permits, etc. I went to a spot just north of San Jose, CA (Alviso), and hunted ducks off the levees of the salt-ponds. Use Google Earth to zoom into the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, and look for the red and green patches to get an idea of where I was at. From what I understand, the locationthe duck is hunted makes a difference in the taste.
As far as soaking the meat in salt for too long - it wasn't the salty flavor that didn't taste good. It had the same 'shoveler flavor' as the other methods that I had made it - slow cooker, and sauteed.
Last season was my first hunting season. I started late in the game, and didn't really know where to go, I was a little too late for some of the permits, etc. I went to a spot just north of San Jose, CA (Alviso), and hunted ducks off the levees of the salt-ponds. Use Google Earth to zoom into the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, and look for the red and green patches to get an idea of where I was at. From what I understand, the locationthe duck is hunted makes a difference in the taste.
As far as soaking the meat in salt for too long - it wasn't the salty flavor that didn't taste good. It had the same 'shoveler flavor' as the other methods that I had made it - slow cooker, and sauteed.
03-01-2008, 10:49 PM
#27
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location:
Posts: 33
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
I never hunted salt water ducks. All my hunting is done in colorado, kansas, nebraska and now missouri. So it might just be that you where hunting in a bad area. I don't know much about salt water ducks, but I guess that might be your problem, try finding something more inland. You might have to go more east towards stockton and sacramento area. Have you tried to marinaide them in buttermilk, I hear that takes out alot of taste in them as well but never tried it myself. Hope that gives you more details.
03-06-2008, 06:11 PM
#28
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location:
Posts: 158
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
ORIGINAL: rbduck
Correct me if I am wrong but to me this reads as if you have been soaking the meat in salt water for 36 hours(soya is salty). This just might be your problem as to why they taste bad.
Buy yourself a box of High-Mountain Jerky Cure and just follow the instructions, it`s real easy. I`ve done duck, goose, deer, and bear with the same cure. Different flavours too.
Ron
ORIGINAL: 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.
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.
Buy yourself a box of High-Mountain Jerky Cure and just follow the instructions, it`s real easy. I`ve done duck, goose, deer, and bear with the same cure. Different flavours too.
Ron
Correct me if Im wrong, but salt water soaking has long been a remedy for that "gamey" flavor some folks seem to taste, I for one have never had shovelor, and I dont really know what a gamey flavor is like, but my dad and I both soak our game birds in salt water for a day or two prior to cooking or freezing, takes out alot of the blood too.
03-06-2008, 06:25 PM
#29
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Windsor, CA
Posts: 2,279
RE: Do you eat Northern Shovelers?
ORIGINAL: Chris M
To those who eat shoveler, and say it tastes OK - where are you hunting the duck? Freshwater or saltwater?
Last season was my first hunting season. I started late in the game, and didn't really know where to go, I was a little too late for some of the permits, etc. I went to a spot just north of San Jose, CA (Alviso), and hunted ducks off the levees of the salt-ponds. Use Google Earth to zoom into the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, and look for the red and green patches to get an idea of where I was at. From what I understand, the locationthe duck is hunted makes a difference in the taste.
As far as soaking the meat in salt for too long - it wasn't the salty flavor that didn't taste good. It had the same 'shoveler flavor' as the other methods that I had made it - slow cooker, and sauteed.
To those who eat shoveler, and say it tastes OK - where are you hunting the duck? Freshwater or saltwater?
Last season was my first hunting season. I started late in the game, and didn't really know where to go, I was a little too late for some of the permits, etc. I went to a spot just north of San Jose, CA (Alviso), and hunted ducks off the levees of the salt-ponds. Use Google Earth to zoom into the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, and look for the red and green patches to get an idea of where I was at. From what I understand, the locationthe duck is hunted makes a difference in the taste.
As far as soaking the meat in salt for too long - it wasn't the salty flavor that didn't taste good. It had the same 'shoveler flavor' as the other methods that I had made it - slow cooker, and sauteed.
