#26

[Rubberhead*]

I was at Bear Island, 50 years ago, when a nice flock came into the area. Everyone was killed before they left. Every group had 1-3. The biologists weren't happy.

The house that burned down on Cane Island had "Fulvous Whistling Duck" on their signout board. I don't know whether I heard it somewhere or if I made it up, but I am thinking some of the early impoundment owners tried to establish a local population of fulvous. The ones at Yawkey might be remnants of those birds.

[Glenn]

Congrats!

[WhitewaterDuck]

Superb story telling. I remember reading one, maybe two of your previous posts in this vein, and the journey and your telling of it is truly impressive. Do you have previous posts like this archived? At what point will you put this all in a book? Thanks for sharing it with us.
Oh...that BWT shot with the sweet 16 is contest winner worthy and should be the cover photo for said book.

[gooseaholic]

Most excellent RH! I applaud your persistence.

[Rubberhead*]

Superb story telling. I remember reading one, maybe two of your previous posts in this vein, and the journey and your telling of it is truly impressive. Do you have previous posts like this archived? At what point will you put this all in a book? Thanks for sharing it with us.
Oh...that BWT shot with the sweet 16 is contest winner worthy and should be the cover photo for said book.

You're too kind and thanks for noticing. The gun has a story but I pretty much only shoot it during September. That was the first and to-date only three shot, 1x1x1, triple I ever shot. I've shot some 2x1 and 1x2 triples with a O/U or SxS all on bluewings.

[Rubberhead*]

I needed to dig these up anyway.

#20: https://scducks.com/forum/showthread...olo-Species-20

#21: https://scducks.com/forum/showthread...ty-but-he-s-21

#22: https://scducks.com/forum/showthread...olo-Species-22

#23: https://scducks.com/forum/showthread...ina-Species-23

#24: https://scducks.com/forum/showthread.php?187992-24

#25: https://scducks.com/forum/showthread.php?203113-25

[Tater]

Full plumed BWT are beautiful birds.

[Rubberhead*]

Full plumed BWT are beautiful birds.

I agree.

I don't mount birds anymore but a taxidermist took this one from me.

[Rubberhead*]

[Tater]

Tot and myself killed 8 BW and 4 GW, all drakes, one late January morning. Was a damn beautiful strap. Somehow I seem to have lost the pictures.

[Carolina]

Well-done sir. Around ten years ago, I went through a period of picking a public boat ramp, studying the area on Google maps, and going for a solo hunt. I went for one of those hunts in Colleton county, and shortly after first light the sky was squealing as a group of 75-100 BBWDs glided back and forth about 400 yards down river from me. I'd never seen one live, but deduced that they must be Whistling Ducks. After around 15 minutes the group worked their way up and presented me with a 20 yard passing shot. I picked one out and shot a Scotch double. I wasn't really sure what to do at first, but decided the only option was to keep both birds and be forthcoming if I crossed paths with the warden.

I can confirm that it's all about luck.

[WNM]

Congratulations on another species. I may have messaged you this several years ago. I stumbled upon an 80 mile-inland resident population 30 minutes from my house a few years ago and have a self-imposed one per season limit so I don’t wipe them out. It is 30-40 birds exploiting a very niche habitat, and their flyway crosses over a spot I hunt, and they occasionally respond to my whistling and decoy like an Arkansas mallard if the wind cooperates. They head over 10 minutes before legal, feed for 30 minutes, and return the same way. I keep thinking that every cold snap will run them out, but they were still here yesterday. No luck over my homemade decoys yet this year, but I hope to have a Rubberhead quality pic of a whistler with them soon.
IMG_2388.jpg

[Fish]

Rubba, have you seen a king eider off the SC coast?

[Rubberhead*]

I love that WNM. I am not happy with my photos, though. The bird was not in the water but for about 60 seconds but he looked soaked. There was a pellet or two in his head so there was some blood that I had to photoshop out. I want to get better at hunting these birds but, this late in the season, I'll probably focus on the next bird on the list and try for another tree duck early in the 2025-26 season.

I don't like getting drawn into discussions about how good or bad a particular species of duck is to eat because I think most people on the other side of such conversations are either wrong or mistaken. That being said, I've always heard that the tree ducks are exception eating. Now, with a sample of only one, my opinion is that the BBWD I killed was without a doubt the best eating waterfowl I've ever had and not by a little.

I have a standard way of cooking a bird every time I kill a new species. I skin, filet and remove as much fat as possible. Trim silver skin and remove the cluster of blood vessels on the underside of the breast filets. I salt and pepper both sides then dry fry the bird to a warm, (bloody) pink center on medium heat in a Teflon pan so I don't have to add any oil or sugar. This gives me a consistent baseline to compare birds. Until the BBWD, I had mallards and GWT at the top of that list both for flavor, texture and "presentation" (ie, look appetizing). I really think the BBWD is more delicate in flavor and texture than mallards or GWT.

Removing the skin and fat, I think, removes most of the inter-species flavor variation. I've found very little difference between birds of the same species regardless of where or when I kill them.

In case anybody is wondering, the only two species that I have found that are consistently difficult to eat are red-breasted merganser and surf scoters. Black and white-winged scoters are fine.

I won't mention hooded mergansers because it makes some of y'all crazy but I would take a bluebill over a gadwall or shoveler anyday. Bufflehead are fine. Ruddy ducks are near the top. Eiders and oldsquaw have an odd flavor that seems to be concentrated near where the big breast muscle connects to the wishbone but if you avoid that, they are edible too. Wigeon and pintail are fine but most people say they're way better eating than my own personal experience could substantiate.

I think most folks get sideways with ducks in one of two ways, 1) over cooking ducks that are reputed to be poor eating and 2) thinking a bird that's beautiful on the outside is naturally good eating. I promise that an overcooked greenwing is as nasty as an overcooked hoodie.

Whoops, sorry, I got to running my mouth.

Here's the BBWD breasts cooked like I mentioned along with some baby 'bellas. I cooked the mushrooms in the same pan but after I removed the duck and was letting it "rest". This was a great breakfast.

[LowcountryBuck]

Great post, and inspiring as to staying the course and sticking to the task. Just special.

[drwilly]

not sure how i missed this. congrats

[ElCidRocker]

Really enjoy these posts. I just read through some of the others. You should write a book about this. Nice work

[Rubberhead*]

Rubba, have you seen a king eider off the SC coast?

Sorry Fish, I just saw this. Yep, a "queen" eider was in a very huntable spot off of the coast. Unfortunately, she was discovered by bird watchers first and was making a lot of life lists for SC birders. I just didn't have the heart to slip in a kill a birder's bird so all I did was photograph her. I have a personal rule that I won't kill a bird found and published by birders - that just doesn't seem to fit the purpose behind this personal quest.

I should have killed her, though, because I heard somewhere that she was found washed up dead somewhere in Charleston Harbor.

[centurian]

Nice record board for sure

[Ring King]

Congratulations my friend! Great read and even better accomplishment to have taken so many different species in South Carolina! When you're ready for that common merganser, I've got directions to M1A1 and I's old "trashduck" hole down in the salt. They fly through there pretty regularly. My dad trumped us one morning when we let him fire first into a group of four by killing the entire pack. Eddie and I didn't even get to shoot at that group! LOL