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An unusual double.


JDog
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An early morning's walk with the dogs this week I decided to look at a tiny splash that sometimes hosts a few duck. I wasn't going to give it very long as the ironing, baking a lemon meringue pie and scrubbing the utility room floor awaited me. I also had both dogs with me, something I said I would never do with gun in hand. 

As I approached two duck got up and made the mistake of not clearing off straight away and I managed to bring them both down. Barney sat still whilst Jasper retrieved them both.

 

Mallard and Widgeon 1.jpg

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1 hour ago, JDog said:

Yes the smaller one is a Gadwall, the first one I have shot.

They really are drab little ducks. The white wing flash and the rusty covert feathers are all that mature males can muster.

 

Gadwall..jpg

Could well be from a late brood , by the end of the Winter it would have been in full plumage and the drakes are quite good looking , we get a few throughout the winter either on the marshes or on our wild duck drive , if we get one in good condition I will take a photo and compare it with your one ,well done adding another species to your long list , any more that need to be added ?? 

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37 minutes ago, Smokersmith said:

A drake Gadwall IMO is a hansome bird indeed ..

Very much the English partridge of ducks if a drake mallard were the French.

Congratulations on the bag ... some nice variation for the table.

I think we all have our favourite's when it come to what is the best looking duck , mine is a drake Pintail for elegance and it being streamlined,  but there are several that are a close second, in fact all of the surface ducks are pretty and most of the diving ducks come to that . 

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I have never shot a drake Pintail.

The Gadwall is for tomorrow night's dinner. I will let you know how it tastes. I hope you are not joshing with me about it's culinary delights and that it tastes like an Eider duck.

The most odd curiosity was finding a Razorbill on a patch of heather whilst walking up grouse in Cumbria.

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18 minutes ago, JDog said:

I have never shot a drake Pintail.

The Gadwall is for tomorrow night's dinner. I will let you know how it tastes. I hope you are not joshing with me about it's culinary delights and that it tastes like an Eider duck.

The most odd curiosity was finding a Razorbill on a patch of heather whilst walking up grouse in Cumbria.

At this time of the year , most if not all of the surface feeding duck would be edible , I dare say if the breasts were cut up into strips and marinated over night you would have a job to tell the difference , hope you enjoy it .

You mentioned the Eider duck , in my trigger happy days when I was a late teenager or in my very early twenties I shot a hen Eider duck , as it turned out the only one I have ever shot and I have got no intention of ever shooting another one . as far as taste , I didn't eat it as in those far off days anything out of the ordinary went to Pettits the game dealers in Reedham to be set up or the feathers used for making pictures out of the feathers .

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20 hours ago, Smokersmith said:

A drake Gadwall IMO is a hansome bird indeed ..

Very much the English partridge of ducks if a drake mallard were the French.

Congratulations on the bag ... some nice variation for the table.

Having plucked and gutted the Gadwall, and put my glasses on, I do have a new appreciation of it’s subtleness.

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CE887D54-B12D-45BB-AA99-91479AB48F1C.jpeg

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13 minutes ago, JTaylor91 said:

Scalding the skin helps crisping by tightening up the pores, the Chinese do it when they do Peking duck.

The forum has more qualified chefs than pigeon shooters at the moment. Your advice will be taken.

By the way you still owe me lunch. A pork pie will not be adequate.

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2 hours ago, JDog said:

The forum has more qualified chefs than pigeon shooters at the moment. Your advice will be taken.

By the way you still owe me lunch. A pork pie will not be adequate.

must see the out come...........today i had a tin of beans and sausages ...some cheap wafer thin bacon and bloody oven chips.....i tried to tell my tummy it was nice ...but it didnt believe me.....

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35 minutes ago, ditchman said:

must see the out come...........today i had a tin of beans and sausages ...some cheap wafer thin bacon and bloody oven chips.....i tried to tell my tummy it was nice ...but it didnt believe me.....

Gordon Bennett, that's not real food man it's a wonder your stomach did not reject it. Very lazy of you not do something cordon bleu.😎

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43 minutes ago, ditchman said:

must see the out come...........today i had a tin of beans and sausages ...some cheap wafer thin bacon and bloody oven chips.....i tried to tell my tummy it was nice ...but it didnt believe me.....

Gordon Bennett, don't blame the ingredients, you were warming it up!

 

6/10 Could do a lot better!

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On 26/10/2020 at 10:31, JDog said:

Yes the smaller one is a Gadwall, the first one I have shot.

They really are drab little ducks. The white wing flash and the rusty covert feathers are all that mature males can muster.

 

Gadwall..jpg

I, too, have only ever shot one Gadwall, a female shot on the Wash just off the RAF camp in late September 1968. It tasted revolting! BUT, I did boil it for two hours in a saucepan of water over a paraffin stove. Fifty years later, my culinary expertise has not improved much but the cooking equipment is better these days.

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Well we had the Gadwall for dinner this evening. 

I made the decision to sharpen my best knife and slice the breasts thinly rather than cut the duck in half.

The flavour was distinctly different, a bit like what I would imagine a cross between a Greenland Whitefront and a Greater Scaup would taste like.

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