Waterfowl

The good thing about gun dogs is that they will forgive you for most of your training mistakes. You can flub your way through handling duties and eventually use a few  mulligans to do things the right way—except when it comes to gunfire introduction. If you screw up this step, the odds are not in...

The hunting dog world is full of stereotypes and generalizations—none more entrenched in the bird hunters’ zeitgeist than the perceived differences between British and American Labrador retrievers. It’s commonly believed that British (or English) Labs are smaller, stockier, quieter, more easily...

For all the promise and anticipation wrapped up in a new puppy, there exists a certain charm in restoring the shine on a second-hand bird dog. Tailgate legend has a long chapter devoted entirely to these pups. Their stories feature washed-out trial dogs that just needed more time to blossom or the...

Few things will turn south an otherwise civil conversation about dogs faster than the topic of what to feed them. As a practicing veterinarian and bird hunter who spends a great deal of time engaged in tailgate banter, I’ve both received and dished out my share of subtle eyerolls and outright looks...

Smoking whole might be the most versatile thing you can do with a duck. It can be served warm straight off the smoker, cooled for a charcuterie board, or incorporated into some other dish like duck ravioli. This also uses the entire animal, which the MeatEater crew always tries to do. Even after you...

A lot of hunters are intimidated by cooking wild duck. If you are, you should not be. Steven Rinella shares the perfect way to prepare wild duck. There are many different duck recipes out there, this one is simple and is a sure way to make you enjoy cooking and eating wild ducks. Brought to you by...

I like to follow the mantra "set it and forget it" with this recipe. We're all busy, right? And the two most important steps to making these delicious sandwiches involve waiting. Pop the duck breasts in the brine, tuck them in the back of the fridge, and remove the meat in a few days, then toss them...

This recipe comes from Episode 2 of Duck Camp Dinners featuring professional chef and hunter Jean-Paul Bourgeois. You can catch every episode of Duck Camp Dinners here. This pot of Franco-Cajun goodness is a duck camp favorite at the Hobo Hilton. It's been said that if it grows together it goes...

For waterfowl hunters, scouting often means hours of windshield time scanning skies, fields, and marshes. It also means hard work, devising a plan, and a bit of luck. Without scouting, a waterfowl hunter’s chances for success go down the drain. But to say that scouting just boils down to driving...

The half hour before sunrise is the favorite time of the day for most duck hunters, and for good reason: there’s a flurry of activity as the marsh wakes up and many birds move from their roost to their feed. But that quick action is commonly followed by a long lull, sending many duck hunters packing...

It’s time to be honest with yourself. Your buddy sounds way better on a call, everyone in the blind tells you to “take it easy” when you so much as quack, your sole job in the blind is running the spinner remote, and every time you try a new duck call, it just doesn’t sound like the guy that sold it...

Whether in a field or on a lake, it’s hard not to love the sight of thousands of birds. But big numbers don’t always mean successful hunts, and oftentimes some of the best hunting can be on small water with low numbers of birds. One of the best examples of small water is the standard cattle pond...

Every summer, waterfowl across North America have to figure out where they’ll go to molt. The where, why, and who have been misunderstood by hunters for years, but knowing how the molt migration works is valuable and important. What is the Molt Migration? Every year, geese (and all waterfowl) lose...

The worst season ever? If you skim through various waterfowl hunting forums and social media pages, you’d certainly think last duck season was a bust. Many hunters across the country spent more time griping about the lack of ducks than they did shooting ducks. In some circles, intentionally flooded...

Duck hunting in North America usually means that mallards are the target species.  A big flock of greenheads flying into a decoy spread instills excitement into the hearts of even the most seasoned duck hunters. Mallards are the most common North American duck species, and the most commonly hunted...

Most ducks are opportunistic omnivores, feeding on a wide variety of plants, insects, invertebrates, and fish. From sunflower seeds to gizzard shad, I’ve seen them eat just about anything they can get down their gullet. The plants listed below are the crème de la crème. These cornerstones of duck...