Are Shovelers Edible?

skahorse · 11-16-2003, 04:30 PM

Well, I shot 2 shovelers out at Sauvie Island today. It was a fun hunt, and there was lots of activity. After getting home, I read the following in my Dress 'Em Out book:

" Although the shoveler is classified as a game bird, its flesh is often barely edible or not edible at all... "

So, should i bother with this bird, or should I use them to aid in training the dog?

Thanks!

--Skahorse

nitrobass · 11-16-2003, 05:04 PM

Shovelers are fine to eat..Their diet is a bit gross, but you wont taste a difference between one and a wigeon.

11-16-2003, 05:49 PM

As edible as any other puddle duck.

Crashin' Bait · 11-16-2003, 06:53 PM

I agree with nitrobass. Widgeon? Spoonie? They taste the same to me.

Swamp Puppy · 11-16-2003, 07:53 PM

only one way to find out....eat it.

it's either :grin: -or-

Dr Strangelove · 11-16-2003, 08:19 PM

I'll eat Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, and Pintail in that order; Not Even My Dog will eat a shoveler, much less a coot, merganser, or other snail/muck eaters. They're gross! Just like grain fed cattle, stick to the grain fed ducks. If they come to a Dirty Rice call, they might be worth eating.

11-16-2003, 08:35 PM

Doc,
I've seen malards eating salmon eggs out of creeks in SE Alaska.

Capin' Dan · 11-16-2003, 09:39 PM

marinade, marinade marinade,

Liqiud smoke or red wine soak it for 24 hours. I have also heard that butter milk will work.

Please Please let Mossberg 3.5 know what the outcome is as he has about 20 of them to date that needs eating.

By the way guys a spoonie doesn't even compare to weigon, Pintail, Gadwall or mallards.

Dan

Gun Rod Bow · 11-16-2003, 09:41 PM

To answer your question, yes, if you're a Seagull, but remember, they have no sense of taste

Keta, You'll like this. I'd been huntin corn fed Mallards in the Columbia Basin for years and LOVED eatin them [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img]

So I come down to good 'ol Hank's Marsh with my buddy Keith about 9 years ago, shot a bunch and picked out a nice mature Greenhead to pick. I plucked every feather, Keith walks by and said "what are you doing?" I saif "I'm gonna cook it", he says "not in my house!!"

So I finish picking and when I cut the head off, the gullet was jam packed with little red worms the size of a hypodermic needle...I nearly spewed [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img]

Moral is, They taste like what they eat, and "Mud Mallards" (Northern Shovelers) eat nasty stuff.

Flatfish · 11-16-2003, 09:56 PM

Spoonies are the Shad of the duck world.

Some people eat them. But there aint enough money to make me stuff an apple in ones chest cavity.

Fetch practice. Duckeroni at the end of season.

Mark and the " hey I'll give you 5 bucks to eat that" dog.

Bait Bucket · 11-16-2003, 10:16 PM

I guess I'll never know because I don't shoot bootlips.

nitrobass · 11-17-2003, 05:40 AM

I think some people have cooked up a big pan of smoke and mirrors, not shovelors.

Its probably unfair to compare a corn fed local mallard thats lived off of flooded corn for 2 months to a migratory duck just in from up north. Shoot a variety of ducks and you'll see that shovelors eat just fine..So fry those things up Skahorse!

Now an eelgrass fed wigeon or pinnie from a coastal bay...thats risky business.

BanannaMan · 11-17-2003, 06:08 AM

Recipe:

two spoonie breasts, one big cow paddie, bake breasts and paddie in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Remove, throw out breasts and eat cow paddie. Ok its an old joke, but a good one none the less.

Killertraylor · 11-17-2003, 02:36 PM

I've eaten lots of Spoonies and can't tell the difference between them and the rest - they all taste about the same....bad.

I have been having much greater results though after soaking all of my duck breasts in milk for 3 days in the fridge. Pour the milk off each day and put new milk in the dish. Bread them in flour and seasonings and fry up in little pieces - we call them duck nuggets and they are actually edible this way.

Lured In · 11-17-2003, 02:48 PM

From what I can tell, most of the spoonies I have shot at Sauvie were fine. As GRB said, some areas just don't produce the kind of feed that makes for good eating ducks.

While I don't usually target them, sometimes out there they are everywhere and nothing else is flying. I took four last year in Hunt and brined them up for jerky and it turned out great. :grin:

I am always of the opinion, you can make an old hunting boot taste great, and the finest prime rib taste like a boot :shocked: depending on how good you are in the kitchen.

Swamp Puppy · 11-17-2003, 04:01 PM

@ Cap'n Dan - yeah, you'd think i'd learn to not shoot them SOB's. i was out at Sauvies with a kid and one kept flying up and down the lake...the kid was saying, "take it"..."let's shoot it"..."man, why did that one get away."

finally i caved in after it passed us for the 5th time and dropped it. oh well...just one more spoonie for the sausage pot.

wade · 11-17-2003, 07:06 PM

I hope I'm not too out of place here but I'm getting a kick out of seeing the effort some of you are taking to eat what you shoot, quite commendable. On the other hand I'm sitting here drooling on myself thinking of the flytying materials that are getting away. Shoveler, widgeon, merganser, pintail? These are figments of dreams.

Kevin

BigFish · 11-17-2003, 08:56 PM

All duck needs to be disguise to be edible; therefore they all eat the same. Surprised no one has mention bluebills�

seabass · 11-18-2003, 01:17 PM

Spoonies make great jerky. I brine it like I would for any meat and smoke it. The other option is to grind up the meat, add equal weight of ground pork and make salami. I do this with any left over birds each summer.

Jellyhead · 11-19-2003, 02:11 PM

As someone who has shot loads of divers and actually targets them, I have some tips for processing them.

You guys are right that the birds taste like what they have been eating. But, by deciding to shoot one of these birds, you have decided to eat them. (Remember wanton waste laws, and possession limits) Ol fido can only fetch so many shovelers before you are over you're possesion limit.

First thing I do is to lay the bird on it's back after harvest. This will allow the blood to drain out of the breasts. Breast the birds as soon as you get home (or sooner if able) Remove skin from breasts. Remove fat from breasts. Then soak in saltwater in the fridge for 3-4 days. Change out the salwater every day.

This may sound like alot of work, but it really isn't. The salt will draw the blood out of the breast, (Blood=bad taste) Milk will also work.

Then I cut the breasts into strips or chunks against the grain of the muscle, and batter them up, throw them in the fry daddy, and when done I cover them in sweet and sour sauce (I get mine at a local chineese food restraunt) and serve with rice. This is one of my favorite meals, no one will ever belive they are eating divers when processed and cooked this way.

Also, divers make some of the best fajitas you will ever eat (if soaked in saltwater first)

Happy Eating,

Aaron

FrogPond · 11-19-2003, 02:29 PM

All of our duck gets boned & frozen in bulk. After the season is over we take all of them to the meat shop and get peperoni/summer sausage made. You see if you mix enough pork fat and spices with anything it will be edible. Good stuff, especially sitting in a duck blind the next year!

Conn · 11-20-2003, 08:51 AM

If you kill it, you gotta eat it, or at leat make an attempt. Spoonies taste like crap, but you gotta make an attempt.

Our motto is don't shoot em, but on a slow day it can be tough to hold back, even tougher when you miss and those little rocket scientists with wings swing back around to find out what all the fuss was about. Then they have to be shot just out of pricipal.

Not the brightest bird in the flock.