Dabbling duck VS Divers

[ElkStalkR]

I killed one goldeneye and one mallard this morning so I did an experiment this evening.
Plucked the birds and breasted them out but left the plucked skin on.

Then seasoned them and grilled them to medium rare. I kept track of which bird was which but neither my wife nor I could taste a difference. Both tasted good and we agreed we would eat it like that again. The goldeneye was a little tougher that was the only difference.

IMO the divers aren’t worth eating story is a load of nonsense. Honestly sans common mergansers I’ve never had bad eating experiences with divers.

 

[makeithappen]

It may be true for some divers, but i wouldn't recommend trying that with a merganser... even when made into fajita strips, the after taste was there.

 

[Perplexed]

I thought this was going to be a story of a duck going after some scuba divers.

 

[bink98xcab]

Hooded merganser and Ruddy ducks are 2 birds I'll never try again. The iron taste was so strong in the ruddy,it was horrible. And the oily meat in the merganser just doesn't even smell right.

 

[meatGrinder]

I couldn't even get the merganser in my mouth. The entire house smelled so rotten and I tried, lord knows I tried to put it in my pie hole. I couldn't do it.

 

[ElkStalkR]

Hooded mergansers taste just fine IMO

Common mergansers are not meant for human consumption. I’ve tried several times and they are nothing but dog food.

The common merganser is the only duck I have not been able to make palatable.

 

[Dorkus]

Both tasted good

Now we know you are lying. Haha, duck is horrible but I like to shoot them.

 

[Dorkus]

I am pretty fortunate because I have neighbors that have friends who love duck. Every duck I shoot, they get. So I keep below possession limits and never have to eat one. They will even take geese too which is nice.

 

[Okie4570]

Leaving the skin on makes all the difference in the world imo. Common mergansers are nothing more that sea gull or a crow imo lol. Never eaten a goldeneye but have eaten plenty of redheads, canvasbacks and shovelers and they're no different than a mallard or a wigeon. Teal are still the best though.

 

[meatGrinder]

I'll go with
1. Wood Duck
2. GWT
3. Mallard