VIDEO: How to Gut a Duck

I know we're smack in the middle of "Not Duck Season," but I've finally edited the third in a series of videos about cleaning wild ducks.

This video features Hunt, Gather, Cook author Hank Shaw demonstrating how to gut a duck, saving the wings, gizzard, heart and liver, as well as the feet (for stock) and fat (for rendering). To see the "How to Pluck a Duck" video, go here.

If you have sea ducks or other waterfowl that have an off taste, try skinning them - the flavor (and aroma) lives in the fat and skin. The skinning video is here.

And yes, I know it's easier to breast out your ducks, but you're wasting half the meat when you do that. Want proof? Read this.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012

'I need to kill something' - a column for Shotgun Life

Oh, bad, bad me - I've gone and written a provocative headline again.

So what's this one about?

There are things hunters will say to each other that they won't say to most non-hunters because they know fellow hunters understand what they mean.

Today's column in Shotgun Life is about what it really means when I say, "I need to kill something." Hint: Killing is entirely secondary.

If you're on LinkedIn and a member of its Hunters and Anglers group, you can join a discussion on the topic (oh yeah, I've already been chastised for writing this piece). Or you can leave a comment on the Shotgun Life page via Facebook.

© Holly A. Heyser 2012