# Diver hunters



## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

bheary said:


> The scoters I have had tasted pretty damn good


We ate all of our Maine Eiders too. After a year in the freezer not so good, gumbo saved the day.


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## UplandnWaterfowl (Jan 3, 2010)

ice ghost said:


> What's your favorite call for diver hunting?


One of my favorite jokes, what do you call a person that speaks two languages (bi-ligulal), three languages (tri-lingual), one language (American). Same with waterfowl hunting, to think every duck sounds like a mallard and will respond to a mallard call is not understanding the waterfowl world.

Go to this site http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-id/# and listen to even how different the dabbling ducks sound like the wood duck and Teal. Then listen to the divers like the bluebill and redhead, how would you make that sound on a mallard call.

That is why I have several different calls, like a specific wood duck call that in early season in flooded timber is very effective. Have had guys laugh at me until they see the woodies diving into our spread.

For diver hunting I "never" us a call. Because like their different calls the also have different flight heights, mallards come in high and circle, that is why a good caller can make them land. Divers are usually very low on the water and will sit down immediately when seeing other divers, no chatter, just visual. That is why layout boats work for divers and not for mallards, mallards would see the boat and flare, divers don't see the layout until it is to late. That is also why layout hunters put out huge (100's of decoys) spreads and flag, divers are visual. Also why I can hunt with only a dozen mallard decoys, very well hid and some good calling.

Yes there are some diver calls you can purchase, spend that money instead on decoys, flags or floating spinners, that will get you better results.

Don't think you have to have perfect flocked head decoys for divers. To expand my diver setup I took 6 dozen old cheap mallard decoys that I was not using anymore and just spray painted them solid black. Will have 100's of bluebill and can's set out and sure enough they will sit down right in the middle of the rattle can all black mallards. Again, visual, look at a raft of divers offshore on an overcast day (the type of day you are usually diver hunting) they look like a bunch of black blobs floating in the waves.


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

I have only heard a diver "talk" once in my life. That was a hen bluebill that came into the spread when we were NOT paying attention. She was lucky. 

She made only little "purr" sound just before she set in.


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## nichola8 (Oct 7, 2013)

As stated some are better than others, some I prefer plain jane, others I lather in marinade or toss em in fajitas or make gyros. I eat everything I shoot and don't pass up even a coot. A few years ago we shot a couple coots and mergs while diver hunting, I breasted them out cut them into small pieces, marinated overnight in teriyaki sauce, wrapped em in bacon threw them on the grill. Wife brought them to work the next day for a Christmas party, she reheated them in oven before she headed in......it was the first dish to get gobbled up. Mind you I have experimented with recipes, I wont cook an old squaw breast without marination again like I would a teal. You just gotta play around with recipes.


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## Grampski (Jan 28, 2015)

ice ghost said:


> Thanks


had a chef tell me years ago to soak the meat say merganser in heavy whipping cream over night and it takes the bad taste out. I've done it and served it to guys at work who didn't know what they ate until I told them..Well crock pot full of grilled BBQ duck breast and none left


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## wavie (Feb 2, 2004)

UplandnWaterfowl said:


> That is why layout boats work for divers and not for mallards, mallards would see the boat and flare, divers don't see the layout until it is to late.


Not necessarily true. Around Sandusky bay they target mallards/blacks and other puddlers using layout boats, just like diver hunting and do exceptionally well.


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## RiverLarry2 (Nov 1, 2012)

The biggest improvement I've made in the taste of ducks, including divers, is to get a Thermopen or Thermopop meat thermometer and cook the bird to no more than 135 degrees, maybe even a bit less. Medium rare is the optimum temperature for ducks especially if you breast them out. 

I hear all this talk about how bad buffies taste. I now live near the end of the Atlantic flyway in South Carolina. Buffies are the primary quarry for diver hunting. They feed in the salt water marsh on all the things that should make them taste "fishy." I grill them simply with olive oil, salt and pepper to 135 degrees. They are great. 

Overcooking is the great crime of wild game cuisine.


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## SteelShot (Jan 26, 2011)

RiverLarry2 said:


> Overcooking is the great crime of wild game cuisine.


So true. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## DaveG (Jun 14, 2016)

S


SteelShot said:


> So true.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Similar to above recipe- cut into bite size pieces, marinade in Italian dressing for 3-4 days, wrap in bacon with toothpick, put on grill. Fantastic. Daughter took some to school for lunch and said her girl friends were begging for more.


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

DecoySlayer said:


> I have only heard a diver "talk" once in my life. That was a hen bluebill that came into the spread when we were NOT paying attention. She was lucky.
> 
> She made only little "purr" sound just before she set in.


DS: remember when the bluebill limit went to one bird/day after a certain date in November? Well I can tell you they are very vocal grunting, croaking and scauping. I was in a layout boat and there must have been 50 inside of 20 yards. Hell they were 6 feet from my boat. They must have been fresh not afraid in the least.


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## blklab (Jan 5, 2011)

That's the most bills ive ever saw on the American side of lsc back then. Thousands rafted up by the shore of metro. But then there was only two or three people hunting divers then.


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## UplandnWaterfowl (Jan 3, 2010)

DaveG said:


> S
> 
> Similar to above recipe- cut into bite size pieces, marinade in Italian dressing for 3-4 days, wrap in bacon with toothpick, put on grill. Fantastic.


Half cook bacon first on stove (will over cook duck otherwise to get bacon done) also add a slice of water chestnut on both sides of toothpick to hold bacon, adds a nice crunch without detracting from the bacon/duck flavor.


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## walter sniper (Jan 21, 2010)

UplandnWaterfowl said:


> Half cook bacon first on stove (will over cook duck otherwise to get bacon done) also add a slice of water chestnut on both sides of toothpick to hold bacon, adds a nice crunch without detracting from the bacon/duck flavor.


Add a chunk of pepper jack cheese and a little bbq sauce


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

Jerry Lamb said:


> DS: remember when the bluebill limit went to one bird/day after a certain date in November? Well I can tell you they are very vocal grunting, croaking and scauping. I was in a layout boat and there must have been 50 inside of 20 yards. Hell they were 6 feet from my boat. They must have been fresh not afraid in the least.


That must have been during a time when I was not living around here. I don't recall a drop in limits like that.

I don't doubt what your heard, I just have never heard it, even when there were a lot of birds in my blocks. I think it would be fun to hear.


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

DecoySlayer said:


> That must have been during a time when I was not living around here. I don't recall a drop in limits like that.
> 
> I don't doubt what your heard, I just have never heard it, even when there were a lot of birds in my blocks. I think it would be fun to hear.


It was 10-15 years ago when the bluebill population crashed. 2 birds through October switched to 1 bird


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

I don't remember that. Part timers disease maybe?


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## population control (Apr 18, 2009)

Mergs make a grrr sound. I turn them all the time with my mouth calling. I think it’s the sound they make choking perch down. LOL!!!!


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## walter sniper (Jan 21, 2010)

I remember points system and 3 duck limit in late 80’s. The big drought of 88’ really killed prairie production.


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## Shupac (Apr 17, 2005)

population control said:


> Mergs make a grrr sound. I turn them all the time with my mouth calling. I think it’s the sound they make choking perch down. LOL!!!!


To me they sound like a mallard with a cold.


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