I went duck hunting this weekend for the first time. It was AWESOME. I got myself 1 Teal, 1 Wigeon, and 1 Pintail. Here is a pictorial guide on how to properly clean a duck and remove the breast meat.
1.
Go hunting and get some ducks. The limit here is 6 but I have a couple from my fellow hunters since one guy just feeds his to his pigs anyhow. This is a mix of Teal (Best Eating), Wingtail (Second Best), Mallard (Third Best), Wigeon (about the same as the Mallard), and Mottled (Behind all the others).
2.
This is the Green Wing Teal Duck. This is what I will be using in the first set of photos.
3.
Take your thumbs and press them against the breasts. Tear outward towards the wings and the skin will literally rip apart with little to no force, and the skin will come right away from the breast meat.
4.
Make sure to pull the skin away all the way to the side of the breasts, down to the wings. This will make for easy removal once cut away from the breast bone.
5.
Make a slice down the center of the duck on the side of the breast bone that you wish to cut off first. This slice needs to be down towards the center of the duck, getting as much meat as possible.
6.
Continue cutting all the way towards the wing, pressing the knife against the rib cage to get as much meat as possible. On ducks such as the Teal, there is very little meat, but it’s tasty, so get as much as possible.
7.
Quack, Quack. This is a Mallard Duck with the yellow beak.
8.
This is what a larger duck, such as the Mallard, will look like after the larger breasts are removed. This is all I take from the duck, the carcass is then disregarded.
Thanks for reading, I’ll do my best to answer questions, but I’m still pretty new to this.