The Waters Edge: Waterfowl in Alaska | S1E03 | MeatEater

on this hunt i'm heading to the pristine wetlands of north central alaska to chase ducks but even in this remote wilderness you still have to play a careful game if you want to outsmart some of the best tasting bird meat in the country i think ourselves ones that are giving us a stink eye from back that way i'm stephen runella to me hunting isn't only about the pursuit of an animal it's about who we are and what we're made of it's about sustenance it's survival it's about connecting to the land it's about the purity of the challenge it's about life in each and every one of us there is a primal instinct to hunt and consume i live to hunt and hunt to live i am [Music] right outside of fairbanks alaska is a massive wetlands complex known as minto flats you have to take a float plane or a very long boat ride to get there but it is well worth it this is one of the richest waterfowl habitats in the northern boreal forest i consider myself a big game hunter but a good old-fashioned duck hunt is a nice change of pace mallards in particular are great eating but there are plenty of other species up here as well i was invited here by my friend brant mikesel steve's here who is a waterfall biologist currently working this region on a study of avian influenza his methods involve trapping ducts recording biometric data and testing them for the virus [Music] brand what's happening steve what's up man good to see you welcome any birds around yeah there's a few others a lot of swans flying around a ton of delta you're dealt with the dog what's up what's up she's ready to go she's been waiting for you [Music] the first thing on our agenda is to scout for locations [Music] when it comes to duck hunting you need to be location specific from blinds to decoys everything needs to be worked out in detail in order for you to be successful the best way to scout out here in minto flats is simple you cruise around in a boat and look for big gangs of dogs here goes more and more unbelievable there is a ton of birds back here right off we see a massive bunch of mallards hanging out at one end of the lake but we decided to save the mallards for the morning since we'll get a lot more action if we have a full day to work in a different spot we notice a bunch of diver duck activity this is where we want to be for tonight's hunt we should definitely hunt here that's a good spot to set up i'm hopeful that i can bag my first blue bill i've never gotten one and i've always wanted to go down there we'll probably just start like that and then we'll work it in for thick enough to hide us but then not so thick that you can't look out of it like some little looking holes you know [Music] we'll be shooting you'll be wondering how that patch of grass is making so much noise it looks good i think it'll play for sure put some decoys out this way in kind of a u that'll be the blockers then we'll put a little wad out of the edge of this point so you're trying to make a pocket for birds land exactly oh that looks good so ducky how's the blind look han i'll use that bad it'll work [Music] so when you're calling if you see a duck bee lining toward you dad don't touch it you don't touch it no if they're coming why mess with perfection they're coming yeah oh yeah we just got burned see we're sitting here talking about killing ducks and missing chances of killed up like tomorrow your priority's crooked right here let's see when take him oh i didn't have to change it all the way close it's an old duck hunting trick right there no bird delta i gotta say this is the only moment since i've been here when you could not look and see a bird it's so right now brant and i set up on these ducks and what we thought was a sweet spot but so far we haven't had any luck yeah if nothing else we should just move our exact setup back to that taller grass that looks way better we're just a little further away yeah i'm feeling a lot better about this setup actually we're sitting pretty we got a little over two hours there you go come on right in take them pick them good shooting steve get out the back that's a nice blue bell there yeah that played out well one of the hardest things to explain about hunting is the joy you get when you bag your first animal of a species it's like a first kiss but better and in 50 years maybe i'll be sitting around going oh yeah minto flats i got my first blue bill there what are you looking at you want some biology yeah give me some bile laying on me please this is a greater scot female a good way to tell a greater scot from the lesser scott is the white on the secondaries in the primaries and on a greater it extends all the way out on a lesser it stops about here is that right it goes to gray you like that kind of duck they're a good duck there's couple where you looking get ready get ready take em take em take em take em nice shot oh man you're kidding me that was a sweet you should've had that bird man [Applause] there you go come on turn the corners take them got the heel i feel like i lead too much cause never happens oh this could be good [Music] turned into a pretty good little evening here man good little diver shoot even though we didn't have a ton of time to get set up and really hit it brant and i still managed to bring in eight ducks a great start to the trip and we're not done yet oh bird bird we got shooting night got about a minute widget you got to shoot that again sit come on you got a shell don't shoot my dog it's out the back steve keep an eye on it i'm gonna go grab the boat yeah so hopefully we retrieve this bird come on bran that bird's out of sight now so the thing i'm gonna do is i'm gonna jump in with bran so i can guide him to where it disappeared [Music] he's way out we'll find him by far losing wounded birds is the worst part of duck hunting yeah i think he's gone man day's done despite losing the bird we still had a great night we got a few diver ducks in the boat and most importantly we didn't blow our mallard spot tomorrow morning we're gonna get set up super early and be waiting for him [Music] might as well just bail it with film canister man on to we get up way before light to head out and set up in the dark so we're tucked away in waiting when those mallards come in for their morning feed get out there too late and we can kiss our sweet spot goodbye [Music] you pinching that hole sitting on it are you maybe oh come on baby you gotta be kidding me brant and i were on our way to our prime mallard spot but the engine of our boat froze up wouldn't be duck on without a motor not working in the morning now while we should be setting up our decoys we're working on an outboard engine which is not why i got up hours before daylight is that a lot of ice inside that filter like that's the separated water freezing up in there yeah let's take that apart let's go we finally get the fuel filter de-ice and start moving just in time the sun is starting to peek over the horizon definitely a lot of birds flying this is my favorite part of duck hunt man birds buzzing around in the dark in the morning [Music] mine looks good man yeah i think it's gonna be good we rushed to get set up and ended up putting our blind in a spot where we'll be standing in shin deep ice water all morning not ideal but we're committed now and we need to make it work man who thought sitting in ice water be so cold i like it makes me feel that one with the swamp birds falling backward i know it's a major missed opportunity man it's gonna take me 15 minutes to quit being depressed about that just till the next lot comes in no they'll be depressed about that one no cause that one's gonna work out good one o'clock one o'clock good girl oh that's a nice bird there curly tails and all i get excited every time i see a drake mallard these things just look awesome and they taste even better that's a bird yeah that's a beautiful dough man my seat is slowly getting lower and lower to the point where i can't quite find it drop my ear plug in the water and i gotta do do the old wet willy man that's awful oh man it's cold [Music] she's been some fallen birds i definitely missed my hair on that one i'll say it keep making mistakes standing up missing birds we call that b.a.h bad at hunting [Music] i was always under the impression that b.a.h was bad ass hunter bad at honey yeah bird oh good shot now delta's happy good shoe steve i think he might have got tag teamed on that shoot in there that's tonight's dinner good girl good girl yeah all right that's some good eating there that's the eater man nice fatty breast go ahead yep get up drake mallard good work we're getting somewhere now that was good stuff oh look at that jewelry got a band abandoned bird banded green head is that your van that's not necessarily my behan oh really it could have come from anywhere like how much of the national picture we have of what birds do i mean how much of that has come from the banding program it's an amazing tool and we learn things about migration we learn things about survival rates harvest rates and hunters really play an important role in that that's a beautiful bird [Music] butterballs man man hey steve try blowing on your duck haul don't know what's fake let's focus on good eating birds yeah i almost feel bad for those ducks now they're so trusting [Music] i officially do not see any mallards right now maybe we should call today do some bird cleaning no it's been a great morning shoot yeah you're gonna do some of your testing on them yeah we'll uh sample all these birds for avian influenza good that'll make me feel good man like we were doing more than just hunting we were doing science science we ended up with about a dozen ducks it was a great successful day and now it's time to head home and enjoy some fine dining i want to get in there and start plucking ducks but first brandt needs to take some samples for his ongoing study you need to do some testing on these birds yep we're going to sample all of them for avian influenza avian influenza same thing you hear like on the newest bird flu everything that we sample first is screened for h5n1 that hasn't turned up in any of these birds it hasn't yet but what we're really researching here is low pathogenic avian influenza it's not the asian bird flu it's not really harmful to humans it's really common in waterfowl so we sample for h5n1 then we ask other questions fitness effects infection rates duration of infection that sort of thing so for you that's vile number ten thousand or something it's up there while brant keeps working through the pile of ducks i pick out a couple for dinner and start plucking no you're an old duck hunter do you know the trick about how to get the tendons out of the legs how's that cut just through the skin you want a real sharp knife when you get just through the skin start loosening that joint up and you'll see all your tendons so get it like that and i'm hooking the tendons then pull and pull the tendons right out there i got a little meat too but that doesn't matter cause that winds up making that leg like way tender and super good my plan is to cook these ducks in a way that doesn't require anything but a sharp knife and even if you didn't have a knife you could probably use your teeth and get it done i could roast this duck whole on a spit just turning it turning and turning it but i don't want to have to turn it so much i want to be able to cook one side cook the other side so to do that i want to just flatten it out you hear called spatchcock you see like in mexico street vendors you know they'll cook chicken just opened up along the back and laid flat so all i'm doing is spatchcocking this bird comes down to splitting it down the spine so i'm gonna cut through the flesh i'm gonna come in cut the brass bone okay that dog's gonna cook like that once i get my birds prepped the next step is to make a cooking rack i like to use green willow it's easy to work with and resist catching on fire the willows will support the duck meat over the flames i want the skin to crisp up but i need to keep the bird high enough that the flames don't flare up and burn the fat and you kind of gotta tend it and watch you don't get a big greasy flare-up [Music] brain this thing's ready yep that looks legit that's really good a lot of flavor a lot of juices i got pellet my first bite you get to kiss the cook in this case it doesn't work out that great no it doesn't man that stuff is good that is amazing oh i'll repel it no kidding so we tag team that bird the thing is the pellet i had came out of the breast his came out of the tail [Laughter] so what do you think of minto flats man it's a tough spot to get to but the ducks taste good and if your work helps lead to the preservation of ducks and i think it's worthwhile and i'll be glad to know that you're out here figuring out what's up with these wonderful ducks because ducks are worth having around worked pretty hard what do you think she gets a little chunk of fat i think she should get some fat and some meat [Music] i think she liked it good good stuff she did good she deserved it man this trip just goes to show you don't always need to hike miles and miles into the mountains to find great adventure and while ducks may be considered small game by some the rewards are anything but small in fact they're huge ducks let you gather around the fire and eat amazing grub against mind-blowing backdrops not a bad way to spend a weekend you

Channel: MeatEater

Views: 1,418,840

Keywords: MeatEater, meat eater, season 1, steve rinella, steven rinella, hunting, waterfowl, duck hunting, alaska, waterfowl hunting, cooking waterfowl, wild game cooking, wildgame cooking, wild game, wildgame, conservation, Brandt Meixell, remote trip, Alaska Wetlands, wetlands, MeatEater Season 1, MeatEater Season 1 Episode 3, Episode 3, Ep. 3, decoys, retriever, willow-spit roasted whole duck, duck

Id: l_EzZPqswXM

Length: 22min 13sec (1333 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 10 2020