From my own experience, ruddy ducks have been the hardest to pluck of any species I have plucked. Their feathers seem like they are super glued in place.
Good ole fashioned elbow grease. I'm dry plucking by hand. When I get an area plucked and the under down feathers are still present, I'm rubbing my thumb forcefully across the skin to pull the down feathers. I'm gonna end up with arthritis one day if I don't come up with something that will...
lastly a picture of all the legs from the birds harvested along with the above ruddy. Don't know if this fully fits the OP's initial question for sure but here it is FWIW
so here's both sides of the ruddy breast. As you can see no off color in the skin or on the breast anywhere. I use a mini fridge as an aging chamber that holds about 10 to 12 at a time single stacked.
My birds go straight in a small fridge right after the hunt. No gutting, no plucking, nothing. Whole bird as it was when I picked it up off the water. I'm in Florida so my weather is much warmer on average. Birds stay in the boat til the hunt is done then straight home to the fridge. I've posted...
A lot to agree with here. Its very likely that ruddy's on one coast taste different than their cousins on the other coast. And everything in between. Palates have definitely changed I've only had one Can so my test volume is thin on that discussion. Ruddy's come regular down here and I've...
If you're highlighting the somewhat horizontal lines in that circle I'm gonna say thats just small strips of fat laying in the striations of the muscle. I can be wrong possibly.
Late to the party on this one. "absolutely Positively Gundog training" by Robert Milner of Duckhill Kennels. Clicker training gundog program that he developed