Does anyone here use the hang whole method(in a cooler) for several days before cleaning and plucking?
I am trying it with a few ducks we shot yesterday. Hope it makes a tendered and less gamely tasting bird.

I've never done it but keep us posted. I'm interested.

Never done it, heard of it. What would be the benefit to the alternative?

" Guy" on here use to put them in a Fridge whole for several days.. Cant remember how he said it turned out....PM him..I wouldbnt trust a cooler to keep a constant temp.....

Do you gut them first?

No gut just hang by the neck. They still do it this way in Europe.
And the cooler is a commercial walk in cooler ath 35 degrees.

I have eaten pheasant that was done this way and it was tenderer but I couldn't tell a taste difference. But a pheasant is pretty tasty anyway.

I leave them whole on there backs without gutting them for a week in the fridge. Seems a little less gamey. I would have thought it would have spoiled but my friends and I have ate many ducks over the last 3 yrs nobody has gotten sick. I've done 10 days that still was good but let 2 set 12 days one time and they smelled bad so didn't eat them. Try doing the hanging for 7 days see if it helps. I know it won't hurt. I'm not sure if 35 degrees might be to cold.
I read in sports and stream that best deer storage was around 43 degrees.

I can pluck one in one minute after the wings have been cut off.

This works just fine. One week in garage beer fridge breast side up.
You can breast them easier, they taste better to me and you can wax them pretty easy too if you like them whole

If it's in the 40s I will hang them like described in my shaded garage for several hours. Sometimes I won't clean them until after my nap. For divers it seems to make the skin easier to peal off the breast and the meat seems to be way more tender.

Another option after you breast the bird is to soak it in a carbonated beverage, it will pull some of the blood out of the breast. Additionally I have been taught that if you freeze the meat quickly it causes the cappilaries to pop and thus the gamely/liver flavor, so we always run ours for hours in the carbonated beverage bath, changing liquid when needed, ie. it will foam at first, when it sptops change it. fridge or before freezing.

just what we do,

All the above sound fantastic! Wish I had time to bag enough birds yet this season to try 'em all!

My friend's Cajun godfather left the whole bird in cooler for a couple days, then plucks whole bird, dips in boiling water to loosen or singe-off remaining down, guts, washes, let's sit another day in cooler, then cooks(oil half-way up bird in pot, then flips for other side) entire bird with skin on. He claims this is the "only" way to prepare duck because the meat has no gamey-ness and tender/juicy as can be.

Personally haven't tried it because the preparation takes 50x longer than breasting it out and making delicious bacon jalapeno raps for the grill

WISH i COULD SHOOT SO MANY.