3 day Cooking School

Join us in the heart of the Texas coastal rice country where the birds are what they eat. Spend the weekend enjoying some of the finest waterfowl hunting in the state and experiencing award-winning cuisine by visiting Chef Hank Shaw, an expert in preparing mouth-watering dishes featuring the birds you will shoot.
You will begin your weekend by getting settled into our comfortable lodge Thursday evening where we will feast on a fine Texas meal.Our host, Larry Robinson,will discuss the scouting reports to determine where we will hunt, as well as give you background on the area and the birds you can expect to see. We have 19 farms encompassing 45,000 acres of prime waterfowl habitat.
Friday morning will start early with a hearty breakfast and then off to the fields we go!Depending on scouting reports from the previous night, we will either set up in one of our duck properties, or we will set a goose spread in either a rice or corn field. There is also the possibility that we will split up and do both. You can help with decoy set-up and rag spreads, or sit back and drink coffee in the blind until the shooting begins. After the hunt, we will return to the lodge for another hearty meal (yes, we work up a ferocious appetite when we hunt) and begin the process of learning how to get the most out of our harvest, using everything on the duck except the quack.
James Beard Award winning-writer, cookbook author and cook Hank Shaw will show you how to pluck, gut and prep your birds for the table, and will give you new tips, tricks and ideas on how to use the whole bird, from beak to feet. You’ll get to see some of those tricks in action at Friday night’s dinner. You can certainly count on some perfectly cooked duck breasts, but there will be a whole lot more, too.
Saturday will begin with another fantastic day of waterfowl hunting, lunch, and seminar led by Hank. There is an opportunity for an additional hunt, our “Cast and Blast” on beautiful Matagorda Bay in the afternoon. (There is an additional fee for the bay boat and fishing guide.)Saturday evening will showcase a feast of Hank’s award winning recipes, many from his latest cookbook Duck, Duck, Goose: Recipes and Techniques for Cooking Ducks and Geese, both Wild and Domesticated. And if conditions cooperate, you will have the opportunity to be taken to some of the most beautiful ranch land for an exciting feral hog hunt after dinner. This is truly a fantastic way to end your last night!
Sunday morning will be your final waterfowl hunt, followed by a sendoff lunch of more wild game and fish.