With duck season upon us it’s time to dig deep into the archives for fine gourmet dining!
Brace of mallards from today’s Opening Day Montana hunt.
When I first moved to Montana in 1979, we all knew Russell Chatham. My pal Chuck Kneib tied flies for him. I traded some of my collectible fly rods with him for his artwork. Russ was (is) a great artist, author, world class fly caster and a gourmet chef. 
Me and John Wright (JDub) would spend most of the Fall and Winter chasing ducks and freezing our butts and loading Winchester AA trap 12 ga. duck shot. The thing we liked best when it was over was oven roasted mallards dipped in a wine sauce concocted by Russ himself. Never have tasted anything this good.
So before this recipe gets lost forever in the dust or accidently ends up in the wastebasket…here it is from 1979!
Chatham Duck Sauce
1 part fresh lemon juice
1 part Worcestershire sauce
2 parts red wine (your choice)
1 spoonful currant jelly
dash of cayenne
bruised garlic cloves
a little butter
mix all this together and simmer at low heat
pre-heat oven to 500 deg.
disable all the smoke alarms
rub ducks with olive oil, salt & pepper
stuff loosely with apple & lemon wedges
grease shallow, flat baking pans
bake ducks for 25 or 30 minutes
pull the ducks out of the oven just before the fire dept. shows up
use sauce at table for dipping pieces of duck
serve with wild rice and wine
Dig in!