Dream Destinations
10 Spots to Hunt Ducks and Geese in North America
By Will Brantley
AFTER YOU HAVE SPENT a few seasons in the blind, you will begin recognizing some universal aspects of waterfowling. No matter where you are, whistling wings in the predawn, the sour blend of swamp mud and cordite, and the excited clucks of a big Canada goose dropping into the decoys become familiar.
But for all its similarities, perhaps the greatest joy of waterfowl hunting, especially when compared to other types of hunting, is the variety of experiences you can have depending on where you are enjoying the sunrise. Watching a white-tailed deer walk toward your stand is essentially the same, whether you’re in Georgia or Kansas. The same can’t be said for greenheads in timber and sea ducks on the coast.
The ducks and geese themselves go a long way in creating unique opportunities, but the setting is the glue that makes a hunt complete. It’s the combination of must-see places and the waterfowl that create legendary hunting spots in every flyway. Here’s a look at 10 top North American destinations, two from each flyway, with a pair of wild cards to round out the list.
ATLANTIC FLYWAY
Maine Eiders
North America’s largest duck is perhaps best enjoyed with a side of lobster on some cold, rocky point with a lighthouse in the distant background. Common eiders winter in numbers off the coast of Maine, and hunting the big sea ducks here is a time-honored New England tradition. Drakes, which can weigh nearly 5 pounds, sport a striking, if not unusual, appearance, with their stark black and white contrast accentuated by a yellow bill and sloping brow. Eiders are infamous for decoying readily, even recklessly at times, to a spread of black-and-white fakes. They’re also notoriously tough, so bring plenty of shotgun shells.
Waterfowlers are typically allowed a limit of seven sea ducks in Maine, four of which can be eiders. Shooting generally takes place from rock points or layout boats. As such, if you don’t have big-water sea ducking experience, it’s best to rely on the expertise of a local guide.
Eastern Shore Geese
Maryland’s Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake Bay is arguably where the sport of American waterfowl hunting first took shape. Market hunters and their punt guns took untold numbers of canvasbacks and other waterfowl from the bay’s waters for the commercial market in years past.
Although it was in peril for some time, the duck hunting is good here again today — but the geese steal the show. Hundreds of thousands of wintering lesser Canada geese capture the attention of local and traveling waterfowl hunters every season. With miles of crop fields and the Chesapeake Bay providing the ideal mix of wintering habitat, this region is dotted with waterfowl clubs, many of which have been established for decades. Traveling hunters should have no trouble finding a guide with space in the blind for a few hundred dollars per day. When you’ve killed your limit of geese for the day — which often doesn’t take long — soak up a bit of waterfowl history with a trip to the Ward Museum in Salisbury, Md. You’ll find everything from antique guns, boats and decoys to modern, award-winning carvings.
MISSISSIPPI FLYWAY
Delta Specks
The greater white-fronted goose, generally called specklebelly or just speck by hunters, is a special bird that responds as dynamically to good calling as any other waterfowl species in the North America. Like turkey hunters, good speck hunters have learned to scout out flocks of the birds, set spreads specifically for them and carry on a dialogue with working geese. It’s not uncommon for a specklebelly to answer a hunter’s calls, note for note, until it commits to decoys. Best of all, a young specklebelly might be the tastiest of all waterfowl.
Pinning down the best specklebelly location in the southern Mississippi Flyway is tough. Specks are drawn to rice fields, and such agriculture is found throughout the Mississippi River Delta. By the numbers, Louisiana hunters shoot the most white-fronted geese, but Arkansas and southeast Missouri are coming on strong.
Arkansas Timber Mallards
Yes, this one is a cliché, but you know, clichés occur for a reason. Surfers crave the ultimate wave, while skiers long for the perfect powder. To a timber hunter, thoughts of greenheads at 5 yards and volleys of gunfire resonating through a flooded southern bottomland create sleepless nights, beginning a month or so before duck season opens.
Sure, there are places to hunt flooded timber other than Arkansas, but Stuttgart is atop the list. A combination of private clubs that pump water into the bottomland hardwoods combined with natural flooding from the White and Cache rivers creates an oasis for wintering mallards. Some of the best timber hunting is public, too, most notably the Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area.
CENTRAL FLYWAY
Saskatchewan Prairie Freelancing
Before most waterfowl seasons even open in the states, the hunting is red-hot in Prairie Canada. Hiring a guide is no doubt the easiest way to get in on this early-season opportunity, but a do-it-yourself freelance hunt is on any intrepid waterfowler’s list. Southern Saskatchewan is the first area that comes to mind.
Logistically speaking, it isn’t an easy trip to make from the United States. You’ll be hunting a mixture of dry fields and small wetlands for both ducks and geese, so you’ll need plenty of decoys — both floaters and full-bodies, in addition to layout blinds, waders, blind bag, gun, etc. Most Canada-bound freelancers pool their resources and haul a trailer full of gear across the border in a four-wheel drive.
Plan on at least a week, because you’ll burn time scouting. Bring the tools to cook ducks, otherwise you’re likely to find yourself holding a full possession limit after three hunts. Chances are a Canadian farmer will welcome you to shoot the birds off his grain field — he might even invite you inside for dinner. Take him up on his offer, because making a few friends on the prairie can lead to great hunting for years to come. The ducks and geese won’t have much plumage by this time, but expect them to commit to decoys in numbers.
Gulf Coast Trophies
If a Canadian prairie hunt in October is for numbers, a trip to the Gulf Coast in January is for the trophies. Many ducks are in full plumage by the time they reach this southern wintering area, and the hunter searching for prime specimens for the wall (in addition to plenty of shooting) should look to the coast. Inland freshwater areas, many of which are managed for waterfowl, offer great chances at pintails, wigeon, green-winged teal and blue-winged teal in full breeding regalia.
Mottled and whistling ducks, both fulvous and black-bellied versions, live here, too. If you desire a prime redhead, look to the salty shores of the Laguna Madre, where they winter by the thousands. Texas isn’t usually thought of a great public-land hunting state, but there are some excellent WMAs in coastal Texas managed for waterfowl hunters.
PACIFIC FLYWAY
Alaska Sea Ducks
Harlequins, Barrow’s goldeneyes, oldsquaws, scoters, king eiders — these aren’t ducks you can shoot just anywhere. Each species is so striking in appearance that perhaps a glacial backdrop is most fitting. A hunt along the Alaska coastline might be the most financially taxing trip on the list (the plane ticket alone might cost a thousand bucks from the Lower 48), but ask anyone who’s ever made the hunt if it’s worth the coin, and you’ll no doubt get a resounding “yes.”
Sea duck hunting in Alaska typically takes place in November and December (even later in some areas), although you won’t have many daylight hours to burn in the heart of winter. Obviously, the Alaska coastline is huge, but most sea duck guides operate in the southern portion of the state, often near Valdez.
California Central Valley
Like Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the Central Valley is a region with rich waterfowling club traditions. It is rice country with a mild climate, and wintering ducks and geese find it quite appealing. The duck hunter success rate, when measured in birds-per-hunter figures, is also consistently higher here than it is anywhere else in the country, at around 28 ducks per hunter, per season in 2008 and 2009, according to the Migratory Bird Hunting Activity and Harvest survey conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That’s a better average than hunters from either Louisiana or Arkansas.
Green-winged teal make up the bulk of the duck harvest for California waterfowlers, but the Central Valley is renowned as the spot to hunt wigeon (including the occasional Eurasian variety), pintails and cinnamon teal. California hunters shoot quite a few specklebellies, too.
WILD CARDS
Delta Marsh Divers
Tens of thousands of waterfowl stage in the marsh along the southern shore of Lake Manitoba — puddle ducks and geese included — but the diver hunting is second to none. At the right time, hunters can expect full limits of canvasbacks, redheads and bluebills in a classic hunting location that has hosted renowned writers, movie stars and sports legends — and was the birthplace of Delta Waterfowl.
Expect to reach your hunting area via skiff or canoe, because motorized boats aren’t allowed in the marsh. Most hunting is conducted from shoreline vegetation.
Missouri Snow Geese
Although the duck decoys and waders are likely stored by the end of January, there’s still opportunity to experience one of the most spectacular sights in all of waterfowling. Snow geese swarm crop fields in the Central and Mississippi flyways en route to their spring breeding grounds near the Arctic Circle, and hunters lucky enough to be in the right spread on the right day may bear witness to a snow “tornado” spiraling down upon them.
A spring snow goose hunt isn’t for the lazy — you’ll need to build a spread of a thousand decoys, maybe more, and the comfort level of a layout blind in a muddy wheat field will decrease as the day wears on. But should you get a chance to shoulder your gun on the white tornado and have a few hundred geese in easy range, you’ll be glad you’re there.
Will Brantley of Murray, Ky., has traveled to many of North America’s finest waterfowling haunts.