IF I COULD BE REINCARNATED, I’d come back as a used-car salesman,” Ramsey Russell says to me.

It’s 5 a.m., and we’re barreling down a dark highway in Obregon, Mexico. Russell, 53, is explaining how it would be easier to sell used cars than the international waterfowl hunts he deals with in his current gig as a booking agent (though he hates that term). I’m pretty sure he’s only half kidding.

“People go in to buy a car, and they know what they want,” he says. “Me, I’ve got to sell the experience.”

Later that morning, a handful of other writers,  some reps from Benelli, and I enjoy the most epic pintail shoot I’ll ever be a part of. Drakes in their breeding plumage, long sprigs trailing behind, float out of the clear-blue sky and cup into a decoy spread set along a tidal beach. Tucked into a mangrove blind, my hunting partner and I take turns shooting until we have our limits, then we sit back and watch the spectacle of teal, wigeon, pintails, redheads, and shorebirds whip down the shoreline. By the time we get picked up for lunch, we’re sold on the Ramsey Russell experience.

We’re here on the west coast of Mexico hunting wintering ducks thanks to Russell’s connection to Frank Ruiz, an outfitter who turned his family home into a hunting lodge.

Russell sends his clients to outfitters like Ruiz all over the world. Classic wingshooting destinations such as Mexico and Argentina are entry-level trips for Russell’s hunters. Think more exotic: shelducks in Mongolia, garganey in Azerbaijan, barnacle geese in the Netherlands, red-billed teal in South Africa. Russell hunts all of these destinations before he sends clients to them. 

Not all of his trips are  high-volume shoots like the one we experienced in Mexico. On an Alaska king eider hunt, for example, you shoot only a few ducks per day. What all of Russell’s hunts have in common, though, is that they are a blend of adventure travel and species-collecting expedition. 

And the trips are not as expensive as you might think. An average hunt costs about $6,000, which isn’t chump change, but it’s still cheaper than almost any international big-game hunt, Russell reasons on our drive back after the morning shoot. His mission is to create a passion (and a market) for adventure waterfowl hunting. He wants to foster a shift away from the posh international hunt clubs. 

“These are duck hunts for real duck hunters,” Russell says. “You’re not traveling around the world to smoke fat cigars and eat edible art. You’re going to hunt. If you want all that other shit, take your wife to Italy.”

Life Is Short

Like any great outfitter, guide, or booking agent, Russell can cut up with a group of new hunters as if they’re old buddies. He knows that if a hunt isn’t going well and tensions are high, a good joke or witty story can save the day. Over the years, he’s developed an arsenal of quips:

“My favorite duck is the next one over the decoys”—for when pintails aren’t working, but shovelers are dive-bombing into the decoys. 

“I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong”—for defusing an argument with a client.

“It’s like walking through the pages of National Geographic with a shotgun”—for selling the idea of a hunt in a far-flung destination.

Russell was born in Mississippi, where his grandpa taught him to love hunting and fishing. He was tagging along on dove hunts at 8 years old. Soon enough, he was immersed in the world of duck hunting Mississippi River backwaters. Then, when he was 15, Russell was nearly killed in a freak accident. He was cleaning a paintbrush with gasoline when a water-heater pilot light caught the fumes and erupted in a fiery explosion. Russell suffered second– and third-degree burns on three-quarters of his body, but he beat the 8 percent chance of survival the doctors gave him.

Most of us save the concept of “bucket-list trips” for the twilight of our hunting career. We’re only willing to roll the dice once we acknowledge that time is running out. But Russell faced his own mortality when he was a kid. During a long, torturous recovery, the teenager forged a saying that became his personal creed and would later become his business slogan: “Life is short, get ducks.”

Eventually, Russell earned a forestry degree and landed a job with the federal government. When he worked up enough scratch, he started traveling to hunt waterfowl in Canada and Argentina. He made his first international trip to Saskatchewan in 1998. 

Russell has the ideal temperament to captain a crew of duck hunters. He’s intense enough to make sure everyone brings their A-game (“Turn off the damn phone and play for keeps”), but he’s also experienced enough to know that the whole point of the thing is to have a good time—and he’s unabashed about his love for shooting ducks (“Hell yeah, shooting ducks is fun, and hell yeah, it’s conservation”). So, Russell had no problem recruiting buddies to go with him abroad. He started bringing so many other hunters along that an outfitter convinced him to open a part-time booking–agency business. Then, in 2010, Russell went full-time with his site, getducks.com.

Greenheads International

Russell has learned some straightforward lessons during his world travels: Don’t drink the milk in Pakistan, and keep your firearms documentation on your person when you go through customs in China. 

But the biggest takeaway cuts deeper, to the culture of American waterfowl hunting. Generally, we kill fewer ducks per hunt than you can almost anywhere else in the world, and yet we’re the ones obsessed with numbers.

That’s because the strict limits on how many ducks and how many of each species we can kill forces American waterfowlers to be careful counters. Each dead bird is one notch closer to a limit. A full limit means the end of the hunt, and complete success.

As Russell says: “It’s almost like if you only shoot three ducks, you lost. It’s made to feel like if you’re not killing a limit, you’re not having fun.”

Of course, these limits are good and necessary for conservation. In the U.S., we have much higher hunter-density numbers than in other parts of the world. There are about 1 million U.S. waterfowlers. In comparison, only a few hundred Americans travel to the Yaqi Valley in Mexico to hunt ducks each winter, according to Russell. Those few hundred hunters end up harvesting a statistically insignificant number of ducks, even if they’re bringing back a whole pile of birds each day.

In the rest of the world, waterfowl hunting for sport isn’t as common, and neither are limits or hunting pressure. In some corners of the world, you set your own limit. One of Russell’s hunts in Pakistan drives home the point.

He was invited by a feudal lord to hunt a sprawling marsh along the Indus River (one of the longest rivers in Asia, which serves as a major flyway). The lord had heard that the American was a crack shot, so he made his way down to the blind to watch. He gave Russell a few boxes of shells from his personal stash—German-made, 3-inch lead loads—and insisted that Russell take long shots that most American hunters would consider sky blasting. 

“If you want to hunt in Pakistan, you must shoot like a Pakistani,” the lord said. 

So, Russell started burning through shells, and once he got the long lead figured out, birds rained from the sky. Russell wasn’t counting but figures he killed more ducks that day than most American waterfowlers shoot in a season. Each bird was recovered diligently (meat doesn’t go to waste in Pakistan), and Russell was immersed in a totally different hunting culture. To the Pakistanis, the most important aspect of the hunt was shooting ability.

The upshot? You can’t travel halfway across the world and expect locals to have the same hunting values as you do. 

And over time, Russell’s clients have developed new hunting values.

“In the beginning, the number-one question clients would ask is, ‘How many ducks can I shoot?’” Russell says. “Now hardly anyone asks that. Now everyone wants to know which species are present and what the experience is going to be like.”

But no matter how far you travel, in many ways duck hunters are all the same. 

“Mallards are the big prize bird anywhere they exist in the world,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Mongolia or Missouri.” 

Many times, Russell hunts with locals who speak a different language from him. This minimizes the small talk, but they still communicate through hand signals and gestures in the duck hunter’s common language: Fix the hide, the ducks are flaring; tweak the spread, they’re not committing close enough; good shot, here come some more birds.

“You can put four people from anywhere in the world together in a blind, and they’ll have more in common than they’ll have differences, because they’re hunters.”

The Next Migration

On our last day in Mexico, we opt to hunt Pacific brant in a tidal flat of the Sea of Cortez. Shortly after sunrise, the birds beeline for our decoys, low and tight, flying like giant black teal in slow motion. After two volleys, Russell’s 9-year-old Lab, Cooper, has a pile of retrieving work to do. Cooper is a registered service dog, and she’s traveled the world  with Russell. This is the last big tour of her career. 

Next, we head to a backwater to hunt teal, and for the first time, Russell sets aside his shotgun. 

As we pick off teal one at a time, Cooper methodically plucks our birds out of the marsh. She needs no direction from Russell, and is mostly too deaf to hear him anyway. She retrieves because it’s in her blood. It’s what she’s always done.

Meanwhile, Russell contemplates the future of waterfowling. He plans to target millennials with his international duck-hunting trips. This demographic has proven willing to spend more on travel than any other expense. He’s banking on the idea that the groups of hardcore young guns you see patrolling the goose fields of every Midwest town will one day want to chase birds in Canada, Mexico, or Russia. 

Getting this next generation of hunters excited about waterfowling and conservation on a global scale, he hopes, will be his legacy. 

“Someday, I don’t want my headstone to read, ‘Here lies Ramsey Russell: One million dead ducks,’ ” Russell says. “There has to be more to it than that. Don’t you think?” 

This story originally ran in the Fall 2019 issue. Read more OL+ stories.

The post This Old-School Duck Slayer Is Opening New Hunting Opportunities Around the World for Americans appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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The landowner in the now-infamous “I own the f*cking land” video reached a plea agreement with the state of North Dakota on March 27. As part of that agreement, landowner Jeffrey Erman pleaded guilty to the charges of disorderly conduct-obscenity and interference with the rights of hunters and trappers—both class B misdemeanors.

Eddy County state’s attorney Ashley Lies tells Outdoor Life that the prosecution decided to drop the third charge of trading in special influence during Monday’s plea hearing. A class A misdemeanor, trading in special influence is considered a type of bribery under North Dakota law, and it is punishable by up to 360 days in prison and up to $3,000 in fines.

“After discussing it with his attorney and doing some research into the legislative history of the charge, I did feel it was inappropriate,” Lies says. “I think it would be [applicable] if he were bribing an official directly, instead of just offering to influence the game warden.”

As for sentencing related to the other two misdemeanors, Lies says the judge ordered Erman to pay a total of $675 in fines. He also revoked Erman’s hunting privileges for a year. Because Erman had no prior criminal history, the judge offered him a “deferred imposition of sentence” that hinges on an unsupervised probationary period of 360 days. If he stays out of trouble during that time, the two convictions will be taken off his criminal record.

One of the hunters was also charged with a misdemeanor criminal trespassing. Dustin Brown pleaded guilty to that charge on Dec. 30 and paid the court-ordered fines of $250. The case against Brown was closed on Jan. 12, according to the New Rockford Transcript.

How a Viral Duck-Hunting Video Led to Multiple Criminal Charges

The original dispute took place in Eddy County, North Dakota, on Oct. 21. It was recorded on video by Jacob Sweere, one of the hunters in the group who also has a hunting YouTube channel. The video quickly went viral, and it has since been viewed nearly 3 million times. It shows Erman approaching the hunters around sunrise and proceeding to berate them for trespassing and ruining his own hunt. The hunters had already shot a couple ducks by this point. In the video, Erman claims the group’s A-frame blind is encroaching on his property line.

“You gotta stay a foot off [the section line],” Erman says after driving up to the blind in a side-by-side. “I was gonna hunt here this morning, but I heard you guys were coming. I own the fucking land.”

The situation deteriorates after the hunters claim they had permission to set up on the neighboring bean field. Erman goes berserk, launching into an obscenity-laced tirade and blowing up their hunt. At one point during the roughly 30-minute video clip, Erman tells the group he’ll leave them alone if they give him some money.

“Three hundred dollars and you can shoot all you want,” Erman says. “Cash money right now on the barrel head and I’ll walk away and call the [game warden] and tell him not to come,” Erman says. The hunters declined to pay Erman, and a game warden arrived at the field later that morning to defuse the situation.

Read Next: The Landowner and One Hunter From the Viral “I Own the F*cking Land” Video Are Charged with Misdemeanors

When considering charges last fall, state prosecutors determined that Erman’s request for money amounted to a bribe request. And since the request involved a public servant (in this case, a game warden), they decided to charge Erman with a class A misdemeanor trading in special influence.

On Nov. 8, the state filed two additional misdemeanor charges against Erman: interfering with the rights of hunters and trappers, and disorderly conduct-obscenity. Erman pleaded not guilty to all three charges initially, but then changed his plea as part of an agreement on March 20, court documents show.

As mentioned, the state also charged Dustin Brown, one of the hunters involved, with criminal trespassing on Nov. 9. Brown, a North Dakota resident from West Fargo, initially pleaded not guilty, then amended his plea to guilty on Dec. 30. As part of that plea agreement, Brown explained that he had permission to hunt the property neighboring Erman’s cornfield, but that he made a mistake by setting up near the property line without Erman’s explicit permission. Brown’s plea agreement stipulates that his guilty plea will be withdrawn (and the case will be dismissed) after a period of 180 days.

“I had been provided notice to avoid hunting on a specific patch of land within that larger piece of land,” Brown admitted in the plea agreement. “Before placing my blind, I had not determined with certainty that I was not on that patch of land; It turned out that I was on that patch of land.”

North Dakota is one of the only states that allows individuals to walk on or hunt private property that is not posted against trespassing. These postings became more nuanced in 2021, when the state legislature passed a law allowing landowners to post their lands electronically via an online database.

Regardless of the posting status of Erman’s land, however, Brown acknowledged that he failed to heed the advice of the landowner who gave them permission to hunt that day.

Erman’s son, also named Dustin, told reporters in October that he believed the hunters had provoked Jeffrey and then edited the video footage to make it look like they were innocent.

“They were told to stay away from that area,” Dustin told the Grand Forks Herald. “Also, that video, these guys hunt, and they do videos all the time, they edit [stuff] all the time. They edited out every single thing they said to provoke [him] to get to that point.”

Sweere has denied this allegation, claiming that he turned over all the uncut footage to the state during its investigation.

This article was updated on March 28 to include comments from Eddy County state’s attorney Ashley Lies.

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A snow goose hunt that was interrupted in northeast Arkansas on Feb. 17 has since spilled over into the public eye. This is mainly because the interruption—to put it mildly—was caught on video and shared widely on social media. The video shows a farmer intentionally driving though a field full of goose decoys on his tractor with a stubble roller attached to the back. The hunters, who are still out in the field at the time, look on and film. At least one law enforcement officer is also present as the farmer discs through the spread at high speed.

The above video, shared on Facebook yesterday by Lone Star Outdoors Show, is actually a combination of two separate clips. The first 38 seconds were filmed by one of the hunters, a friend of local waterfowl guide Mark Spiller, who says he has a lease agreement to hunt ducks and geese on the land.

“The sheriff is watching. He says there’s nothing they can do,” the hunter says during the clip as he pans between the tractor and the Cross County Sheriff’s Department vehicle parked nearby. “It’s a civil matter they say, because they both have a lease. But yet, he’s literally discing through the decoys—here he comes, going to do it again right through the center of them. Look at that shit.”

The next 29 seconds show the view from inside the tractor’s cab. This clip was filmed by the farmer, Dustin Lloyd, who says he has a lease agreement to farm the land. Lloyd says he was trying to make a point because Spiller owed the landowner money but refused to leave when he was served an eviction notice.

“God dang, those geese won’t get up and move!” Lloyd jokes at one point in the video while an old country song blasts over the tractor’s stereo. “Gotta fix all these ruts!”  

The video has already been viewed nearly 300,000 times, and most commenters seem to be taking Lloyd’s side. Their opinions likely have a lot to do with the video’s description, which reads: “Farmer discs entire snow goose spread after hunters refuse to pay lease fee and get off his property.” After all, with this cut-and-dry summary, who can blame the farmer for running off a bunch of deadbeat and dishonest goose hunters? The only problem is that it doesn’t tell the full story.

A Longstanding Disagreement Over a Snow Goose Lease

The dispute that led to last Friday’s incident is between Dustin Lloyd, the farmer who rolled hundreds of snow geese decoys into the ground, and Mark Spiller, a waterfowl guide who operates First Creek Outfitters. Neither man owns the land where the video was filmed. Both men claim to have leases on the property, but each one says that the other’s lease is illegitimate. Neither party was willing to share copies of their respective leases with Outdoor Life.

As for the landowner, she’s an 80-plus-year-old woman who has a difficult time conducting business transactions on her own, according to Lloyd (her nephew) and Spiller. Meanwhile, members of local law enforcement—both the local sheriff’s office and the state fish and game agency—refuse to take a side. They’ve told both parties that it’s a civil matter and is out of their jurisdiction. Neither the Cross County Sheriff’s Office nor the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission immediately responded to requests for comment.

Read Next: Lessons We Can Learn from the Viral “I Own the F*cking Land” Video

Which means that until more information comes to light, it’s a case of one man’s word against another’s. Lloyd says that Spiller owes his aunt money and wasn’t holding up his end of the agreement. He also says that Spiller’s lease is fake because his aunt never actually signed it.

“He’s taking advantage of the laws put in place,” Lloyd says. “I’d do it again to the same person if the situation was the same. I wouldn’t just blatantly plow up some decoys because it was on some ground I was farming.”

Spiller claims that his lease is legitimate and was signed by the landowner in 2020. He’s also been living in a house on the property for the past several years with the permission of the landowner and her daughter. He says that he’s always operated within the bounds of their agreement, and that even if he did owe the landowner money, that would be between him and the landowner—not him and Lloyd.

“His contract is not even valid. He took advantage of an elderly lady,” Spiller says. “I’m not gonna throw jackrocks under his tractor, because two wrongs don’t make a right. And if he thinks I did wrong, then why is he doing me wrong to try to make it right?”

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Duck hunting is synonymous with wet and cold conditions. Typically, the colder, snowier, and windier the weather, the better the hunting. To be successful on the most brutal migration days, you need serious outerwear like the Sitka Hudson Jacket. I used it while breaking ice, setting decoys, and sitting in a blind for hours in high winds and freezing temps during a late-season hunt in Utah. Here’s how the Hudson Jacket stood up to the conditions.

Sitka Hudson Jacket Specs and Features

Sitka

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• Weight: 42 ounces
• GORE OPTIFADE concealment waterfowl marsh camo
• 3-layer GORE-TEX stretch technology 
• PrimaLoft insulation
• Bellowed shell pockets and zippered tuck-away pockets
• Water-sealing gasket cuffs 
• Drawcord hem

3-Layer GORE-TEX

There are panels of GORE-TEX stretch material behind the shoulders of the Hudson to allow for a speedy shotgun mount and a free range of motion while retaining extreme water and wind protection. The panels don’t allow cold, wind, or water in although they vary drastically from the rest of the hard shell. The material feels more like a treated and stretchable waffle knit than your typical thick and smooth GORE-TEX. Being able to efficiently pull yourself back into the boat, reach for decoys, and mount your shotgun smoothly is a huge benefit of this jacket. I was impressed that these panels did not result in a cold spot and instead retained the integrity typical GORE-TEX performance.

Gasket Cuffs 

The water-sealing cuffs adjust to prevent water from getting up your sleeve, even when submerged. You can seal the cuffs underneath your gloves to prevent water from seeping in. This way you won’t have to deal with damp sleeves for the rest of the day if your gloves fail or you have to reach underwater. 

Pockets

The Hudson features two open pockets on the chest to warm up your hands, two bellowed shell pockets that fit a full box of shells but lay flat when empty, and two zippered tuck-away call pockets on the exterior. There is also an interior zipper pocket over the left chest. The call pockets will keep your reeds from freezing and removable straps on the front of the coat allow you to secure calls for easy access. I would have appreciated two additional open pockets behind the bellowed shell pockets at the waist for an additional place to keep my hands warm, but all in all there is plenty of storage in this jacket.

Testing the Sitka Hudson Jacket In the Field

I took the Hudson duck hunting in freezing temperatures to test just how water and wind resistant it really is. The bay I was hunting was frozen over with about an inch of ice. Realistically, our prospects for killing ducks were not very good with the bay iced up, but it did make for ideal conditions to test my jacket. After the only other boat out there turned around with a busted prop, we hopped into the water to break up the ice for the boat. I trudged through mud and used my body weight to break the ice, so I was working up a sweat while splashing plenty of water against my coat. This shell operated beautifully, keeping the cold out without causing me to overheat. It was plenty breathable while I was in motion, but sealed against wind and ice. 

After clearing a half-dome of ice out from the boat blind, we began setting decoys. No splashes or breeze penetrated the Hudson and I was still comfortable waist deep in freezing water. Next, the real test of sitting still for hours with wet waders on.

While the Hudson features PrimaLoft insulation, it performs like a shell, not a puffy. The heavy GORE-TEX was certainly a helpful layer when trying to keep warm, but without insulating mid layers, you won’t last the day in frigid temps. The padding inside the jacket is slim and body mapped to allow the back and underarms more breathability yet the design keeps your core and arms more insulated. 

This jacket isn’t extremely warm by itself. It also fits snugly, which I thought kept me less warm because it compressed my mid-layers. However, after a few hours of little action, I was just as warm as when I first started the sit. I would recommend sizing up to accommodate thicker layers underneath.

What the Sitka Hudson Jacket Does Best

This is a performance piece of outerwear that is well-designed for its intended purpose. It blocks the elements while giving the wearer mobility and breathability when necessary. The extreme water resistance and wind resistance are the best parts about this jacket, which are also the most important factors when shopping for a duck hunting jacket. The technologically advanced GORE-TEX stretch panels, plentitude of pockets, and gasket cuffs make this coat worth the investment for serious duck hunters.

What the Sitka Hudson Jacket Does Worst

This jacket could benefit from a looser fit to accommodate more layers. It’s snug for a medium, my typical size. At times it felt like it was compressing my layers, not allowing them to trap enough warm air to really keep me toasty. A shell shouldn’t fit so snugly, but the stretch technology helps mitigate this issue so you are still flexible even if it is a trim cut.

The closure features dual zippers to make sitting more comfortable, but it takes some convincing to secure the zipper lead. When it’s frozen and you have gloves on, it can be finicky. Though, the tabs on the zippers give gloves enough purchase to operate.

Final Thoughts

Sitka’s Hudson jacket is a reliable outer layer with some creative solutions to the challenges associated with hunting in the worst weather. Staying warm and dry is crucial to crushing a duck hunt where action can happen quickly or after hours and hours of sitting in the cold. The mobility in this hard-core shell is something you’ll notice and appreciate on every hunt you wear it.

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Editor’s Choice		Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary Soft shooting and high performance
Great Buy		Winchester Super X4	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary Affordable and versatile
Best Pump Shotgun		Remington 870 Express	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary Smooth and dependable

Ask a duck hunter what company makes the best duck hunting shotguns and the three most likely responses will be Beretta, Benelli, or Remington. So, it wasn’t too surprising that those gun manufacturers—along with Winchester—stood above the rest in our waterfowl shotgun test.

These were our top picks:

• Editor’s Choice: Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus
• Great Buy: Winchester Super X4
• Best Pump Shotgun: Remington 870 Express

Beretta has been making soft-shooting gas-operated autoloaders since 1956 with the introduction of the Model 60. The almost 500-year-old company has come full-circle with the A400 Xtreme Plus, which is arguably the softest shooting sporting shotgun on the market, and a major reason why it was popular with our group of testers.

Benelli’s inertia-driven Super Black Eagle is carried by duck guides all over the country because it’s lightweight, rarely fails, and is one of the best-handling shotguns you will ever bring to your shoulder. Remington has sold more than 11 million 870s over the years—enough said. And Winchester’s Super X4 gives the most value for the dollar out of any shotgun on the market.

But there were plenty more duck hunting shotguns that performed well in our test—and some that didn’t. If you’re a duck hunter looking to buy a shotgun, this is the most comprehensive review of the best (and worst) auto-loaders and pumps you will find.

How We Tested the Best Duck Hunting Shotguns

Four editors—Colin Kearns, Phil Bourjaily, Alex Robinson, and myself—tested 17 of the best duck hunting shotguns over three days at Pintail Hunting Club in Garwood, Texas. We shot every shotgun at a five-stand clays range, patterned each shotgun at 35 yards inside a 30-inch circle, and hunted teal during Texas’ September early season with an assortment of Federal Premium, Remington, and Hevi-Shot ammo.

We used stock modified chokes for hunting and patterning the guns. We shot #4 Hevi-Hammer and Remington Nitro Steel while hunting and 3-inch, #2 Federal Speed Shok for patterning. From there, each of us evaluated the shotguns in five different categories: handling and ergonomics, workmanship and aesthetics, versatility, reliability, and value.

Here’s what each of those categories entails:

Handling & Ergonomics: Handling represents the balance, liveliness, and ability to hit targets with the shotgun. It also represents how the shotgun manages recoil. Ergonomics represents how well the firearm fits the hands and body. That includes grading how intuitive and easy the controls are to manipulate, and the ease with which you can load and unload the firearm.

Workmanship & Aesthetics: This covers the quality of the materials and construction of the shotgun. It also includes looking at the fit and finish of the metal and stock. Is the gun’s exterior—matte, blued, Cerakote, etc—done well? Does it look and feel durable?

Versatility: Is the gun capable of functioning well in multiple hunting scenarios? Is it good for pits, box blinds, walk-ins, ground blinds—essentially anyplace duck hunters hunt. Can it be used to hunt other types of game than waterfowl and shoot clays?

Reliability: This represents how well the firearm functioned mechanically throughout the evaluation and whether it had any failures or malfunctions, some of which we tried to deliberately induce, like throwing dirt into the action, shaking it out, and firing a shotshell. Or dropping the gun in water or mud, loading, and firing it.

Value: Does the price tag match the shotgun? Are you getting what you have paid for? Would you recommend it as a good buy to one of your buddies? 

We shot cases and cases of rounds during our test, ammo shortage be damned. We never cleaned any of the guns, because we wanted to see how they’d run dirty. We didn’t baby the guns either. They got wet, muddy, and bumped around in the back of UTVs and rental cars (always unloaded, of course). Because not every duck gun is designed — or priced — the same way, we broke the field of 17 guns into three main categories: premium-level semi autos, bargain-level semi autos, and pump guns. And finally, we picked a winner in each category.

Premium-Level Auto-Loaders

Editor’s Choice Winner: Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3.5-inch
• Length: 49.5 inches
• LOP: 14.3 inches
• Trigger weight: 5.1 pounds
• Overall weight: 7.8 pounds
• MSRP: $1,749

Beretta A400 Xtreme Plus Overview

Beretta’s A400 finished just ahead of the Benelli Super Black Eagle III. In fact, every editor had to shoot both guns on sporting clays one final time on the last afternoon to decide the winner. Ultimately, the A400 won best duck hunting shotgun because it’s a softer-shooting gun than the SBE3, and it also patterned more accurately. The Benelli put more pellets in the 30-inch circle at 35 yards (121 to 109 for the A400) when we compared the two guns’ best patterns, but the SBE3 shot 100 percent above point-of-aim on every shot. Beretta’s A400 was a much more center-mass pattern that shot 60 percent above and 40 percent below point-of-aim. You will notice this model has a custom Cerakote finish on it. Standard issue A400s are available in Realtree, Mossy Oak, True Timber, and Kryptek camouflage, as well as a synthetic option.

The reason why the A400, which is gas-operated, is so light on recoil is a two-part Kick-Off system in the stock. The Kick-Off Mega is a three-spring system that dampens recoil and then the Kick-Off3, located in the grip of the shotgun also mitigates felt recoil. I’ve shot 2-ounce turkey loads through this gun and it mildly tapped my shoulder—it’s remarkably easy on the shooter. Also, as previously mentioned, the A400 patterning is superior. Where you point the gun, is where it shoots. You also get an oversized bolt handle and bolt-release button for easier handling, plus the load gate is wide and easy to manipulate even with thick gloves on. The one drawback of the A400 is a fat fore-end, and the fact that it carries more like an 8-pound gun. If you have small hands and don’t like to tote a shotgun that’s a few ounces heavier than most other auto-loaders, you may not love the A400 as much as we did. There wasn’t a gun in the test that all four shooters were more accurate with—some were equally accurate, but none better—than the Beretta. And none of us had a bad morning in the marsh trying to knockdown acrobatic blue-wings with this gun. That’s what you want in a duck gun. If can shoot a shotgun well on early teal, you’ll shoot it well on any species of duck.

Benelli Super Black Eagle III

Stephen Maturen

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3.5-inch
• Length: 49. 5 inches
• LOP: 14 inches
• Trigger weight: 6.2 pounds
• Overall weight: 7 pounds
• MSRP: $1,699

Benelli Super Black Eagle III Overview 

This gun came in a close second as best duck hunting gun. The SBE3 is one of the best-handling semi-auto shotguns ever made. It’s sleek, and light, so you can get the gun moving fast, which is important for duck hunters because our shot windows can get tight. This is the ultimate guide gun because it only weighs 7 pounds and can stand up to the 100-plus days of hell a guide will put it through each season. You don’t see a lot of pro hunters carrying the A400, and that’s because the SBE3 is almost a pound lighter and functions just as well.

There’s a little bit more recoil in the Benelli, but it’s not bad for an inertia gun. The Comfortech system, a series of interlocking synthetic chevrons in the stock, makes recoil incredibly manageable, and unlike some inertia guns, the SBE3 can shoot 1-ounce target loads without issue. You won’t find a more simple, easy-to-clean semi-auto waterfowl shotgun on the market. The only thing that takes a bit of time is unscrewing the fore-end cap—it took us 12 twists to get it off. The A400 cap comes off with a simple half-turn. You won’t get the “Benelli click” with the SBE3. The rotating bolt head has a spring in it that forces the head to close and ensures there is a secure lockup with the shotshell, so the firing pin strikes the primer. Our sample did shoot high—100 percent above point of aim—but surprisingly, that didn’t matter on teal or at the five-stand. If you cover the target, this gun kills it.

Browning Maxus II

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3.5-inch
• Length: 47.25 inches
• LOP: 14.4 inches
• Trigger weight: 6.4 pounds
• Overall weight: 7 pounds
• MSRP: $1,600

Browning Maxus II Overview

The second-generation Maxus has the same Power Drive gas system as the original, but that’s about where the similarities end between the two guns. Browning Maxus II’s most important upgrade is the fore-end cap, which can now be removed and outfitted with an extension magazine tube for snow goose hunters. The first Maxus had a fore-end latch, the premise of which was to be able to remove the fore-end quickly. But if you pay $1,800 for a shotgun, you should be able to affix an extension mag to it, and the old Maxus didn’t allow for that.

The exterior upgrades on this gun are exemplary and make it one of the best duck hunting shotguns on the market. You get a slender fore-end that is outfitted with rubber grips for better handling in cold and wet conditions—none of the other best new shotguns of 2022 offer that. There is also a rubber grip for your shooting hand on the palm swell of the stock, and a cushioned rubber riser for your cheek, plus a thick recoil pad to mitigate recoil. An oversized bolt handle makes pulling the bolt back easy, and there’s plenty of room in the trigger guard for your trigger finger even if you’re wearing thick decoy gloves. This gun was also designed with the Speed Load Plus system, which allows you to load the first shell into the magazine and the lifter will load it into the chamber for you. It can take some precise finger work to get the speed loader to function, but it’s a nice feature once you get the hang of it. You can read my full review on the Maxus II here.  

Browning A5

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3.5-inch
• Length: 49 inches
• LOP: 14.25 inches
• Trigger weight: 6.9 pounds
• Overall weight: 6.8 pounds
• MSRP: $1,500

Browning A5 Overview

The “new” Browning A5 has been around for almost 10 years now and operates on an entirely different inertia system than John Browning’s original long-recoil model in which the barrel moved back into the receiver of the Auto-5 upon firing it. The A5 has a similar system to Benelli shotguns. When you fire the A5, the bolt stays still as the rest of the gun moves backwards under recoil—hence the “inertia.” This action compresses a powerful spring in the bolt assembly and once the gun encounters resistance from your shoulder, the spring unleashes its force and cycles the bolt, ejecting the spent shell, and collecting a new round on its trip back into battery.

One thing we all noticed in testing the Browning guns was that they all patterned very evenly and delivered some of the tightest patterns of all the shotguns, though the A5 (77 percent) was not as good as the Maxus II (86 percent) and BPS (83 percent) inside a 30-inch circle at 35 yards. It also has the Speed Load Plus system like the Maxus II, but you won’t find any rubber grips on this gun. I’ve shot the A5 quite a bit in prairie Canada which is a damn fine test of a gun’s ability to function. You shoot a lot more than you would in the states (because of higher bag limits), and guns get a lot dirtier because you’re often laying in dusty ag fields. The A5 never failed to perform. I have had some issues with the bolt running properly in cold weather, but a good cleaning has always taken care of that problem.

Benelli M2 Waterfowl Performance Shop

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Key Features 

• Gauge: 20
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length 48.5 inches
• LOP: 13.7 inches
• Trigger weight: 6.5 pounds
• Overall weight: 6.9 pounds
• MSRP: $2,699

Benelli M2 Overview

The M2 is one of the best 20-gauge semi-auto shotguns you can take afield. A lot of duck guides like them because of their light weight and reliability. It’s also a very balanced gun when you swing it on ducks or clays. The M2 did shoot high and right for me on the pattern board, but I have never had a problem killing ducks with this gun. And it shot straight for Bourjaily as you can see in the pattern below. It will also cycle lighter 1-ounce loads, which are more common offerings for 20 gauges than the heavier 1 1/8 ounces. If you step down to a 7/8-ounce charge weight, reliable cycling can be an issue, but inertia guns aren’t built to function with such a light load.

A Performance Shop M2 will cost you nearly $2,700. That gets you lengthened and polished forcing cones, three Rob Roberts chokes, a Hi-Viz front sight, oversized bolt handle, enlarged bolt release, and a paracord sling. But you can buy a standard synthetic M2 for under $1,500. I’ve had Roberts customize one of my guns with many of the same upgrades, and it didn’t cost the $1,200 difference in price that Benelli charges you. Plus, if you buy a standard M2, you can pick your own custom Cerakote finish when you send it to Roberts and aren’t stuck with just one option—Gore’s Optifade Marsh. My recommendation is to buy the standard version of the M2 and then if you want to make the aftermarket upgrades, you can pay as you go. Get the forcing cones lengthened and polished and buy the T2 choke (they pattern best out of Benellis, according to Roberts) instead of all three. Then you essentially have the Performance Shop version of this gun, minus a few upgrades, for several hundred dollars cheaper.

Benelli Ethos Cordoba BE.S.T.

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length: 49 inches
• LOP: 14 inches
• Trigger weight: 6.1 pounds
• Overall weight: 6.5 pounds
• MSRP: $2,349

Benelli Ethos Cordoba BE.S.T. Overview

Named for the region of Argentina most famous for its dove hunting, Benelli’s Ethos Cordoba was built for high-volume shooting. The barrel of the Cordoba is ported for lighter recoil and to minimize muzzle jump which helps you get back on the bird after a miss. Or, if you connect, you can move on to another bird with relative ease. It’s a Benelli, so it’s a well-built gun. We had no malfunctions with it in our testing. The BE.S.T coating, which Benelli touts as the best exterior gun finish on the market, did not chip or rub off. It’s also rust- and corrosion-resistant, but you should still take care of your gun the same way you would if the finish was not applied. Metal eventually rusts after all.

Like the SBE3, the Ethos patterned high, but it was a touch worse in this gun. My best pattern with the Cordoba was 100 percent above point-of-aim. The rest were 120 percent above POA. And unlike the SBE3, that did make a difference on five-stand clays. I had to aim a foot below the bird to break it. That’s not ideal when ducks are in the decoys, but if you like to see the target and not cover it up when you swing on a mallard, you will like this gun very much. It also comes with five extended chokes (C, IC, M, IM, and F). Plus, there’s a small window that runs the length of the fore-end so you can see how many shells are left in the magazine tube (this feature is more for Argentina dove hunts where you can shoot unplugged shotguns). The Cordoba is also offered in 20- and 28-gauge. With an MSRP over $2,300 it’s a little steep for me. I don’t see any features—other than the BE.S.T. coating—that make this gun cost $600 more than a standard SBE3.

Bargain-Level Auto-loaders

Great Buy Winner: Winchester Super X4

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Key Features 

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3.5-inch
• Length: 49.5 inches
• LOP: 14.25 inches
• Trigger weight: 5.9 pounds
• Overall weight: 7.1 pounds
• MSRP: $899

Winchester Super X4 Overview 

There’s no other 3.5-inch gas-operated auto-loader that you can buy for under $1,000 that holds a candle to the Winchester SX4. There’s no cheaping out in this gun either, which is remarkable considering the price tag. The SX3 was my favorite affordable shotgun before the SX4, which is a bit slimmer than the previous version of this gun, and also less expensive. The original SX1 was a beloved gun by many waterfowlers as well, it was just an absolute tank, which made it durable but a brute to carry.

The SX4 is not heavy at all, just 7.1 pounds. It’s the most versatile gun in the test, due to its light weight and the fact that it’s a gas gun. I’ve shot plenty of turkey loads through the SX4 and taken it on high-volume snow goose hunts, and it has never left me with a sore shoulder. This is my personal gun, which I had modified by Rob Roberts (lengthened forcing cone and specialized choke). One point of interest was that it patterned slightly better on the 30-inch board with the stock modified choke (89 percent) than Roberts’ Triple Threat T2 (83 percent). I’ve also shot the standard version of this gun many times without any aftermarket modifications. All of the SX4s, including the 20-gauge model, have patterned well at the range and killed ducks and geese cleanly as long as I did my job.

Beretta A300 Ultima

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length: 47.5 inches
• LOP: 13.8 inches
• Trigger weight: 5.14 pounds
• Overall weight: 7.7 pounds
• MSRP: $749

Beretta A300 Ultima Overview

Ever since the A390s were discontinued, Beretta has been trying to build an affordable 3-inch auto-loader that gives shooters a reason to buy a new shotgun as opposed to finding a used Silver or Gold Mallard. The A300 Ultima is as close as Beretta has come to accomplishing that goal. The Ultima shot a consistent pattern of 60 percent above and 40 percent below point-of-aim, which is a staple of Beretta shotguns and why they are some of the best duck hunting shotguns on the market.

Beretta also included the Kick-Off system in this gun to tame recoil, but it’s not as advanced as the one you will find in the A400 Xtreme Plus. The Ultima Kick-Off has two springs in the stock and the A400 has three. You can tell the difference when shooting the two guns. The Ultima delivers a noticeable “pop” to your shoulder when you pull the trigger. And the stock also pulls at your face a bit. You won’t feel anything except a slight push against your shoulder shooting the A400.

But, you can remove the Kick-Off system from the stock, and essentially replace it with a plastic spacer. That will probably make the gun much more comfortable to shoot, honestly. The exterior features are superb on the Ultima. It looks just like the A400, only slimmer, and there is a 20-gauge option that’s even less cumbersome. But the matte finish on the barrel was rubbing off after just a few days. Granted it was riding around in the back of a UTV next to other unloaded shotguns, but none of those guns experienced the same level of wear and tear.

Remington 1100

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 2¾-inch
• Length: 47.75
• LOP: 14-inch
• Trigger weight: 4.9 pounds
• Overall weight: 8.1 pounds
• MSRP: $700

Remington 1100 Overview

It’s pretty hard to not love the 1100 if you’re a wingshooter. This is a truly iconic shotgun, which is why we felt compelled to include it in this test even though it’s not currently in production (all the other guns in this test are currently in production). The other reason we included it is because you can still find used Remington 1100s in good condition at affordable prices.

Sure, it’s a heavy shotgun (just over 8 pounds), but that’s negated by how durable it is and how well it patterns. You don’t see these auto-loaders in too many duck blinds anymore because they have 2¾-inch chambers (though 3-inch magnums are still out there). But with the evolution of bismuth and tungsten shotshells, you can certainly kill ducks and geese effectively with this shotgun today.

The 1100 was an even 50/50 on the pattern board (you’ll notice we had to use a #8 target load for patterning) and was one of the best-shooting clay guns of the entire test. All four editors shot the gun well, and I had to make sure no one “accidentally” took it home because everyone broke so many clay birds with it. A descendent of the Remington Model 58 and 878, this is one of the most reliable auto-loaders ever built—it set the record for firing the most shotshells (more than 24,000) in a row without being cleaned. You don’t get the exterior amenities you’ll find on more modern shotguns with the 1100, but it was one of the most well-made guns in the test. And none of the other guns had the classic beauty of wood and steel that this gun holds. Plus, you can find used 1100s for $600 (sometimes less), which makes them an extremely good value.

Franchi Affinity 3

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length: 49.5 inches
• LOP: 14.2 inches
• Trigger weight: 5.14 pounds
• Overall weight: 6.8
• MSRP: $750

Franchi Affinity 3 Overview

I don’t see many duck hunters shooting Franchis, which is baffling, because the Italian gunmaker—which falls under the Benelli canopy of brands—builds some of the most reliable shotguns for the money. The Affinity 3 operates on the same inertia system as the Benellis do, it’s just made with some less expensive exterior features, like a flat, rubber-coated bolt-release and the plastic feel of the stock and fore-end. But the Affinity is a little lighter (remember it’s a 3-inch gun versus the SBE3, which has a 3.5-inch chamber).

Also, the Franchi Affinity 3 beat all of the Benellis on the pattern board in our test. It shot 60 percent above and 40 percent below point-of-aim on paper, and the best Affinity pattern was a few pellets better than the SBE3, which shot 100 percent high point-of-aim. The Franchi has the same slim fore-end you will find on all Benelli semi-autos, which improves the overall feel of the shotgun and makes it easy to shoot. The recoil is also extremely manageable for an inertia gun. There’s a thick TSA recoil pad that will tame any 3-inch shotshell, and I have found that follow up shots—after I have fired my customary first warning shot at ducks—with the gun make it easy to get on the bird. This shotgun also comes in a left-hand model, which is a big deal for those of us who shoot lefty, because there are so few left-eject shotguns on the market that can be had for less than $800. TriStar and Remington are the only other two manufacturers that make affordable shotguns specifically for lefties.

Mossberg 940 Pro Waterfowl

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Key Features 

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length: 48.5 inches
• LOP: 13.5 inches
• Trigger weight 5.11 pounds
• Overall weight: 7.7 pounds
• MSRP: $868

 
Mossberg 940 Pro Waterfowl Overview

Mossberg unveiled the Mossberg 940 JM Pro a few years ago at Shot Show. This is the waterfowl version of that gas-operated auto-loader. Mossberg has tested this gun and says the gas system runs clean enough that you can shoot 1,500 rounds through the 940 before it needs cleaning. We didn’t shoot that many shells through it in our test — there’s an ammo shortage after all — but it’s true that we never did experience a hiccup with the gun after cycling a few hundred rounds through it. The buffer tube on the outside of the magazine, and corrosion-resistant coatings on many of the internal parts (the gas piston, magazine tube, hammer sear, return spring tube, chrome-lined chamber and bore, and a stainless-steel return spring) are what allow the gun to continue functioning after so many spent rounds.

What I like about the 940 versus the older 930 model is the overall exterior finish of the gun. The 930 fore-end doesn’t mate with the receiver seamlessly when the gun is put together. The 940s fore-end does, thanks to a piece of plastic on the underside of the gun that assists with the fit. There are plenty of extras that come with this shotgun: stock spacers for length-of-pull, drop, and cast all come standard, plus the gun was built with an oversized bolt handle, enlarged load port, enlarged bolt-release, a HiViz front sight, and extended choke tubes that are easy to swap out at home or in the field.

Stoeger M3000

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length: 48 inches
• LOP: 14 3/8 inches
• Trigger weight: 8.15 pounds
• Overall weight: 7.3 pounds
• MSRP: $559

Stoeger M3000 Overview 

All of us loved the way the M3000 patterned—it shot an even 60/40 pattern on the board. Plus, I killed a pair of blue-wing teal on one shot with this gun the final morning of our test. So there’s perhaps a little personal bias there. But the issue I have run across with Stoegers is that some function just fine, while others can break down quickly. I took a new M3500 to Canada a few years ago and the spring in the carrier broke, relegating me to a single-shot gun for the rest of my trip. On subsequent hunts, both the M3000 and M35000 served me well, but I also saw them jam, not ejecting shells consistently for other hunters. Some of that was because the hunters had not cleaned the gun of the heavy packing grease Stoeger cakes its guns in for delivery. But the guns also didn’t function reliably at times even after a deep cleaning.

The M3000 we tested had trouble cycling 3-inch shells too, and the pistol grip cap on the stock fell out of the gun on the last day of hunting. It was a brand-new gun, so to have both those issues occur wasn’t acceptable. Stoegers shoot a great pattern, you just have to keep some cleaner than others so they cycle reliably, and understand that they may need more maintenance (that’s the reality of some price-point semi-autos). This gun carries like a Benelli with a little chunkier fore-end. It has a heavier trigger pull weight (8.15 pounds) than it does overall weight (7.3 pounds), which some shooters don’t like because they feel it affects accuracy. I didn’t notice it. When ducks were in the decoys, I never thought “man, I wish this trigger was lighter.”

Mossberg 930 Pro

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length 48.5 inches
• LOP: 13.5 inches
• Trigger weight: 6.4 pounds
• Overall weight: 7.7 pounds
• MSRP: $844

Mossberg 930 Pro Overview

A fellow gun writer once said that sometimes an ugly gun that doesn’t feel good in your hands is the one you will shoot the best. That couldn’t be truer of the Mossberg 930. It’s not an awful gun to look at, but it’s also not near as beautiful as, say, the Remington 1100. The fore-end of the 930 has a hollow feeling to it, and it also doesn’t seamlessly flow into the receiver. There’s a noticeable gap that even the most novice shotgun shooter will spot.

But this shotgun is also one of my favorites to shoot, because it’s accurate as hell (81 percent on the 30-inch pattern board at 35 yards), and durable, which is all any core duck hunter wants in a gun. I’ve shot long-tailed ducks in Maine with the 930 beyond 40 yards. Killing speeding sea ducks at that distance requires some serious lead and a consistent shot string. The 930 has always delivered a killer pattern no matter what ammo I’ve shot through it. The proof is in all the dead ducks. You may not love the look of the gun, but the gas system is superb and soft on your shoulder. It’s also a reliable shotgun. I’ve never had a jam or seen anyone have one with the 930. The 940 is likely to replace this shotgun, and I’ll be a sad to see it go. You don’t get that much more if you buy the 940, and the 930 printed slightly better patterns on paper (113 pellets to 103 pellets from the 940). It also costs $20 less than the 940.

Pump Shotguns

Best Pump Shotgun Winner: Remington 870 Express

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Key Features 

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length: 48.5 inches
• LOP: 14 inches
• Trigger weight: 5.3 pounds
• Overall weight: 7.6 pounds
• MSRP: $400

Remington 870 Express Overview

In the last decade, the 870 Express came under heavy scrutiny for its inconsistent, poor construction. It wouldn’t reliably cycle shotshells—they would get hung up in the action as shooters tried to work the pump and load another round—and some of the guns rolled off the assembly line with unpolished burrs on the inside and outside of the steel receiver. But Remington is under new ownership now, and after more than a year of not shipping 870s, the guns are once again being assembled, and the quality is far better. I’ve shot the synthetic version, which is a 7-pound gun, and the wood and steel model, a 7.6-pound gun. The extra 6 ounces in the wood and steel gun makes a good bit of difference in the amount of recoil you will soak up. The synthetic Remington 870 Express is a joy to carry, but not as pleasant to shoot as the wood version. They both cycled 3-inch duck loads just fine. And though I don’t think they live up to the Express of old, when you compare it to today’s best duck hunting shotguns, the 870 is at the top of the heap for pumps along with the Winchester SXP, and Browning BPS.

The 870 runs extremely smooth on the classic dual-bar pump system. Since it’s a budget gun ($400), the 870 only comes with a modified choke. The exterior finish is not fancy, but it’s smooth and the matte black on the receiver and barrel has a solid grit to it, so it won’t slip from your hand when you carry it afield. The bolt release is the only thing  about the 870 that could be better. It’s an obtrusive, skinny steel claw. A more streamlined release that did not stick out so badly would be a better fit, but you can always easily find it in the field, even if you have thick gloves on.

Browning BPS

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3.5-inch
• Length: 49.5 inches
• LOP: 14.4 inches
• Trigger weight: 7 pounds
• Overall weight: 9 pounds
• MSRP: $760

Browning BPS Overview

Browning is one of only a few shotgun makers that is still producing a high-end sporting pump gun (Ithaca being the other). The Browning BPS is a walnut and steel beast—it’s also available in composite and camo-finish models—that’s nearly indestructible. It’s a bottom-eject shotgun, the only pump, along with the Ithaca Model 37, still being built this way. You also load the shotgun through the ejection port, which is slightly easier than the side-gate pumps. The safety is tang-mounted, which makes it appealing to both left- and right-handed shooters.

The weight of the 3.5-inch BPS (8 to 9 pounds) allows it to soak up recoil remarkably well, but if you are a smaller shooter, the 3-inch BPS (a lighter gun, that still manages recoil just fine) is a better option. The travel on the pump for the 3.5-inch model is nearly 4 inches and that makes operating the gun harder for shooters with a shorter arm length. I’m 6-foot-4 and sometimes short-stroke this gun after firing the first shell, trying to eject it, and bring a second shell into battery. Still, the BPS is one of the best made pumps of all-time and a gun Browning doesn’t cut any corners on. So, if you’re in the market for a well-constructed pump shotgun that will last generations, this is it.

Mossberg 500 Hunting

Mossberg

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Key Features

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length: 47.5 inches
• LOP: 14 inches
• Trigger weight: 6.8 pounds
• Overall weight: 6.5 pounds
• MSRP: $459

Mossberg 500 Hunting Overview

Almost as iconic as the Remington 870, the Mossberg 500 and the Express were in a tight battle for the best pump shotgun up until the final day of the test. A side-by-side comparison (and a shoot-off at the sporting clays range) gave the 870 the edge. But not by much. Mossberg’s 500, which is available in an almost endless number of configurations—particularly if you buy the Flex series—patterned the best out of the four pumps we tested. Its best pattern put 119 of 140 No. 2 pellets inside a 30-inch circle at 35 yards, an 85 percent pattern percentage. The BPS and 870, were only a few pellets behind, but the 500 did win out.

Like most modern pump guns, the 500 operates on twin-action bars that allow you to pump shotshells through the gun. There were no issues with hangers or short-stroking the 500—it ran very smooth. The feel of this gun isn’t quite as good as the 870 or BPS, but it also shoots slightly better. The fore-end has a little more bulk to it than most pumps, but that gives you more to hold onto and control the gun better. Also, each side of the fore-end has been scooped out so there is a channel for you thumb and forefinger. If you have bigger hands, your fingers will not fit into those carved out notches, but it’s not a deal-break. The tang-mounted safety on the gun was stiff and slow, but you can replace it for as little as $20 with an aftermarket safety.

Benelli Nova

Benelli

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Key Features 

• Gauge: 12
• Chamber: 3.5-inch
• Length: 49 inches
• LOP: 13.7 inches
• Trigger weight: 7.14
• Overall weight: 7.7 pounds
• MSRP: $449

Benelli Nova Overview

Benelli’s Nova is an extremely tough gun; it’s stock and receiver are built on a single steel frame with a polymer overmold. I know plenty of duck hunters that have had this gun since it came out in the late 1990s, and it still runs as good as the day they bought it. The Nova’s best pattern was 66 percent, 93 of 140 pellets inside the 30-inch circle at 30 yards through a modified choke. But there were several shots on the pattern board that were high (70 to 80 percent above point-of-aim) and uneven—the Federal No. 2s were spread thin over the target with not much core density.

I do love the feel of the Nova. It’s a Benelli, so it carries light and has that skinny fore-end that makes these guns so easy to swing. But the fore-end of the Nova is slightly different than the SBE3. It’s almost a triangle. It gives you a damn good grip on the gun and makes operating the Nova easy. There were no mechanical flaws with the Benelli at all. And as I said, this is a soundly built gun, I’ve just never shot it that well and neither did others on the test team. For me, I think it’s the fit. This is almost a 50-inch-long gun with only a 13.7-inch length of pull (it doesn’t come with a shim kit). Benelli lists the LOP on this gun as 14 3/8 inches, but our tape measured quite a bit shorter than that.

Best Sub-Gauge Shotguns for Duck Hunting

Sub-gauge shotguns, anything smaller than a 12-gauge, have become more and more popular among waterfowlers. That’s because by selecting the right premium ammo, duck hunters can use 16-gauges on down to .410s to cleanly kill birds at modest ranges. These sub-gauges typically deliver less recoil and are just plain fun to shoot. We didn’t get to test all the sub-gauge shotguns out there during our duck gun test, but we have shot all of the following guns on hunts and at the range and they’ve proven their effectiveness in the field. So, if you’re looking to change it up from that big-booming 12-gauge, consider one of these sub-gauge shotguns for duck hunting. —Alex Robinson

Browning Sweet 16 Wicked Wing

Browning

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Key Features

• Gauge: 16
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length: 49 5/8 inches
• LOP: 14 1/4 inches
• Overall weight: 6.13 pounds
• MSRP: $2,379.99

Browning Sweet 16 Wicked Wing Overview

If you want to dabble in sub-gauge culture without diving in headfirst, the 16-gauge is a safe bet. You’ll still be shooting a slightly lighter platform while still delivering payloads that are closer to 12-gauge loads. No one makes a sweeter 16-gauge than Browning. Their Wicked Wing version is made specifically for waterfowl hunters and features a burnt bronze cerakote finish, oversized bolt release, and extended Invector-DS goose band choke tubes. This inertia gun has lines that are reminiscent of Browning’s old humpback Auto-5 shotgun—one of the most iconic duck guns of all time—but it’s got a fully redesigned action and features.

Most people shoot A5s naturally. That humpback design seems to put shooters on target quickly. The modern Sweet 16 is sleek and relatively light, and it swings nicely, without feeling whippy. There are a variety of great 16-gauge duck hunting loads from BOSS, Hevi-Shot, and others.

Benelli M2 20-Gauge

Benelli

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Key Features

• Gauge: 20
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length 49.3 inches
• LOP: 14.4 inches
• Overall weight: 5.9 pounds (with 28-inch barrel)
• MSRP: $1,449

Benelli M2 20-Gauge Overview

The M2 is one of the best 20-gauge semi-auto shotguns you can take afield. A lot of duck guides like them because of their light weight and reliability. It’s also a very balanced gun when you swing it on ducks or clays. The M2 did shoot high and right for me on the pattern board, but I have never had a problem killing ducks with this gun. It will cycle lighter 1-ounce loads, which are more common offerings for 20 gauges than the heavier 1 1/8 ounces. If you step down to a 7/8-ounce charge weight, reliable cycling can be an issue, but inertia guns aren’t built to function with such a light load.

A Performance Shop M2 will cost you nearly $2,700. That gets you lengthened and polished forcing cones, three Rob Roberts chokes, a Hi-Viz front sight, oversized bolt handle, enlarged bolt release, and a paracord sling. But you can buy a standard synthetic M2 for under $1,500.

My recommendation is to buy the standard version of the M2 and then if you want to make the aftermarket upgrades, you can pay as you go. Get the forcing cones lengthened and polished and buy the T2 choke (they pattern best out of Benellis, according to Roberts) instead of all three. Then you essentially have the Performance Shop version of this gun, minus a few upgrades, for several hundred dollars cheaper.

Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 28-Gauge

Alex Robinson

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Key Features

• Gauge: 28
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length 47.5 inches
• LOP: 14.4 inches
• Overall weight: 5.6 pounds (with 28-inch barrel)
• MSRP: $1,799

Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 28-Gauge Overview

The first thing you must know about this mini SBE 3 is that it’s a true joy to shoot. It’s wonderfully light, but with its 28-inch barrel, it’s not whippy. If you’re used to shooting 12-gauge magnum waterfowl loads, the recoil from this 28-gauge will feel gentle, like a buddy giving you a good pat on the shoulder. You’ll be delighted at how quickly the front bead finds birds’ heads and how swiftly you’re able to transition from one target to the next.

Read the Full Review of the 28 Gauge Benelli Super Black Eagle 3

The second thing you must know about the SBE 3 28-gauge is that it absolutely crushes waterfowl at close and mid ranges. I was able to field test the gun in the fall of 2022, shortly after it was introduced and shot it during South Dakota field hunts for mallards, specks, snows, and lesser Canadas. Shooting Federal’s Blackcloud, 3-inch #3s, any birds within 40 yards dropped hard. Later in the fall I shot Hevi-Shot’s HEVI-XII, 3-inch #4s and found that this load, fired through my little 28-gauge was definitively lights out on late-season mallards. On all hunts I used Benelli’s factory Modified choke. Ducks over the spread were shot dead, not crippled.

I’ll admit I was at first skeptical of the 28’s ability to kill waterfowl cleanly. But after hunting with the SBE 3 28-gauge, I’m a true believer. Many diehard waterfowlers are moving to the 28-gauge because it’s so fun to shoot and with the right loads, it’s incredibly effective at mid ranges. The 28-gauge duck gun is not a marketing gimmick. It’s the real deal.

Benelli fans will notice many familiar features on the SBE 3 28 gauge. It has the same inertia driven action as it’s big brother, same ComfortTech system in the stock, and same options for the company’s BE.S.T proprietary coating. The version I field tested had a carbon fiber rib, which is cool, but not necessary. The only quibble I could find with the gun is that it while loading the bolt fed shells into the chamber a little sluggishly at times. Without a shell the bolt slammed home with gusto. Ultimately, it did not affect field performance as my test gun cycled reliably after every shot, even in cold, snowy conditions.  

Mossberg 500 .410

Mossberg

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Key Features

• Gauge: .410
• Chamber: 3-inch
• Length 43.75 inches
• LOP: 13.87 inches
• Overall weight: 6.25 pounds (with 24-inch barrel)
• MSRP: $489

Mossberg 500 .410 Overview

The Mossberg 500 is one of the ultimate budget-priced duck hunting guns. The .410 version of the gun is just as reliable as it’s big brother, and it’s surprisingly effective on ducks when paired with TSS loads. Now this is the real downside of using a .410 for waterfowl, you’ll want to shoot tungsten loads, which are prohibitively expensive for most. However, in small quantities and for certain hunts, this little Mossberg and 3-inch shells loaded with #9 or #7 TSS are a perfect combination.

The .410 has found renewed popularity among turkey hunters recently, and Mossberg makes a turkey model in camo. It might be the ultimate gun to get a kid started turkey hunting. But when duck season rolls around it will work just fine on birds backpedaling over the decoys as well.

Final Thoughts on the Best Duck Hunting Shotguns

What’s cool about duck hunting and duck hunters is that with all the technology that goes into modern shotguns, some of us still choose to kill mallards with a Remington 870 that couldn’t fetch $50 in a gun shop. But, it’s also cool to see how far the best duck hunting shotguns have come, particularly the high-end auto-loaders. Benelli is the shining example of that. In just three decades, they climbed to the top of the shotgun heap and are now on the third generation of the iconic Super Black Eagle. Browning re-engineered its namesake John Browning’s most famed semi-auto (the A5) and has added the gas-operated Maxus, the second iteration of which is one of the most smartly designed duck guns in waterfowl hunting history. Beretta is in its fifth century of operation, and still it had the foresight to create the best semi-auto duck gun ever invented. Between the affordable, workhorse Remington 870 and Beretta’s A400, which is on the precipice of shotgun technology, are a lot of damn good duck hunting shotguns. Now it’s on you to decide which is best for your waterfowl hunting pursuits.

The post The Best Duck Hunting Shotguns for Waterfowlers appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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IT’S DARK and raining on the Canadian prairie. Most sane people are still tucked in bed or just putting on a pot of coffee. But the group of us getting soaked to the bone setting out decoys and brushing in A-frame blinds in a cut pea field are all certifiable. We’re jonesing for cupped wings, and the only way to get our fix is to wake up before the ducks and geese fly from their roost waters to these grain fields to feed.

The morning is full of the usual anticipation, plus an extra helping. That’s because we’re hunting one of the oldest birds in the world: the sandhill crane, a flying, 4-foot-tall velociraptor with a wingspan of up to 7 feet. At first light their distinctive purrs break the prairie stillness, and we are all now very awake. Their razor-sharp talons dwarf the spurs of any 3-year-old tom. Sandhills have long and pointed beaks, and they aren’t afraid to spear you or your retriever with them.

The first cranes glide into the decoys. Some of us have never hunted them before, but even we can tell that once the sandhills commit, there’s no backpedaling. They are big and clumsy and can’t gain altitude fast enough as we raise our shotguns in unison. Most of the birds tumble from the sky in a tangle of wings and legs, but two sail into the peas. Our guide, Dusty Brown, doesn’t hesitate to stomp through the muddy Saskatchewan stubble toward one of them. The bird spouts a vicious hiss and spreads its wings.

But Brown gives the crane a swift boot right in the chest and it flops back. He finishes it quickly. He has to get the crane to the ground to kill it and protect himself and his Lab, Briley. The second, less experienced crane guide is far more tentative, dancing around the second sandhill like a nervous boxer in the opening round of a fight.

“The first time one stood up and hissed at me, I did the same thing,” says Brown, who has since hunted cranes in Texas, season after season. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to attack me or my dog, and so I was hesitant.”

His experience is the product of chasing the annual waterfowl migration from Canada south to the oil fields of Texas and back north in spring for the conservation snow goose order. The 50-year-old guide has been doing this for more than 20 years. Most core duck hunters undertake similar journeys at some point in their careers, starting in the Prairie Pothole Region in September and calling it in the South come January, stopping at points along the way to intercept ducks and geese.

“When the lakes and rivers freeze up, that’s the end of the season for a lot of hunters because the birds move on,” says Brown. “But for guys like me, it’s just another stop along the way. We never want our season to end. So we hitch the trailer, hop in our trucks, and follow the birds.”

A Way of Life

Like so many duck hunters who live a migratory lifestyle, Brown has been infatuated with waterfowl from an early age. A friend’s dad took him on his first hunt, floating a garbage can full of decoys into the marsh, dumping them out, and then coming back for the two boys. They both climbed into the can and used it as a blind while his friend’s father shot ducks. During high school, Brown worked for his dad, slinging pizzas in the bustling flyway of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. He saved all the money he made slicing pepperoni to lease farm ground along the Pudding River. It flooded every year, creating seasonal wetlands for ducks.

The hunting along the river was good enough to last a decade. Brown didn’t start living on the road until his late 20s, when he began buying every goose call he could get his hands on.

“The calls really intrigued me, but I didn’t know anything about contest calling because the world championships in Stuttgart, Arkansas, were 2,000 miles away,” Brown says. “I won the Oregon state goose calling contest in 2001 and became a goose guide at 27 years old.”

That win led to competition calling at contests across the country. Back then you had to listen to live callers to improve (YouTube didn’t exist yet), and that meant traveling from state to state, learning from the best along the way.

By then, waterfowling had Brown firmly in its grasp, and he only wanted to hunt more and see new places. That urge took him up and down the Pacific and Central flyways. The same thing happens to a lot of duck hunters: the early mornings, feathers cutting through wind, tricking birds into the decoys. Some hunters can never get enough, and that’s Brown. He can’t stop. And he doesn’t want to.

“You see a lot of guides who are single because they have devoted their lives to this and a relationship doesn’t play into it,” says Angie Erickson, who hunts with Brown at her Curly Tail camp in Saskatchewan in the fall and spring. “It happened to me. Once you start, it’s an addiction. I hate to call it that, but that’s what it is. I have young twin boys and had to pull the reins in. I was consumed with setting spreads and fooling birds, and I was not spending enough time with my family. When I stopped, it was like going through detox.”

That’s the sacrifice this kind of duck hunting requires. You can lose yourself in the migration, and it pulls many hunters away from the folks they love most. It’s hard to watch hunters with more freedom continue to the next duck camp while you head home and take care of your responsibilities. It can cause jealousy, test friendships, and even end marriages. Brown has seen it happen time and again. It’s the reason, he says, he’s never married and never had children. Because he made his choice years ago, he doesn’t have to choose each season.

Brown won’t be able to pass the knowledge he’s gained as a guide down to a son or daughter, but he does share his expertise with any hunter who’s willing to listen. Unlike some guides who talk at their clients, Brown cares enough to teach his something new. Because odds are they’re not as talented as callers and can’t read birds like Brown.

“Dusty has become one of my best friends in this entire world,” says Hunter Pickett, who began guiding with Brown in Canada and Texas when he was 21. “He’s helped me personally become a better guide and given me the knowledge to kill birds consistently so I can keep doing this for a living. I wake up at 4 a.m. eight or nine months out of the year to go hunt. That’s a great life for a duck hunter.”

Brown’s lessons aren’t patronizing either. When I hunted cranes with him and that handful of other hunters, it felt like old friends sharing a morning together—the way duck hunting ought to always be.

Season of Change

Many guides who travel as much as Brown eventually settle somewhere. They cut back on the number of days they hunt or open outfitting businesses of their own. If Brown has one regret, it’s that he has never successfully worked for himself.

He did try to open his own guide service once in Alberta, with a friend. After years in transit—he’s gone through three Cummins diesel truck engines, which last up to 350,000 miles apiece, in the last two decades—Brown put down stakes. But it was bad timing. Just as the 2001 waterfowl season kicked off, terrorists flew into the World Trade Center. Air travel was suspended for only a few days, but new flight restrictions and fear of another attack caused clients to cancel, and the business went under.

It was a major financial hit for Brown, and it understandably soured him on ever owning another guide service. The COVID-19 pandemic only solidified his stance on never taking that chance again as he watched many Canadian outfitters shutter their businesses due to the extended U.S.-Canada border closure.

“I’ve always worked for someone else,” Brown says. “I think that if I could have started a business here in Oregon, that’s what I would have done. But I just never felt comfortable doing that because we don’t have the bird numbers to make it sustainable.”

Still, not owning an outfit has allowed Brown the freedom to move on when he’s ready for the next adventure. He can’t help that the migration is in his blood. Even at 50, he continues to follow the birds as they make stops along their traditional routes while exploring new spots as migration patterns shift. Brown shows no signs of slowing down.

“I still get excited as we come out of summer and the cooler months are upon us,” Brown says. “You start to see fields full of geese in late August, pay attention to how they act, and I just can’t wait to get on the road—to be there when the first birds come to the grain fields of Canada.”

This story originally ran in the Migrations Issue of Outdoor Life. Read more OL+ stories.

The post Dusty Brown Sacrificed It All for a Duck Season That Never Ends appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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In the old days of waterfowl hunting, you could knock on almost any farmer’s door and get permission to hunt for the day with nothing more than a handshake and a smile. Or at least, that’s what I’m told. I’m too young to have been around for those good old days. My duck hunting reality is a little more of a toss up: There are many farmers who will grant duck or goose hunting access, but there are also plenty who won’t.

The landowners who do allow access are usually well known by local hunters, so there’s often competition for their fields or sloughs. It takes real effort (or serious cash) to get good waterfowl hunting permission on private land these days. But it can still be done. Don’t let viral videos of landowners berating hunters discourage you. Most farmers and ranchers are great people, and those epic hunts with greenheads tornadoing down into a cut cornfield can still be had by a polite freelance hunter.

So, if you want to have more success getting permission and avoid pissing off the local farmers, ranchers, and hunters, follow these guidelines.

Make Connections and Act Like a Local

Getting permission to waterfowl hunt on private land is going to be harder in some regions of the country than in others. Duck hunting is more popular in Louisiana than it is in, say, Oregon, which means that a waterfowler in Lafayette will have a lot more competition for private spots than a hunter in Salem. Every region also has its own cultural quirks and differences. Being aware of these and blending in with the locals will serve you well in your quest to find a productive field or marsh.

Regardless of whether you’re eyeing a cornfield in the Midwest or a timber hole in the Southeast, however, having some sort of connection with the landowner will greatly increase your odds of getting access.

“If you don’t have relationships with the people there, and you’re not from the area, it makes it really difficult to get access,” says Joe Genzel, a longtime Midwestern waterfowler, communications director for Ducks Unlimited, and former Outdoor Life senior editor.

Making connections with other landowners and hunters in the area will help you a lot more than just poring over maps and knocking on doors at random. If you or a friend knows another farmer in a specific area, take advantage of that connection and see if they can introduce you to the landowner you’re seeking permission from. You can also network with other like-minded hunters by joining clubs or Facebook groups and introducing yourself to people who might have more connections than you do.

“That relationship part of it is really key,” Genzel says, “and I think sometimes you have to set up that framework before you start asking for permission. Finding a way in before you go directly to that landowner and ask will definitely benefit you.”

Know Who You’re Talking To

Does this mean you should give up on asking landowners for permission if you’re from out of state and don’t know anybody in the area? Of course not. It just means you might have to work a little harder to convince a landowner to let you through their gate.

As an example, Genzel brings up a small tract of private land that he found in Ohio last year. Some Canada geese were loafing around the place, but he also noticed cows on the property. Knowing that the landowner probably wouldn’t want him hunting around their livestock, Genzel brought the issue up at the forefront and asked if he could hunt some morning when the cows weren’t around.

“She ended up letting me hunt and told me there was a day that they wouldn’t have cattle on it,” Genzel says. “Stuff like that—taking notice of what the property owner has on their land, what’s going on and what kind of farmer they are. All that is important. If you just walk up and say, ‘Hey there’s ducks on your pond and I’d like to hunt them,’ most people are gonna say ‘no.’”

Hunters can also greatly increase their odds of success by finding some common ground with a landowner right away. Being able to ask about their crops, chat about the weather, and just shoot the breeze with a farmer are all part of this. Picking up on simple cues is another way to buddy up with a farmer who doesn’t know you from Adam.

“It’s easy for me because I do pest control, so I’m kind of embedded with farmers,” says Todd Gifford, a Minnesota hunter who’s spent years mastering the art of asking for permission. “But if you pull in and notice there’s a Donald Trump sign in the driveway, then you know what you’re gonna be talking about.”

Avoid Deer Gun Seasons

If the farmer doesn’t deer hunt his own property, you can bet that his kids, grandkids, neighbors, or buddies do. And farmers don’t want waterfowlers in their field while they’re trying to deer hunt. You can improve your odds of getting permission by simply avoiding rifle or shotgun seasons in serious whitetail states like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and the Dakotas. On the upside, firearm seasons are typically much shorter than waterfowl season.

Be Polite, Confident, and Sociable

Politeness is obviously key when you’re asking a stranger for permission to hunt their land. Say “sir” or “ma’am,” be humble, and stay respectful. In the right circumstance, you might as well pretend you’re speaking with someone’s grandmother in church. But the way Gifford sees it, acting confident and sociable with a landowner are just as important as being polite.

“You gotta be super confident about what you’re gonna do,” Gifford says. “Be forthcoming right when you get to the door. They’ll either say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ and if it’s a ‘no,’ be just as grateful as if it was a ‘yes.’ Just think of [their land] as a refuge. And who knows, a lot of times they’ll say ‘no,’ but then I strike up a conversation and they’ll say ‘yes’ later.”

Gifford has learned over the years that most farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners are social creatures who are happy to take a break for a conversation with a stranger. Take advantage of this fact and don’t be afraid to spend time chit-chatting. Maybe they don’t give you permission at the end of the conversation, but the next time they run into their neighbor down at the local café, they just might put in a good word for you.

“Just get to know ‘em. If you build that rapport, it’s gonna help you with other people. All that just builds on itself,” Gifford says. “And it carries over. If you get confident with your area permissions, your confidence when you leave the state is just as high. Even if the permission doesn’t work out, I’d rather just talk to those people and find out what’s going on with them. It’s just good for you to talk to people, and a lot of times it leads to McDonald saying, ‘Well you know what, I’m not really fond of hunting, but I know the Chamberlains have a great marsh. Here, come on in the house and let me get them on the line.’”

Bring a Kid and a Gift

Sometimes when you’re knocking on doors, the people you’re with are just as important as the things you say. Genzel, for one, has found that his odds of getting a “yes” go up significantly whenever he brings his son along.

“It always seems like if you just go with two guys, it’s almost always a ‘no,’” Genzel says. “But I would say I’ve had the most success door-knocking when I take my son with me. And honestly, I’ve had a good amount of success when there’s a woman hunting with me, too. It lets people know that I’m doing this to get my son into hunting or to hunt with a friend. Think about who you’re going up to that door with and how you’re presenting yourself to that person.”

If you don’t have kids and can’t borrow a buddy’s son for the day, you can still help your chances by being self-aware and genuine with the landowner. The last person they want on their property is a selfish, ego-driven hunter who’s only interested in killing birds.

On that note, one of the best ways to prove that you’re worthy of hunting their property is to bring along a gift or suggest a trade to the landowner. They may turn down your offer to mow their lawn or string fence and let you hunt anyway. If they do take you up on it, then a chore isn’t a bad price to pay for a good hunt.

If you are lucky enough to secure permission, you’d be shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t bring the landowner a gift of some kind after you’re done hunting. Offer to take the farmer or his grandson hunting with you, or simply leave a few (cleaned) ducks behind at the end of the day. A case of beer or bottle of whiskey never hurts, either. Even just stopping by to say hello and thanks again after your hunt will help your chances of getting invited back for another shoot.

“Weird things happen when you’re kind like that,” Gifford says. “He’ll stop you on the road afterwards and ask you how your hunt went. Everybody’s happy, and it’s not this weird, anti-social thing where you’re walking on eggshells. It’s the old-school way.”

Build and Maintain Good Relationships

The worst thing you can do after you get permission from a landowner is to piss them off and burn that bridge. This kills your chances of ever hunting there again. It also makes that landowner less likely to grant access to other hunters in the future. When hunters collectively lose permission on a large property, that only puts more pressure on surrounding properties. One bad experience with a hunter can be all it takes for a landowner to close hunting opportunities for good.

Getting clear directions from the landowner from the get-go will help with this, and one of the most important questions you can ask them is where you can drive and where you should park. Rutting up a field, blocking a road, or leaving a gate open are some of the biggest mistakes you can make when driving on private land for the first time.

Other steps you can take to ensure you’ll be invited back:

• Pick up spent shells and leave the property better than you found it.
• Don’t shoot near livestock, buildings, main roads, or neighbors.
• Play nice with other hunters who might have permission, too. (You want to avoid conflict and complaints to the farmer at all costs. They don’t want to deal with B.S.)
• Stay out of unharvested crops.
• Remember to leave some token of appreciation after the hunt.

At the end of the day, getting permission to hunt on private land is more about building relationships with other people than finding the best holding spots for birds. This is just as important when interacting with other hunters as it is when approaching landowners.

Read Next: Lessons We Can Learn from the Viral “I Own the F*cking Land” Video

“The waterfowl community is pretty small, and it becomes even smaller at a local level, so keeping your reputation pristine is really important to access,” says Genzel.

Gifford agrees. And even though he admits that the whole process of asking for permission can be a chore, he’s come to appreciate the humble door knock as an essential part of scouting for birds.

“I mean, it’s what we have to do. Getting access is the main issue before we even get after ‘em,” he says. “But to be honest, I think scouting, talking to people, and doing that part is almost as good as the chase.”

The post How to Get Permission to Hunt Ducks and Geese (Without Pissing Off the Locals) appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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It’s sad, but unsurprising, that one of the most-watched duck hunting videos on Youtube right now is about a landowner hassling a bunch of hunters who set up on his property boundary. Jacob Sweere who has a hunting Youtube channel with a modest following filmed an insane interaction between his hunting buddies and a North Dakota landowner who was less than thrilled to see them shooting ducks from an A-frame blind positioned along (but seemingly not on) his property line. The video now has more than 1.4 million views. Both the landowner and one of the hunters from the video have been charged with misdemeanors (read the story behind those charges here).

You can watch all the drama unfold for yourself, or if you’re an experienced waterfowler, you can just skip it since you’ve likely seen something like this happen before.

The hunters in this video do an excellent job of keeping their cool while the landowner went absolutely berserk. But the details of what happened in that North Dakota field are less useful than figuring out how to prevent it from happening to you.

There Are Assholes Among Us

This sort of rage monster behavior is, unfortunately, part of our duck hunting culture. Years ago, I hunted with a guide who told a story about how he once met a rival hunter in the middle of a river to fight over a spot. They ended up getting in a fistfight and the guide “almost drowned” the other guy. The guide’s father was hunting with him that day and after watching the violence unfold, vowed to never hunt with his son again. The guide did not seem ashamed of this fact.

The point is, there are some dudes (it’s always dudes) who like the conflict. You can usually spot these folks coming from a mile away, and when you do, it’s best to just avoid them. I’d rather find a new spot, and outwork or outmaneuver another hunter than fight him in the middle of a river. Simply put, this type of guy is typically not the smartest (maybe that’s why he’s so mad?), which makes him easy to work around.

Stop Trouble Before It Starts

On the upside, most waterfowlers are great people. That’s why I always try to talk to other hunters at the parking lot or boat ramp to make sure we’re not tripping each other up. If I got there first, I simply tell them where I plan to set up. If they got there first, I ask where they’re going and say I’ll go around them. Usually this works out nicely. Likewise, most farmers and ranchers are great people. I’ve done a lot of freelance waterfowl hunting in North Dakota and the farmers I’ve met there have been among the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever spent time with.

Read Next: How to Get Permission to Hunt Ducks and Geese (Without Pissing Off the Locals)

It seems like the kids in the video did communicate with another group of hunters as they set up, which was good work by them. If it hadn’t been for the irate landowner, both groups probably would have had a good morning of hunting.

My duck hunting buddy Todd Gifford, who is a public-land duck hunting veteran, will often invite a competing hunter to sit with us, rather than having him set up close by and compete for the same ducks. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t.

The best things you can do are: 1) get there early, sometimes super early, 2) talk with the other hunters and work together, 3) always have a backup spot you can run to if things go wrong.

READ NEXT: What Really Happened to the Duck Hunters Who Were Killed on Reelfoot Lake?

Hunting the Line Is Asking for Trouble

It doesn’t seem like the kids in the video did anything technically wrong, but they were set up right on the property line. Even where this is legal, it’s risky. If the neighboring landowner doesn’t want you out there, he could come hassle you, or at least talk to you. If you drop a bird across the line, do you know the rules for legally retrieving it?

If nothing else you might have the neighboring landowner watching you all morning, which is never fun. When you can, set up well off the line. Hunt far away from houses or outbuildings. If you can hide your trucks, do it. Just try to get away from people altogether. This usually leads to the best hunting (because that’s what the birds are doing, too), and it always leads to less disruption.

Usually if there’s a questionable spot that requires you to set up with minimal cover right on the line, the hunt isn’t going to be lights out anyway. So you’re probably better off looking for something else.

Even If You’re Right, Your Hunt Is Blown

As the video progresses, birds start trying to get into the decoys—but can’t because the landowner is standing right there, spooking them off. The game wardens were called and ultimately the authorities will decide if either party did anything wrong. But here’s what we know for sure: These kids had their hunt blown up.

And that’s the problem with disputes like this. Nobody wins. You don’t shoot ducks. And even if you do scratch out a couple, it’s not fun. I always avoid confrontation when I can, partly because it’s a distraction.

There’s a fine line between knowing and standing up for your legal rights as a hunter and needlessly getting into arguments (while you’d rather be hunting). For the most part, we should hunt all the places that are available to us. I’ve killed ducks and geese in a flooded ditch next to a golf course, in an old lady’s backyard, and on a little island next to a county park (all legal setups, mind you). But in all those cases I felt fairly confident we wouldn’t have an issue.

I’ll never hunt a spot where I know I’ll have conflict, even if it’s within my right to do so.

Know When to Cut Your Losses

One afternoon years ago, I was duck hunting tidal bays in Rhode Island with a buddy. We set up in a boat near the shore of a vineyard, but below the high-tide line and far enough away from any manmade structures. In other words, we were totally legal. A few ducks came in and we shot them. Not long after we spotted a golf cart cruising through the vineyard toward us. A man in a suit got out and asked us politely, but sternly, to please leave. My buddy began describing the hunting rules to him when the man cut him off.

“I don’t know all the regulations and you’re probably right about all of it,” the man said. “But we’re trying to have a wedding up there and the gunfire is scaring some of the guests.”

We packed up and headed for a new spot. Sometimes, even when you do everything right, your hunt is going to get ruined by someone. That’s part of the game. The very best hunters chuckle to themselves, pick up their shit, and find the next spot.

The post Lessons We Can Learn from the Viral “I Own the F*cking Land” Video appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Best Versatility for Honkers		Tim Grounds G-Force	SEE IT
Best Intermediate Honker		Heron SRT-1	SEE IT
Best Specklebelly		Birdhouse Calls Speck	SEE IT

Mastering any goose call, whether it’s for big honkers, lesser Canadas, specklebellies, or snows, takes talent coupled with years of practice. Many of us grew up blowing flutes, which became popular in the 1950s. Then, in the late 1980s, the short-reed goose call made its debut. Since then, it’s become the go-to choice for goose hunters, namely because it’s easier to blow than a flute and quite versatile. 

The broke-in guts system of short-reed goose calls is what makes them so approachable to hunters of all calling abilities. A standard reed that has not been broken in is stiff, which makes it harder for callers to produce the sounds they want from a call. You have to spend countless hours (it can take years) to break in a new gut system. That process has been expedited by the development of molds, allowing worn-in reeds to be mass produced, which means more callmakers building calls.

And that is where it gets tricky. Because of this advancement in reed technology, there are a dizzying number of short-reed calls on the market. How to decide which one is best for you is no easy task. To help, I combined my knowledge of calls with the expertise of some of the best hunters and stage callers in the country. Here are the best goose calls, including specklebelly, snow, and Canada, that made the cut.

• Best Versatility for Honkers: Tim Grounds G-Force
• Best Low-end for Honkers: Molt Gear EX3
• Best Intermediate Honker: Heron SRT-1
• Best Traffic: Bill Saunders Traffic
• Best Lesser: GK Overture
• Best Flute: Sean Mann Eastern Shoreman
• Best Specklebelly: Birdhouse Calls Speck
• Best Snow: Sutter Basin Meridian 

Best Versatility for Big Honkers: Tim Grounds G-Force

Tim Grounds

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Why It Made the Cut

Tim Grounds’ G-Force is built for all skill levels. You can get your start with this call and never outgrow it.

Key Features

• Short-reed
• Triple-Crown worn-in guts
• Long, open exhaust

Pros

• Made for all skill levels
• Fast, with incredible low end

Cons

• Almost  a $200 call

Product Description 

Two-time world goose calling champion Kile Jones called the G-Force “the strongest call in hunting right now.” When you listen to the sound file from company owner and champion caller Hunter Grounds, you will understand why. Of course, Hunter is one of the best individuals to ever pick up a short-reed, but anyone can blow the G-Force. That’s a deviation from the stigma Tim Grounds calls once had. Originally, the calls were built for experienced callers only, but over the years, TG has made its calls more accessible to the average hunter. 

The Triple-Crown worn-in guts were developed by another calling legend Kelley Powers. Top end volume and the power you can generate with the TC system is unmatched. I’ve seen Hunter Grounds call competitively and there are very few that can touch his  speed and force with which he moves air through the call. That would cause many gut systems to fail, likely cracking the reed, but the TC can handle any amount of air flow you can muster.

Best Low-End Honkers: Molt Gear EX3

Molt Gear

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Why It Made the Cut

Built specifically for putting big Canada geese on the ground, this call is very guttural—ideal for finishing honkers.

Key Features

• Bored out barrel
• Green “Phantom” guts
• Funnel channel mouthpiece

Pros

• Short reed
• Bored barrel
• Built-in pressure chamber to trap air

Cons

• Average callers will need to move more air through the call

Product Description 

Drop a pin on a map anywhere in the country to the crew at Molt Gear and they will kill big geese. That’s not bragging; owner Scott Threinen, Mike Benjamin, and Craig Rosenau are simply some of the most knowledgeable honker hunters in the country. And that know-how shows up in the design of Molt Gear’s calls, like the EX3, which has the best low-end capability of any call on the list. You can make deep murmurs or moans, and authentic sounding clucks with this short-reed. Big air callers will have no issues blowing this call. The bore is wide, and a compression chamber slows the air to give you better control. But you can’t stop pushing air through the EX3, which will be a challenge for some novice callers. You can get this call running fast too, so when geese are on approach it’s easy to mimic the excitement of birds on the water warning visitors that there are boss honkers below.

Best Intermediate Honker: Heron SRT-1

Heron Game Calls

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Why It Made the Cut

If you are an average goose caller, the SRT-1 will allow you to take the next step.

Key Features

• Short-reed
• Acrylic

Pros

• Gut system caters to mid-level caller
• Even without back pressure, it’s goosey 

Cons

• Can be tough to find

Product Description 

If you struggle putting enough air through a short-reed, the Heron SRT-1 is one of the best goose calls to cure that problem. I like calls that immediately improve my goose cadence, and the SRT-1 did. There is some forgiveness with this call in case you run short on air. It won’t cover up a mistake, but the SRT-1 won’t exacerbate it either. You don’t have to put much back pressure on this call to draw a big goose sound from it. And even if you leave your hands off the bore, the short-reed still sounds like a honker. You do have to message owner Rusty Heron on social media to order one of the calls, so don’t go looking for one at your local retailer.

Best Traffic: Bill Saunders Traffic

Bill Saunders Calls and Gear

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Why It Made the Cut

It’s fast and loud, perfect for running traffic.

Key Features

• Short reed
• Available in wood or acrylic

Pros

• Responsive
• Top end volume

Cons

• Can’t slow roll air pressure

Product Description

If you hunt eastern Washington (where Bill Saunders is based) you have to be ready to compete for birds and there are few calls better equipped to do that than the Traffic, thanks to its speed and volume. Most guides in the Pacific Northwest will have this call on their lanyard, but you don’t have to be an advanced caller to get it running. The key to operating the Traffic is pushing big air from the jump. You can’t slow roll this call. Start hammering on it once it touches your lips and don’t let up. The Traffic can crack through big winds when you break it over, so it’s ideal for drawing attention to your spread. If you can’t get on the X, this is the go-to call.

Best Lesser: GK Overture

GK Calls

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Why It Made the Cut

Smaller profile calls are typically harder to operate because it’s more difficult to force air through them. That’s not the case with the GK Overture.

Key Features

• Short reed
• Broke-in guts
• Shaved reed

Pros

• For a little call it has volume
• Easy to manage back pressure

Cons

• Takes more air than you might be used to

Product Description

GK made the Overture more user friendly by making the mouthpiece wider than any lesser call I have blown. Calling little geese is often challenging because these calls are typically smaller, making it harder to run air through the bore. That’s not the case with the Overture, which offers this call in a true lesser or total control gut system. The former gives you more of a “shriek” cluck that lessers make. With the latter, you have a bit more low-end control of the call. It can be hard to get the right back pressure on the Overture due to its small size, but even if your hand chamber isn’t on point, you can still draw incredible sounds from this short reed. 

Best Flute: Sean Mann Eastern Shoreman

Sean Mann Outdoors

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Why It Made the Cut

Some flute calls are basic in nature, but you can make a variety of sounds from Sean Mann’s Eastern Shoreman.

Key Features

• Open mouthpiece, flared bore
• Hand-tuned

Pros

• Simple to use
• Deep goose moan and murmurs 

Cons

• Pricey
• Cumbersome

Product Description

The Eastern Shoreman is actually not a flute-style call, but it is built in the shape of one. Most flutes are not capable of making the array of goose sounds this call can. The trick is knowing how much air to use and how much back pressure to apply—both can be tricky for inexperienced users. You can’t force a lot of air through the Shoreman unless you close off the bore with your hands. You don’t completely shut the air off, but it requires more back pressure than you would apply to a short-reed. Once you find the right hand placement, it’s a responsive call that has plenty of deep goose sound. And even if you never completely master this call, it will still kill geese with simple honks and clucks. In fact, it’s an excellent late-season choice when big Canada geese become less vocal.

Best Specklebelly: Birdhouse Calls Speck

Birdhouse Calls

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Why It Made the Cut

Ken White’s Birdhouse calls reflect countless specklebelly hunting hours; they have the clean top end pitch that turns specks on a dime.    

Key Features

• Slim, functional design 
• High volume and pitch

Pros

• Breaks with minimal back pressure
• Great low-end clucks

Cons

• Only small batches produced

Product Description

Specklebelly calls are a fairly recent invention. When I was guiding on the Texas coastal prairie in the late 1990’s, we used polycarb Rich-N-Tone snow calls with back pressure to achieve the right yodels. They would call birds but were hardly in the same class as today’s dedicated speck calling creations. Ken White and his father were in the same boat, only in California’s San Joaquin Valley. They had to come up with a call that specks responded to—which may surprise you—and then Ken started building calls for hunters. The only drawback is Birdhouse availability; it’s a boutique call made in small numbers. Worth the wait though; the call truly is special. Easy to blow with perfect pitch, it’s a speck call in a class all its own.       

“Coyote calls,” White said. “We took OLT coyote calls and modified them until we got the sound we needed. They are designed to sound like rabbits, so that high pitch was already there. We played around with combinations until the right back pressure produced that ripping yodel and bottom end cluck.” —John Gordon

Best Snow: Sutter Basin Meridian 

Sutter Basin

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Why It Made the Cut

The call breaks a clean bark, and it’s easy to blow. Take it low, rip it high, and mix some high-pitched Ross sounds in; this call does it all. 

Key Features

• Acrylic
• Ample mouthpiece opening for smooth control
• Adjustable guts for pitch control

Pros

• Control without large air volume
• Sharp and clear sound
• Ultra-realistic

Cons

• Only color choice is white
• Availability

Product Description

Owner Gene Carter has hunted ducks and geese in California’s  Sacramento Valley for decades, fine tuning his methods and creating some of the most realistic duck and goose calls I’ve heard and used. Snow calls need one thing in them above anything else: flexibility. If you can’t go high, drop low, and back high again in a split second you need to find another call. Being able to hit the super high pitch Ross sound is also critical as those little geese are around in bigger numbers than ever. They are easy to fool if you have the best snow goose decoys and you can sound like them. Another cool feature of Sutter Basin’s Meridian is the easy to adjust guts. Carter built in grooves on the sound board backside; the lower the board in the insert, the higher the pitch. —John Gordon

How I Picked the Best Goose Calls of 2023

Call selection is subjective, so I tried to choose versatile short-reeds (and one flute) that make sense for the calling abilities of a majority of hunters. I used my experience as a hunter, the time I have spent around accomplished goose callers (meat and stage), and also spoke with many callamakers and world champions to pick these calls. Then I blew each call for a few days to get a feel for their speed, responsiveness, low-end, high-end, and the amount of air and back pressure needed to operate the call. 

FAQs

Final Thoughts

Patience and practice are the two keys to becoming a better goose caller. If you are just learning, give yourself an entire off-season of blowing some of the best goose calls. Don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t click right away. It took me the better part of a year to understand how to move air through a call. Then I watched “Bad Grammar,” and it finally clicked. You have to do something similar. Find a way to learn that works for you. You’re going to have success and setbacks, but spending the time blowing your call is the key ingredient. 

The post The Best Goose Calls of 2023 appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Best Overall		Dave Smith Decoys	SEE IT
Best Floater		Dakota Decoys Xtreme	SEE IT
Best Sock		White Rock Headless	SEE IT

Snow goose hunters that invest in thousands of decoys are some of the most passionate hunters in North America. The substantial cost of decoys is just the start. You need a trailer to haul all those full-bodies, a dependable truck to pull the trailer, an ATV to navigate muddy spring ag fields, plus the cost of gas for both vehicles, and the cases of shotshells you intend to shoot. By the time you’re watching a giant flock of snows spin into the decoys, you’ve spent damn near $100,000. And if you drop that kind of cash on hunting, you’re obsessed with it. 

Because you’re making this investment, it’s important to know which decoys suit your style of hunting—and budget—best. So to help you out, here is what I’ve learned about the quality of snow goose decoys on the market. I’ve hunted over many of the best snow goose decoys, and the ones I haven’t I asked some of the most ardent snow goose hunters in the country to give me their opinions. 

• Best Overall: Dave Smith Decoys
• Best Value: White Rock Evacs
• Best Oversize: Avian-X AXP
• Best for Big Spreads: GHG Pro-Grade
• Best for Small Spreads: SX Full-Body
• Best Floater: Dakota Decoys Xtreme
• Best Silhouette: Dive Bomb V2
• Best Sock: White Rock Headless
• Best Rotary Machine: SilloSocks Tornado

Best Overall: Dave Smith Decoys

Dave Smith Decoys

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Why It Made the Cut

There is no more realistic production decoy in all of waterfowl than DSD.

Key Features

• Warm white paint scheme
• Molded legs
• Large motion cone
• Carry loop
• Pinned, reflective stakes
• Available in 10-packs (seven feeders, three sentries)

Pros

• Paint does not easily rub off
• Ultra-realistic
• Available in juvie and blue goose options

Cons

• Pricey
• Limited supply

Product Description

Dave Smith is known for attention to detail in his decoys. This snow goose fake is as close as you will get to the real thing, from the paint scheme to the feathering. The paint color was matched with the actual color of real snows. I liken it to looking at a soft white light bulb versus those blinding LED bulbs that sting your retinas as soon as you flip the on switch. That’s kind of the same thought DSD had in making the color change. They believe older, smarter geese will flare off those brighter full-bodies. 

These decoys come in 10-packs, and are also available in an all feeder pack, blue geese (which come in an interphase and traditional paint scheme), and juveniles. Some of the feeders have the rusty color that snow geese develop on their faces during the spring from feeding hard. And the legs are molded from actual snow goose legs. The 20-inch fiber-glass stakes are pinned, so that plastic top piece that fits into the motion base won’t come off when you are picking them up. There is also a piece of reflective tape around the top of the stake, a nice feature when you are setting up or tearing down in the dark.

Best Value: White Rock Evacs

White Rock Decoys

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Why It Made the Cut

White Rock Evacs are light, offer quick set ups, and are incredibly durable.

Key Features

• 24-inch stake connected to decoy
• Motion cone designed for natural feeding movements
• Made of flexible EVA plastic
• Available in six-packs (four feeders, two sentries)

Pros

• Flexible EVA plastic shell
• Convenient one-piece stake-to-decoy design
• Affordable
• Unique motion system

Cons

• Paint scheme is bright

Product Description

I picked the Evacs as the best value because they are one of the most affordable full-bodies ($140 per six-pack or $23 per decoy) in production. The motion system actually makes the decoys look like real geese feeding. Sometimes in a stiff wind, price-point field decoys will spin left to right in an unnatural motion or fall over. You can get away with that if you’re field hunting mallards, but not adult snows. 

The 24-inch stakes conveniently lock into the decoys. That way, you can set and pull the Evacs in one step. White Rock made this innovation because they are adamant mobile hunters, but for those who like to take their time, the stakes will detach from the decoy. 

These full-bodies are constructed of a soft EVA plastic, making them more pliable. If you run over an EVA decoy with your truck or ATV, they are much less likely to break because of their flexibility. There is some decent feather detail on the Evacs for added realism, though the paint scheme is bright, so you will want to dull them up. They’re probably a better decoy after one season of hard use when they’re dirty and look more like an actual snow goose.

Best Oversized: Avian-X AXP 

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Why It Made the Cut

Few in waterfowl care more about quality than Fred Zink (founder of Avian-X), and his decoys are some of the best ever engineered.

Key Features

• Available in six-packs, including two juvenile feeders
• Adult blue goose and juvenile options
• Detailed feathering
• One-piece
• 24-inch stakes

Pros

• Magnum size decoy for added visibility 
• Intricate feather detail
• Available in adult and juvie options, including blue geese

Cons

• Price
• Limited stock

Product Description

Fred Zink’s Avian-X AXP full-bodies continue to be a go-to decoy for late-season snow goose hunters, particularly in Canada where a smaller, life-like rig typically kills more birds. The only problem is this could be the last year they are available—Avian-X is dropping snows from their lineup. AXPs are slightly larger than actual snow geese, which makes them stand out a bit more than other fakes. 

The detail in the feathering is only second to DSDs, but you will have to pay a premium price. A six-pack costs $230 (that’s an average of $38 per decoy, the same price as a DSD). Avian-X offers the AXPs in adult and juvenile options in lesser snows and blue geese. The blue goose juvenile is the kind of outside-the-box innovation Zink is known for—no one else makes such a decoy. He is very meticulous in his approach to hunting, and his decoys reflect that. 

Best for Big Spreads: GHG Pro-Grade

GHG Decoys

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Why It Made the Cut

GHG Pro-Grades were some of the first go-to plastic full-bodies for guides because they were so durable, and they’re still one of the best snow goose decoys available.

Key Features

• Four different fixed head positions
• Dulled paint scheme 
• Real-life size
• RealMotion stake system
• Quick grab tail loops
• Available in six-packs (four feeders, two sentries) 

Pros

• Durable 
• One-piece design

Cons

• $33 per decoy is on the high-end for the GHGs

Product Description

If you hunted spring snow geese in the 1990s it likely happened over the GHG Pro-Grades. They are still a quality full-body. The Pro-Grades offer feather and body detail you won’t find in a bargain decoy. GHG has been using the RealMotion system for decades. It makes these decoys dance in the wind, but they won’t spin like a top in a seriously stiff breeze. Paint will rub off on the Pro-Grades, but it’s an acceptable amount for snow goose hunters who are loading and unloading decoys into and out of the trailer countless times per season. If you hunt a permanent spread, there won’t be as much paint loss. One drawback: The beak and leg color is almost red, not the pinkish-orange you see on actual birds.

Best for Small Spreads: SX Full-Body

SX Decoys

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Why It Made the Cut

Owner Scott Butz is one of the few hunters that chases snow geese all fall and spring from Canada to the southern U.S. and back again. He knows his stuff and his decoys reflect that.

Key Features

• Bird Vision paint application
• Life-size decoy
• 24-inch stakes with reflective tape
• Available in 10-packs (six feeders, three sentry, one looker)
• Carry loops for pickup

Pros

• Bird Vision paint application adds UV reflection
• Durable plastic decoy
• Incredible feather detail
• Priced right

Cons

• Not widely available yet

Product Description

Core snow goose hunters know when an outfitter is having an incredible spring killing white geese. When I talked to a handful of guides and hunters in the know, they all kept saying Swift River—based in North Dakota—cleaned house during the conservation order. The decoys they hunted over were Scott Butz’s SX full-bodies. If these decoys look familiar, it’s because they closely resemble the Avian-X AXPs. Butz and Zink worked together for years, so naturally the two decoys have some similarities. However, the SX fakes are the size of an actual snow goose, not magnums like the AXPs. The decoys are coated with Bird Vision paint too, which reflects UV rays instead of soaking them up. Birds see colors more vividly than humans, and Bird Vision enhances the realism of your decoy. Carry loops come standard with every decoy, and the 24-inch stakes are equipped with reflective tape so you can find them in the dark.

Best Floater: Dakota Decoys Xtreme

Dakota Decoys

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Why It Made the Cut

There are few decoy manufacturers that produce a well-made snow goose floater—Dakota Decoy is one of them.

Key Features

• One-piece design
• Available in six-packs (four sleepers, two uprights)
• Weighted keel
• Magnum size decoy

Pros

• Oversized floater for better visibility
• Weighted keel makes it ride properly

Cons

• Heavy

Product Description

Snow goose floaters are an afterthought for most decoy makers. They don’t spend much time on the design. Bill Willroth at Dakota Decoy did, and it shows. These one-piece plastic floaters are oversized, which I like for water setups. If you are hunting water and a group of snows flies over top of the spread, they are likely to at least give you a look. When they do, I’d rather have a bigger, more visible decoy. 

The keels are weighted, so the decoys will ride properly on the water and are more apt to right themselves if you toss one and it lands on the water upside down. My only issue is the Dakotas are heavy, but that makes them more durable. And there’s really no way around heft when you build a plastic magnum goose floater, especially if you want it to last.

Best Silhouette: Dive Bomb V2

Dive Bomb Industries

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Why It Made the Cut

Silhouettes have been around for decades, but only a handful of companies really invest in the quality of their 2D decoys, and Dive Bomb is on that list.

Key Features

• Two-dimensional decoy
• Available in dozen, five-dozen, or 10-dozen packs
• Four poses per dozen (six feeders, two resters, two quarterting, two lookers)
• One-piece steel stake
• Offered in blue goose and juvie options

Pros

• More affordable than full-bodies
• Great for adding depth to the spread
• Easy to set and retrieve

Cons

• Won’t last as long as full-body decoys
• Stake system in flimsy

Product Description

The Dive Bomb V2 silhouettes are ideal for making your spread more visible to white geese without having to pay more for full-bodies. Flat decoys, like thes V2s, disappear and then reappear to the snows flying above the spread. That peaks a bird’s interest, hopefully long enough that they cup into shotgun range before they realize it’s a piece of corrugated cardboard coated in a protective plastic covering. 

Dive Bombs come in two pieces, the decoy and a two-pronged steel stake that slides through slots on the top of the decoy. The stake is not heavy-duty and there is a good amount of flex in it, so if the ground is half-frozen it can be a pain to set the V2s. You will have to use a screw gun with a drill bit and make two small holes for the prongs. V2s are durable. I know outfitters that run the Canada goose version of them daily, and the decoys hold up well—except for the ones that get shot up by clients, of course.

Best Sock: White Rock Headless

White Rock Decoys

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Why It Made the Cut

The White Rock wind sock is one of the most durable pieces of gear in waterfowl. They also add more motion to your spread than a full body at a much lower price.

Key Features

• Tuf-snap support system
• Drain holes to let water out
• 24-inch fiberglass stake
• Available in dozen or 10-dozen packs
• Lifetime warranty

Pros

• Stake system saves space
• Sturdy, won’t fall over in big winds or when a dog runs through decoys
• Inexpensive

Cons

• Not as realistic as full-body
• Folding stake sticks after time

Product Description

When fields are muddy, it’s far easier to cart in bags full of White Rock Headless socks—rather than full-bodies—to increase the size of the spread. These socks come completely assembled, so you don’t have to spend time sliding on rubber o-rings, then the socks, and springs to start hunting. To deploy the socks, just unfold the 24-inch stake and stick it into the ground. A rubber mallet can be used to pound them in if the ground is frozen. The stakes have a small piece of wire that runs along the back of the sock to keep them upright and catch the wind while hunting. 

When you pick them up, you must push the backbone forward and press down. Now, that system can start to stick after hard use or in the cold but more often than not, the decoy easily folds up. There is also a small hole in the underside of the sock so water can drain. Durability is not an issue with the White Rocks. You could run the ATV over the socks while they are staked out in the spread and it’s likely they won’t break. However, White Rock does offer a lifetime warranty with these decoys.

Best Rotary Machine: SilloSocks Tornado

SilloSocks

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Why It Made the Cut

The SilloSocks Tornado machine adds more motion to your decoys without any wind assistance.

Key Features

• Two- or four-arm setup
• Remote-controlled speed settings
• 15-foot power cord (runs on 12-volt battery)
• Rotates flapper decoys in 14-foot circle

Pros

• Added motion
• Speed control by remote

Cons

• Flapper decoys not included
• It’s time consuming to set up

Product Description

Rotary machines, like the SilloSocks Tornado, can spin two to four flapping decoys in a circle to give geese the impression that there are birds below them getting ready to land. Used properly, the rotary can be deadly, just make sure you set it up in a spot that your hunters won’t shoot it. When birds get low and those steel rods (they are around seven feet long) are churning, it can be easy for someone to send a payload of steel at it. 

The Tornado runs off a 12-volt car battery, so you will have to lug that afield, which is the only real disadvantage with this device—it’s cumbersome and takes time to set up. A lot of permanent-spread hunters utilize rotary machines because they can leave them out all season. 

You have to buy the kite-style flapping decoys separately. Make sure you get extras, because they are delicate and can tear easily. And you’ll need a backup battery for the Tornado as well.

Things to Consider When Buying Snow Goose Decoys

Here’s a few things to consider before diving into a huge decoy investment.

Price Dictates Quality

The more you pay for snow goose decoys, the more likely they are to hold up to the abuse you will impose upon them. And even if you are very careful putting out and picking up decoys, I guarantee none of the hunters in your party will be. So just know if you cheap out, your decoys are going to break down quickly.

A majority of plastic decoys are made in China after the molds are designed in the U.S. The quality level of the decoys depends on the skill of the carver and what factory the decoy manufacturer selects. You can get some sense of how well or poorly a decoy was engineered simply by looking at it online and a better idea if you go to a store and inspect the floor model. But that decoy on the shelf isn’t always representative of what’s in the boxes of the decoys you buy. There can be imperfections from the factory or shipping, and you won’t really know how durable the decoys are until you get them in the field.

Field Decoys 

If you field hunt snows, then you need field decoys, but one of the key things many hunters don’t think about is the decoy base. I will argue till the cows come home that you should buy stakes—which all the decoys on this list have—over bases. First, you can set stakes and see what your spread is going to look like before ever putting out a decoy. Of course, you will lose some of those stakes, but they are cheaper to replace than round or square bases if they break (and the bases will). 

Water Hunting

You’ll need floaters to hunt water, but you will also have to rig all those decoys with lines and weights. I like 8-ounce mushroom weights, because they will dig into almost any bottom and hold your decoys in place. You can also make your own weights by mixing concrete, dumping it into a small plastic cup, and sticking a U-shaped piece of metal into the concrete. Let it dry and harden, then strip the cup away. This is a tedious process, but it saves a lot of money. 

Spread Size 

Almost every waterfowl hunter wants to put out more decoys. But you should first think about when you are hunting and where you are in the snow goose migration. Adult snows typically take a more realistic decoy to be fooled. Juveniles may bomb into an all-sock spread. But that’s all contingent on what the birds are doing. Sun, wind, and 60-degree weather are often the days when snows are flying and feeding hard on their journey north. You don’t always need 5,000 decoys, but other times you will. My point is, think about the different ways you plan to hunt snow geese, the days you like to target snow geese, and the timing of the migration before you spend $15,000 on decoys.

Buying Used

I know this is a story about the best new snow goose decoys, but just a cautionary tale if you buy used. If you are buying a large rig from someone, inspect the decoys. It’s likely some have cracks, paint rubbed off, broken bases or missing stakes. You don’t want to learn these facts post purchase. Be methodical in your inspection. Don’t just back up the trailer, hand over the cash, and start chucking full bodies. 

Also, most hunters selling their decoys are doing so for a reason. Might as well ask them why. If they hesitate at all, it’s probably because the rig is junk and they are trying to recoup some of the money they spent. Be sure to compare the price of used decoys to new ones. I have seen some used decoy sellers ask for the same amount—or more—for the cost of new decoys.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

If you’re a dedicated snow goose hunter, that means you’re part of a small, but passionate fraternity. It also means you’re spending a lot of money, particularly on decoys. Remember to take your time and think about how and when you are going to be hunting before investing in a snow goose spread. That way, you will end up with a trailer full of the best snow goose decoys and, hopefully, have plenty of success tricking those big spins of snow geese into shotgun range.

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