Canada and its providences are a waterfowler’s paradise. It offers hunters abundant opportunities for a variety of unpressured birds. Everything from ducks, geese, and snows are plentiful and more than willing to commit to a well-placed decoy spread. Add to that an eight-bird limit and the earliest opportunity to hunt waterfowl, and it is no wonder hunters are itching for September to arrive.
Packing for a trip north of the border is a diligent process. Whether driving or flying, space is limited. Hunters scrupulously look over gear, ensuring everything that makes the cut is essential and nothing gets left behind. After all, there’s no turning back for forgotten gear after you arrive. Through countless trips north, we’ve refined our gear list to include the essentials. While every waterfowler’s kit may look slightly different, this is the gear we simply won’t leave home without.
How We Made Our Picks:
For us, September signals the annual migration north in search of the first birds of the year. It’s an excellent way to shake off the rust with plentiful opportunities and has become a yearly tradition. Over the years, we have gone from a disorganized mess to a well-oiled machine, knowing exactly what we need. Differentiating between what is useful and what is added weight can be a tricky process. The following gear kit is designed to help you be prepared for Canada, whether it is your first trip or you are a seasoned veteran. We took an all-encompassing approach, including layers, tools, blinds, and more, so you are ready to hit the ground running. If you’re thinking of hunting Canada, be sure these pieces of gear make the cut.
Clothing:
Stone Glacier Helio Hoody
Stone Glacier has built a reputation for its premium big game hunting apparel. You may wonder why big game apparel made this list, and that is due to sheer performance. The apparel technology required by big game hunters translates directly to waterfowl hunting. A cold morning can quickly turn to high sun and hot summer conditions. The Stone Glacier Helio Hoody offers a blend of early-morning insulation and late-day moisture-wicking capabilities to stay comfortable for long sits in the blind. The coyote color is our preferred color and blends in with cut fields. Best of all, if you are a big game hunter, this layer will serve you two purposes.
Sitka Hudson Bibs
A pair of bibs is a crucial piece of gear for any waterfowler hunting dry fields. They add a layer of warmth, keep you dry, and have puncture-resistant knees. While it may be warm during the day, early mornings can bring cool temps and winds. The Hudson Bib effectively cuts wind, keeping you comfortable in the blind and ready for working birds.
Stone Glacier De Havilland Pants
The Havilland Pant from Stone Glacier is a piece of gear we refuse to leave home without. Built as a versatile pant for cold weather hunting conditions, it doubles as an exceptional pant for the blind. Canada has a tendency to range in temperature from cold mornings to hot, dry afternoons, especially during the early season. The pants are insulated, keeping us warm when it’s cold. As the day drags on and temps rise, large side vents on either leg provide plenty of circulation to stay cool. On top of that, these pants are outright comfortable and just as at home in the truck as they are in the field.
Red Wing Leather Pro Work Gloves
Good gloves go a long way for waterfowl hunting in Canada. Between grassing blinds, setting decoys, and cold mornings, the right pair of gloves will keep your hands protected and warm. We have found a simple pair of leather cattleman gloves like the Red Wing Leather Pro Work Gloves, which are the best and easiest to replace if you lose one. Sure, you can buy a pair of gloves tailored to waterfowl hunters, but for the conditions in Canada, these leather gloves can take a beating and continue to perform.
Tools:
Peax Backcountry Duo Headlamp
As waterfowl hunters, headlamps are the one piece of gear you don’t realize how important it is until you forget it. A good headlamp is vital for pre-dawn hikes to the blind, setting up decoys, and preparing for the hunt ahead. Recently, we’ve been using the Peax Backcountry Duo Headlamp. It features a 1,000-lumen output, 180-degree adjustability, and a red mode bright enough to see what you are doing without spooking birds. Additionally, the various run modes and power outputs account for an impressive 69 hours of running time. This headlamp is also rechargeable for when you’re away from civilization and can’t track down batteries.
Benchmade Flyway
Early season hunting in Canada means decoy-willing birds and fast shooting, which means plenty of birds to clean. The Benchmade Flyway is a modern take on a bird knife specifically developed for waterfowl and upland birds. The small blade and jimping on the spine are designed for delicate tasks like breasting out birds. Paired with a razor-sharp blade, this knife can handle a season’s worth of birds with minimal maintenance. Its small size and purposeful design make it a piece of gear that never leaves our kit.
Leatherman Wave
A good multi-tool is something all waterfowlers should have, especially in Canada. You never know when you’ll encounter issues like truck problems, but a capable multi-tool can save the day. The Leatherman Wave has become a staple on our hip for its array of tools and respectable size. It fits nicely in the hand and comes with 18 tools, including a needle nose plier, wire cutter, saw, knife, serrated knife, screwdriver, file, and more. The versatility and durability of this tool make it a vital piece of gear for any trip, let alone one far from home.
Optics:
Vortex Diamondback HD 10×42
If you are a freelance hunter in Canada, the name of the game is finding birds. Putting the time in on the road to find cut fields, groups of birds, and potential feeds is critical to success. As we scout, we are constantly checking fields and water for birds, so binoculars are crucial. Recently, we have been using the Vortex Diamondback 10x42s. These binos offer crisp image quality at a price point achievable to most waterfowlers. In addition, they are built to take a beating. Running between the blind and the truck is not easy on binos. After several seasons running this pair, they are still going strong.
Leupold SX-4 Pro Guide HD 20-60x85mm Angled
A hunter’s best friend when scouting for birds is a quality spotting scope. Good glass goes a long way in properly identifying the species and number of birds from a long way away. The Leupold Sx-4 Pro Guide HD is an exceptional spotting scope for a relatively affordable price (when you consider other spotting scopes). It features impressive optical resolution even in low light, a critical requirement for watching birds at last light. We prefer the 20-60x85mm angled model for its added zoom. This gives us the ability to scout fields from a ways off–ultimately not spooking birds.
Decoys:
Dave Smith Decoys A.C.E Giants
A gear list for hunting Canada would not be complete without decoys. In the dry fields, full bodies and silhouettes are the name of the game. When it comes time to set the spread, we always make sure we have a few Dave Smith Decoys A.C.E Giant honkers. These oversized and incredibly realistic goose decoys help birds locate the spread from a way out. While others will work, we have had great success finishing birds feet-down in the spread with the DCDs.
Northern Flight Canada Goose V2 Silhouette Goose Decoys
Silhouettes are an incredibly important part of any field spread. They make up a bulk of the decoys we put out, adding size to the spread without taking up too much space in the truck or trailer. Recently, we found ourselves reaching for the Northern Flight Canada Goose V2 Silos. They are lifelike in appearance and size and affordable. When running large spreads, cost is key, and these silos are easy on the wallet, especially when you’re bringing a bunch.
Avian-X AXP Outfitter Full-Body Mallards
Every Canada spread should be rounded out with some full-body mallard decoys. The AXP Full Body Mallards from Avian X are some of the most realistic we’ve hunted over. Each set comes with six decoys featuring life-like paint schemes and positions. Early season ducks typically readily decoy, but if they are hesitant, lean towards hen decoys for a more realistic “brown duck” spread.
Other Essentials:
Gunner Kennel Flyway Series – Saskatoon
If you’re making the long haul north with a dog, safety is important. The Gunner Kennel Flyway Series has quickly become our go-to kennel for its 5-star crash test rating and range of accessories to keep your dog comfortable. This year, Gunner released the Saskatoon color, paying tribute to Canada’s snow goose hunts. A portion of every Saskatoon color purchase proceeds go directly back to Ducks Unlimited Canada to protect Canadian waterfowl habitat.
YETI 65 liter Cooler Wetlands Cooler
Early season hunting and hot weather mean a cooler is a must-have. The newest YETI 65-liter cooler offers the perfect compromise between cooler storage and space in our rigs. Packed with ice, we can store groceries and meat from birds we shoot in Canada. This year, YETI released the Wetlands Collection, a lineup of products tailored to duck hunters. The same products we’ve come to rely on are now available in a color scheme tailored to waterfowlers, and you can be sure we are looking forward to putting them to use in Canada.
Tanglefree Flight Series Layout Blind
Hunting in Canada is synonymous with dry fields and layout hunts. Of all the layout blinds we used, the Tanglefree Flight Series is our favorite. When lugging gear into the field, having a lightweight blind that is easy to set up goes a long way. The Tanglefree checks all these boxes. Once set up it is fairly spacious and exceptionally comfortable–just be careful not to fall asleep on slow mornings. In addition, its Optifade marsh coloring blends in well with cut field stubble and, with quick grassing, will practically disappear.
White Turtle Box Speaker
Every road trip needs some tunes, so a Turtlebox always makes the list. Waterproof, dustproof, and beyond rugged, these speakers are built for the abuse of waterfowl hunting. Best of all, in some provinces in Canada (Saskatchewan and Ontario), electronic callers are legal for early-season snow goose hunting. This white speaker blends in with the spread and allows us to play snow goose calls at an impressively loud volume when birds are working nearby.
onX Hunt Subscription
Freelance hunting can be tricky if you’ve never done it. There are a lot of birds in Canada, but getting permission can be tough if you don’t know where to start. An onX Elite subscription gives you the tools to decipher between public and private land and the layout of the land. When you do find birds you can drop pins on feeds and roosts. A pro tip: the onX Elite membership gives you access to Canada layers, but hunters only have access to parcel data, not landowner information. The best way to find permission is to knock on doors. Landowners in Canada typically are more than willing to grant you permission to hunt.
