Waterfowl
Waterfowl hunting gear here covers the hide and the noise: layout and panel blinds, duck and goose calls, blind bags, marsh seats, dog stands and hand warmers, from Higdon, MOmarsh, Power Calls, Alps Outdoorz and Ducks Unlimited. Start with the blind, because it decides which seat and bag make sense. Decoys have their own shelf, and the duck decoys are one click away.
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duck decoys · duck blinds · duck calls · goose calls · blind bags · blind chairs · duck dog gear · hand warmers
How to Build a Waterfowl Kit in the Right Order
Most hunters buy calls first because they are fun. The birds care more about what they see. A good hide and a believable spread will kill ducks with mediocre calling; great calling over a shiny face in an open field mostly educates them. So the order that saves money runs concealment, then decoys, then calls, then comfort.
Concealment means a duck blind matched to where you hunt, plus blind grass or a snow cover to make it disappear into that ground. Decoys come next: floaters for water, goose decoys and silhouettes for fields, and the decoy rigging that keeps a water spread from drifting into the next county. Calls round it out. Comfort gear (seats, muffs, a dry bag for the phone) is what keeps you hunting the last hour, which is often the best hour.
Field Hunts and Water Hunts Need Different Gear
Field hunters lie down. That means layout blinds from Higdon, Alps Outdoorz and Ducks Unlimited, snow covers for late-season white fields, and low chairs like the Migrator Field Chair and Snow Goose Chair for days when the birds are working slowly. A field blanket from the blind accessories shelf is the lightest way to hide on bare dirt.
Water hunters sit or stand. Marsh seats and wetland seats keep you off the mud, floating blind bags are the ones you want if a bag ever goes over the side, and dog stands give a retriever a dry platform in flooded timber. Pair any of it with duck hunting waders and a set of hunting bibs for the walk in.
Calls: Power Calls and Haydel's
The waterfowl calls shelf is mostly Power Calls, with single reed and double reed duck calls, short reed Canada goose calls, specklebelly and snow goose calls, and a few specialty calls for teal and wood ducks. Haydel's fills the entry end with mallard, Canada goose and snow goose calls. If you are new, start with a double reed duck call and one goose call, learn them, and add a single reed later when you want more range and control.
The Small Stuff That Decides Your Season
Blind bags and decoy bags look like afterthoughts until you are carrying four dozen decoys through a flooded field in the dark. Slotted bags from Higdon and backpack blind bags from Alps Outdoorz and Ducks Unlimited take a lot of misery out of the walk. Shells need a home too, and so does the gun: match your loads to a set of waterfowl choke tubes and pattern them before opening day.
For a broader cut of the duck side, the duck hunting gear page pulls the essentials together in one place.
Waterfowl Hunting Gear FAQs
What waterfowl gear should a new duck hunter buy first?
Waders, a dozen or two duck decoys, a double reed duck call and a blind bag. Hunt public water with that kit for a season before buying a layout blind or a motion setup. You will know by then what your spots need.
Do I need a layout blind or a panel blind?
Layout blinds are for lying flat in fields. Panel blinds like the Higdon H-Frame stand upright along a ditch, fence line or shoreline and tie into whatever cover is already there. Field goose hunters usually want layouts; marsh and river hunters lean toward panels.
Where are the waders and choke tubes?
They live in other departments. Waders are under duck hunting waders, and the waterfowl chokes sit with the rest of our choke tubes in the shooting section.