This is a Canada DIY waterfowl summary cheat sheet. I have done this post a couple of times over the past 15 years or so. But a few things have changed and I felt some of you might be interested in an update.

Note that this is specific to my experience and the way I like to do things. So obviously this isn’t for everyone. Just my observations on what has worked for me and what I enjoy doing.

I will break this into different categories because I know most people will not want to read this whole thing. But maybe you can skip around to the parts that are relevant to your interest.

WHAT HAS CHANGED

I have been going waterfowl hunting to Canada for 20 plus years. Starting in 2005 going with guides. By 2008 I basically came to the conclusion that I could do this on my own and would actually enjoy the experience more without a guide. So I just flew up there and started asking around. It led to a lifetime obsession.

And I feel like a few things have changed. The biggest is the guides, outfitters, and regulations regarding US hunters. Two major changes here in the past 20 years.

One is that the Regs are changing. Lots of retired Americans used to drive into Canada in early Sept and basically stay for two months living out of a camper shell and hunting every day. This was perfectly legal, but these guys were killing hundreds of birds per year each. So now you can’t do that. In some provinces you have to apply for a non resident, non outfitter license. And you are basically limited to two weeks. And you have to declare which areas you want to hunt for your two weeks. This is no big deal to me, but it is definitely a change in the Regs.

The second issue is that the outfitters have exploded up there. When I first went in 2005 it was hard to even find an outfitter. Now they are everywhere. And they are not nice guys. They do not like American DIY hunters. I have been physically threatened. Run off. Blocked in. Cussed at. Etc. It’s the old: “We are making a living and we are not gonna just let you hunt wherever you want” type of bullshite. I just have a ready made answer and say something along the lines of: “I know it’s different for you Canadians, but we Americans are descended from people who are not easily intimidated.” And I just hunt wherever I have permission.

But it is definitely an issue. I never have a problem finding a place to hunt. Never have a problem getting permission. But the pressure has gone from non existent to moderate in the past 20 years. As duck hunting gets harder and harder down here, Canada will continue to gain in popularity.

There is also some bad blood with what you might call “Stealth Outfitters”. Which would be Americans who come up and set everything up and then charge their buddies to come along and hunt with them. So that’s where some of the tightening down has come from.

But there is no doubt that within 10 years or so you will not be able to DIY hunt up there without an outfitter. The politics is definitely moving in that direction. They want Americans to be forced to spend money in Canada. And DIY trips are notoriously cheap.

HOW MUCH TIME?

I cannot stress to you enough how much time it takes to put together a hunt up there. The more time you can devote, the better the trip. The more fun you will have. The more relaxing it will be. The better experience you will have. If you are jammed up for time (and aren’t we all?) then you will kill more birds in less time with an outfitter.

But the whole reason I go is for the freedom of creating new hunts out of thin air each day. And doing it at my own pace rather than being shuffled around like a tourist being processed through a ride at Disney. I will never go with an outfitter. When it becomes illegal to go without an outfitter, I will stop going.

But it takes a ton of time. Dealing with the decoys, blinds, gear, shells, etc. Scouting the next day’s hunt. Getting permission. Cleaning birds. Figuring out where to set up. The days are brutally long. There is no way to hunt morning and afternoon each day. Physically impossible. It is really pretty hard to actually make one hunt per day over a 7 or 10 day trip. You have to figure in time to scout. Which is challenging because the birds go to water about 10 am each day and they don’t go back to the fields until 3 or 4 pm. Unless a front is coming through and they will feed all day. But you can’t scout in the middle of the day because the waterfowl is all on water. So you have to take a day to scout hard and basically reserve permission on 4 or 5 hunts. And then figure a way to get keep an eye on those hunts as you go through your rotation.

So for instance if you have a bad hunt one morning, and let’s say it’s 8:30 and it’s a bust, one guy stays behind to pick up the decoys. While one guy drives to hell and back checking on different spots to try to lock in an afternoon hunt before the birds leave the fields. Then you get on a good afternoon hunt and you’re busy until dark.

So you basically have nothing in the bag for the next morning. So one thing we do in that situation is “hunt traffic”. Which is basically setting up not exactly where you saw birds, but in a general area where you have seen a lot of birds. Like if you are riding around in the middle of the day and you pass a series of ponds and they all have ducks and geese on them, then you can just look at an aerial and set up in a field inside the triangle of several good roosting water holes. And maybe it will work out. But you definitely get some air balls doing that.

But you are always chasing it. Always scouting the next hunt. Always on the move. Always tearing down blinds, picking up decoys, stacking hay bales, knocking on doors. We actually forget to eat. It’s like sleeves of cookies and bags of chips rolling around your truck and you snack when you have time.

You have to be in a position to devote the time to make it pay off. And take time to rest and enjoy the whole experience.