I am nestled into the bottom of a layout boat 40 minutes before shooting time, staring at the lights of the Blue Water Bridge, which connects Port Huron, Michigan, on my right to Sarnia, Ontario, on my left. The frigid December winds whipping in from Lake Huron are at my back, and the smell of diesel fuel wafts with every pulse of the wind-driven waves. Then I hear the engines. Those who have hunted from layout boats understand that it is extremely difficult to see what is coming from behind you, even more so in the pitch black. The low-frequency hum of the engines has me shifting from side to side like an upside-down turtle as I try to locate what I am assuming is a cargo vessel coming directly toward me on its way into port. Will they see me bobbing in the three-foot rollers?
With the air temperature below 10 degrees and the water temperature just above freezing, going for a swim could have deadly consequences. I scramble to find the walkie-talkie that was tossed into the layout before the tender boat disappeared. Then I’m flooded with relief as the ship quarters 200 yards behind me and points its bow at the bridge. It passes by close enough that I can see the deckhands scurrying about, preparing for port, and I can read the ship’s name—the G3 Marquis out of Winnipeg, a 740-foot freighter. As my heart rate levels back to near normal, the walkie-talkie crackles to life: “You’ve got five minutes before shooting time. Get ready.” And that’s when the flocks of long-tailed ducks begin to fill the sky. Welcome to gunning the Great Lakes.
Lake Huron
The second-largest of the Great Lakes by surface area, Lake Huron lies along the eastern Michigan border and drains into the St. Clair River in its southernmost corner. The western edge of Lake Huron is bordered by marshes that support large numbers of migrating waterfowl, and good hunting can be found in several locations, including along Thunder and Saginaw Bays and even on its southernmost waters near Port Huron.
That’s where I am witnessing a morning flight of thousands of long-tailed ducks. There are two long lines of decoys stretching out like fingers in front of me, with a wind-powered longtail spinning-wing decoy bobbing between them. The ducks pass overhead, streaming from their roost out on the lake to shallower habitats nearer to shore, which offer submerged aquatic vegetation, crustaceans, and other food sources for these deep divers. As large flocks pass, groups of three, five, and even 10 birds break off and scream into the decoys. There’s a flash of white out of the corner of my eye, and then they’re gone. The shooting is fast and extremely challenging, as longtails skim the water, disappear behind the two- to four-foot swells, then reappear less than 10 yards away at top speed.
“The lake can be difficult to hunt, but by late November and early December, the long-tailed ducks stack up along this stretch of Lake Huron,” explains Captain Jeremy Ullmann, owner and operator of MI Guide Service. “I always tell people to prepare to be cold and wet when we hunt the big lake, but the hunting is worth it if you are looking for a trophy long-tailed duck, and we will even pick up some scoters.”
A full-time waterman, Ullmann guides fishermen until duck season begins, and then he bounces around the area, hunting divers on Lake St. Clair in the early season before focusing on long-tailed ducks and scoters on Lake Huron. “We hunt this whole area from the Detroit River all the way up to Lake Huron,” Ullmann says. “It’s a great resource for sportsmen and women. Those who have never been up here don’t grasp the size of the lakes and rivers, and they don’t understand the importance of this area for ducks, geese, and hunters.”
When asked about the freighter that I feared was going to swamp my layout boat, Ullmann softly states in his pure Michigan accent, “I didn’t put you in the channel. I knew they wouldn’t hit you.”
Lake Superior
The largest of the Great Lakes was originally called Gichigami by the Ojibwe people, which translates to “great sea.” Lake Superior stretches from Minnesota across northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Hunters along the US side of the lake have public access to a wide range of habitats visited by migrating ducks and geese.
Jay Anglin focuses on Lake Superior early in the season and makes several trips north from his home in La Porte, Indiana, every year. “I went to school in the Upper Peninsula at the University of Northern Michigan in Marquette, so I got a healthy dose of both hunting and fishing on Lake Superior,” Anglin says. “I have religiously returned for more than 20 years. I go back to cash in on the early-season dates and try to time the peak of the migration in the marshes for puddle ducks and some diving ducks on the big water.”
Anglin puts the lake’s size into perspective by explaining that Lake Superior’s shoreline, including the Canadian side and its islands, spans 2,726 miles. “There’s a kind of energy here that is very alluring, yet the lake is extremely intimidating,” Anglin says. “It’s so vast; ducks and geese traveling south from Canada cross it and tend to just drop from the skies when they see anything that remotely resembles good habitat or other birds. That’s why I try to time the migration, use big spreads, and hunt the surrounding marshes.”
Waterfowling hot spots along the US side include Whitefish Bay, Waiska Bay, Back Bay, and Keweenaw Bay in Michigan, as well as Chequamegon Bay in Wisconsin. Although he is fully equipped to hunt big water, Anglin prefers to hunt marshy areas along the shoreline. “You can set up on a marsh just off the lake and hear the continuous roar of waves crashing while sitting in a perfectly calm wetland,” Anglin says. “The Upper Peninsula is such a unique place to hunt waterfowl. There are wolves, bears, fishers, grouse, woodcock, and then you can drive 15 minutes to a town like Marquette that has all the amenities.”
Lake Michigan
The only Great Lake that lies entirely within the United States, Lake Michigan extends from Chicago at its southern tip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at its northeastern edge. With a surface area of 22,300 square miles, it’s the third-largest of the Great Lakes and the second-largest by volume. It separates Wisconsin and Michigan and is perhaps the most accessible of the Great Lakes, making it a favorite destination for hunters and anglers from across the Midwest.
Dave Heath, owner and operator of Heath Outdoors, lives on Washington Island, which is situated eight miles offshore from a spit of land on the northern tip of Green Bay, Wisconsin. A year-round waterman, Heath and his son, Derek, offer fishing trips for smallmouth bass and salmon in spring and summer and then transition to waterfowl hunts in the fall and winter.
“We rely on everything the lake has to offer; it’s such a great resource,” Heath says. “We are lucky to be on the water almost every day.”
Heath explains that he and his clients witness the migration in stages. Early hunts feature teal, gadwalls, wigeon, pintails, and mallards. As the season progresses, common divers such as scaup and redheads arrive, followed by longtails and goldeneyes. “We hunt waterfowl in a variety of ways,” he says. “I have shoreline blinds on marshes and points, we drift with long lines and layout boats, and we also hunt some of the rock ledges that overlook the lake. It’s a very unique experience and certainly a bucket-list trip for many hunters. I’ve had mallard purists come up here and shoot a trophy diving duck or longtail, and it changes their mind-set completely.”
Heath also notes that the waters around Washington Island can be treacherous, even for experienced boaters. A light chop can turn into six-foot swells in the blink of an eye, and hunters must be prepared for just about anything when they are on the water during duck season. “We focus on safety, of course, because when you are dealing with Lake Michigan, a shift in the wind can be deadly,” he explains. “One of the passes on the south end of the island is named ‘Death’s Door’ due to the many shipwrecks over the years. There are days that I watch the wind direction, and if it moves in a certain direction, we are going in.”
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, and its more than 871 miles of shoreline was once bordered by vast expanses of coastal wetlands, which attracted trappers, watermen, and wealthy “sports” during the mid- to late 1800s. The nation’s oldest continuously operated duck club—the Winous Point Shooting Club—was founded on Ohio’s Sandusky Bay in 1856 and remains in operation. For freelancers, the lake’s main attractions include thousands of acres of public marshes on state and federal land and, of course, open-water layout hunting.
“The species diversity is a big draw,” explains Fred Zink, founder of Avian-X and Zink Calls, who grew up hunting on the lake and currently resides in Port Clinton, Ohio. “There are puddle ducks in the marshes, including mallards, black ducks, gadwalls, wood ducks, pintails, and green-winged teal. And you can go offshore for good diving duck hunting; bluebills, redheads, buffleheads, and a handful of canvasbacks can be found on any given day.”
While Lake Erie offers some of the best waterfowling opportunities in the region, its relatively shallow waters also make it the most dangerous. “The opportunities to be successful in the surrounding marshes and out on the main lake are there, but hunters need to understand the lake’s dangers,” Zink says. “A seaworthy boat is a must. The wind can push water in and out of the marsh, fluctuating by five to six feet a day. This means a spot that you hunted yesterday may be underwater today. And, as water is pushed out, it can make navigating in and out of the marshes extremely treacherous. It’s not necessarily the size of the waves, but the shallowness creates waves that are very close together and hard to navigate. Experienced hunters pay very close attention to the weather, and some days it’s just not safe to hunt.”
Lake America/Ontario
Recently renamed Lake America on the US side of the border, this lake has a surface area of 7,340 square miles, making it the smallest of the Great Lakes. However, don’t let its size fool you; its location and diverse wetlands make it a major draw for waterfowl and hunters alike.
Nick Petrou, owner and operator of Natural Outfitters out of Rochester, New York, is a full-time fishing guide who hosts clients on duck hunts in the fall. He hunts the open waters of the lake and the surrounding fields and marshes from Irondequoit Bay west to the Niagara River. “We get pushes of early Canada geese and ducks coming out of Canada, but the lake can also hold ducks late into the season, so it’s a great mix,” Petrou says. “I start by hunting inshore on marshes and along the edges of the lake for puddle ducks. Later in the season, I run layout boats for divers and white-winged scoters.”
Petrou credits the abundance of species to the diversity of habitat in and around the lake. “I’ve had great hunts on the Niagara River, and I’ve hunted a seawall on the lake where we shot pintails, white-winged scoters, long-tailed ducks, and a few mallards—all on the same hunt,” he says. “It also helps that the agricultural areas along the shoreline include hay, corn, and bean fields where ducks and geese feed before going back out on the lake to roost. This region, with the Finger Lakes included, has a little bit of everything to offer. It’s a really dynamic area.”
Like many other Great Lakes waterfowlers, Petrou does not suggest launching a boat without a healthy respect for the hazards that come with hunting big water. He even has specific safety guidelines that he follows on a daily basis. “My rule is if the wind is blowing out of the north at all, I stay off the lake,” he explains. “I have plenty of inland spots to hunt on a north wind, and I wouldn’t put my friends or clients out there when the conditions deteriorate. It’s a big lake, and it can get rolling. I focus on the south winds, and it can be very good hunting when you’re in the right spot.”
Ducks Unlimited's Great Lakes Initiative
The Great Lakes Basin is a cornerstone of the Mississippi and Atlantic Flyways, providing crucial stopover and breeding habitat for more than 30 waterfowl species. In recognition of the region’s importance, Ducks Unlimited launched the Great Lakes Initiative, focused on restoring, enhancing, and protecting coastal and inland wetland complexes to support continental waterfowl populations and deliver broad ecosystem services.
“From coastal marshes and inland wetlands to deepwater habitats, the Great Lakes ecosystem plays an indispensable role in the annual life cycle of millions of North America’s waterfowl,” says Dr. John Coluccy, DU director of conservation science and planning for the Great Lakes/Atlantic Region. “Ducks Unlimited’s work across the region helps conserve and restore the landscapes that the birds rely on, ensuring that healthy waterfowl populations and the traditions of waterfowl hunting continue to thrive for generations to come.”
DU’s five-year plan for the Great Lakes region builds on prior efforts by aligning conservation delivery with key partnerships and science-based priorities. It also sets measurable goals, including the delivery of 20,500 acres of habitat conservation, 625,000 acres of cover crops, and $80 million in philanthropic and public funding.
