The "King Can" is often the most sought-after duck in the marsh. Hunters every where love nothing more than harvesting a canvasback to brag about in the blind.
April 02, 2025
By Nate Corley
What Is a Canvasback Duck? In a word: royalty. The stately canvasback has been called, “The King of Ducks” since before the first paddlewheeler plied the Mississippi. And if you ask the average fowler to name the one species that will make a teeth-chattering day of sleet and chop on the big water worth it, “b-b-b-b-b-bull can” will be the first answer upon their quivering blue lips.
King Can didn’t seize the throne through strength of numbers. In the 2024 breeding survey, the total continental canvasback duck population was estimated at 619,000, just 10% of the population of the North American mallard (6.6 million at last count). As any monarch will tell you, however, fecundity is not the criterion by which royalty should be assessed, but rather those ineffable qualities of stateliness, regality, and grace. Here is where the canvasback earns the crown.
How Do You Identify a Canvasback Duck? Size will be your first clue. If the bird you’re eyeballing is the biggest among a group of diving ducks, there’s a good chance you’re looking at a canvasback. Color will help as well. The brilliant white of the drake’s body pops both in flight and on the water, especially in contrast to the sharp black breast and rich cinnamon plumage from the neck up. But the best indicator, for both drakes and hens, is the regal sloping profile from forehead to bill. Like the stately Roman nose of Emperor Constantine, the Great, this distinctive head shape (actually designed to help the canvasback root through sand and muck to dig up food) lets everyone know the king is holding court.
How Do You Hunt Canvasback Ducks? Joel Meeteer, a well-known canvasback killer, with a line of birds after a day on the water. (Photo courtesy of Joel Meeteer.) You couldn’t find a better guy to answer this question than Joel Meeteer of Wenatchee, WA. A lifelong canvasback hunter who cut his teeth on Pools 7, 8, and 9 of the Mississippi, Joel is a devoted conservationist and member of Washington State’s Waterfowl Advisory Group who currently spends 63 days per year chasing cans on the Columbia (“I had to cut back for my wife,” Joel explains, drawing deep sympathy from all of us). Below are some of Joel’s best tips for finding, hunting, and eating the king of ducks.
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Scouting for Canvasbacks Like any big water duck, you’re going to want to find the food. Canvasbacks will eat shellfish and mollusks, but the majority of the duck’s diet is plant-based, with wild celery ranking top of the list. In fact, the bird’s scientific name, Aythya valisineri, means literally: “wild celery seabird.” Keying in on patches of this or other aquatic vegetation will mitigate the overwhelmed, needle-in-a-haystack discouragement that can sour first-time diver scouters. A friendly email to a local wildlife biologist could help direct you to some of these food sources as well.
Canvasback Scouting Hack: Don’t overlook the small water. While canvasbacks are the quintessential big water duck, finger sloughs or even tributary creeks can be attractive to cans under certain conditions (like windstorms). In fact, the first canvasback I ever shot flushed from my feet like a rooster pheasant beside a pond the size of a basketball court. Like any duck, canvasbacks are where you find them.
How Do You Make A Canvasback Duck Hunting Blind? Because canvasbacks are typically straight-line, low-altitude flyers, your hide should be designed to disguise your profile from a horizontal approach. Overhead concealment isn’t as important as it is for mallards or other puddlers (which will circle and bust you if your blind doesn’t have some sort of lid). Nevertheless, the keen eyes of King Can are legendary for picking out anything out-of-place on a shoreline and skirting the spread. When possible, Joel prefers to hunt out of natural vegetation blinds that completely hide the top of your hat when seated. Joel also keeps a portable panel blind (pre-brushed) in his boat that can be deployed in a hurry or moved as conditions warrant.
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The author holding up a trophy canvasback. Canvasback Duck Blind Hack: Get in the middle. “Cans get shore-shy in a hurry,” Joel explains. “Back on the Mississippi, we’d key in on muskrat houses or little rocky islands made by the Army Corps of Engineer. Layout boats, too, can work great if you have the money and the boat space.” But for a cheaper option? Make a swan suit and stand in the water. “We used to put white Tyvek suits over our waders and hide right in our swan decoys. We’d even paint big black eyes on the hoods. Like body-booting. It worked great.” Do what it takes to get away from the shoreline and watch your canvasback success skyrocket.
Decoying Canvasbacks This is going to sound basic, but hear it out: you need to use canvasback decoys. “Redheads will decoy to bluebill decoys, or bluebills into redheads. That’s not going to work on a canvasback,” Joel says. “Canvasbacks want to land with their own.” Another tip from the seasoned vet: foam-filled blocks are worth the investment. Not only will these ride the surf better on choppy days, but it only takes one broadside blast of #1’s from your trigger-happy partner to make the added cost worth it.
Canvasback Decoy Hack: Drakes on the outside, ladies in the middle. Since visibility is the name of the game for a big water spread, Joel likes to position his drakes on the edge of the spread to get their attention, then wad up the hens in the middle. “Especially toward late season, those drakes are looking to pair up. It’s amazing how many lone drakes we get to finish right over the hen decoys in December and January.”
How Do You Call Canvasback Ducks? Calling canvasbacks can be a useful tactic when done correctly. A simple grunt can be enough to get their attention and turn them to the decoys. (Photo courtesy of the author.) Wait, you can call canvasbacks? Indeed, you can. Both hens and drakes are vocal birds. Males sound a guttural grunt that Joel calls a “burr.” Females make a noise that could be classified broadly as a “quack,” but which scientific-minded hunters prefer to describe as the sound you’d hear if a crow were birthing a pinecone. And yes, this unseemly squawk will draw in canvasbacks.
Canvasback Calling Hack: Use your mallard call. You can buy diver-specific calls (Haydel and Buck Gardner both offer affordable options), but Joel says those aren’t necessary. “I make all the diver vocalizations on my mallard double-reed.” The key is adding voice with the back of your throat and cutting the call shorter and sharper than you think you need to. This will take some practice, and listening to clips of actual diver audio can be helpful for the learner. But if your roommate pokes a concerned head into the living room and asks if something just birthed a pinecone, rest assured: you’re getting close.
What’s The Best Shotgun Load For Hunting Canvasback Ducks? You’re going to want some firepower. Canvasbacks are big birds coated in Kevlar plumage, come late season. “Twelve gauge ounce-and-a-quarter #3’s are as small as I would go, but #2’s are better,” advises Joel. “And keep your shots within 35 yards.” Bismuth or TSS can be great options for those willing to willing to take out a second mortgage, and those premium shells could even end up saving you some money (raise your hand if you’ve watched a buddy use half a box of shells on a hard-diving cripple). A $3 shell that puts the lights out will be cheaper in the long run.
Canvasback Shotgun Load Hack: buy a box of #6’s or even #7’s and keep them in arm’s reach. Nothing is more frustrating than watching a pattern of #1’s splash all around the profile of a crippled canvasback before it dives again, unharmed. The pattern density of the lighter loads increases your odds of getting a pellet in the head and can save your retriever from half-mile dogpaddles across the bay.
