Hunting diving ducks: Three spots to head after north country waters ice up

A few generations ago, if you grew up hunting ducks in Minnesota or Wisconsin or anywhere in the Great Lakes region and likely beyond, there’s a good chance you cut your teeth chasing diving ducks. From Field & Stream to Sports Afield, the era’s outdoor periodicals glamorized the pursuit of rough-water-loving bluebills, redheads, and canvasbacks and its many shotgunning disciples. The late wildlife artist, Les Kouba, painted his childhood waterfowling memories that included many evocative diver scenes, from flocks of canvasbacks lifting off mist-shrouded marshes to wave-buffeting bluebills angling into the stiff winds and spitting snow.