A duck hunting shotgun sling has to work with full hands, wet gear and heavy layers, then get out of the way completely once you are in the blind. That is a narrower brief than most sling buying guides address, and it rules out a lot of otherwise good slings.
The walk in is the problem. Decoy bag, blind bag, maybe a dog, and a shotgun you cannot put down. This covers what actually works in that specific set of conditions.
The walk in is the problem
Waterfowl carry is not a distance problem the way upland is. It is a hands problem. You are carrying more gear than any other kind of shotgun hunting, often over ground that requires a hand free for balance, frequently in the dark.
That makes retention matter more than comfort. A sling that merely carries will let the gun swing off your shoulder when you lean to pick up a decoy bag. What you want is the gun held against your body so it stays put while both hands do something else.
Sling the gun, then pick up a full decoy bag with both hands and take ten steps. If the shotgun stays flat against you and the muzzle stays where you left it, the setup works. If it swings forward or rolls off your shoulder, it will do exactly that at 5 a.m. in knee deep water.
What a duck hunting shotgun sling has to survive
Waterfowl is the harshest environment a sling sees. Salt on the coast, silt in a marsh, freeze and thaw cycles, and a gun that goes back in a case wet more often than not.
Holds up
- Webbing that does not absorb water and stay heavy
- All metal hardware with a proper finish
- Simple mechanisms with nothing fine to seize
Does not
- Cotton or untreated nylon that soaks and freezes
- Bare steel swivels left in a wet case
- Plastic buckles that go brittle in the cold
- Anything you cannot work with gloves on
The gloves point is the one people underestimate. Cold wet hands in neoprene cannot manipulate a small adjuster. If you cannot change the length without taking a glove off, you will pick one setting in the truck and live with it, which is the same as having a fixed strap.
This is the environment the McLean shotgun sling was built around. Maritime grade webbing and all metal hardware are not marketing here, they are the difference between a sling that survives three seasons and one that does not. The patented two point to one point design keeps the gun retained by default, which is what you want with your hands full. It comes in Black, Coyote Brown, MultiCam and Ranger Green.
In the blind
Once you are set up the sling becomes something to manage. A loop of webbing hanging off the gun in a blind will find a blind bag strap, a dog stake, or the edge of the door at exactly the wrong time.
-
Take up the slack before the first flight
Shorten to your shooting length once you are settled. Loose webbing is the single most common cause of a fumbled mount in a blind.
-
Decide where the gun lives
Either on you at shooting length or off you on a rack. Half slung, leaning against the wall, is how guns end up in the water.
-
Check the sling does not cross the ejection port
A semi-auto throwing hulls into webbing will jam. Worth confirming on dry land rather than on a flight of teal.
Layout blind versus standing blind
What you do with the sling once you are set depends entirely on what you are hunting out of, and the two common blinds want opposite things.
| Blind | Your position | What to do with the sling |
|---|---|---|
| Layout blind | Flat on your back, sitting up hard and fast to shoot | Gun in the holder, sling taken up tight or off the gun entirely |
| Standing or pit blind | Upright, room to mount normally | On at shooting length, or off and racked |
| Boat blind | Seated, unstable footing, deep water under you | On and short, because dropping the gun here is different |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
A layout blind is the one that punishes a loose sling. You come up through a set of doors from flat on your back, and anything hanging off the gun is going to find a door frame, a hinge or the stubble strap on the way. If the gun lives in the holder while you wait, the sling should be taken up until there is no loop left, or taken off the gun and left in the bag.
A boat blind is the reverse case. There is real water under you and unstable footing, so having the gun attached to you is worth more than the snag risk. Keep it on, keep it short, and know how you get out of it before you stand to shoot.
The dog factor
A dog changes the arithmetic on the walk in and again at the blind. You are handling a lead, a stake, and a dog that has its own ideas about pace, and every one of those wants a hand. That is the argument for a sling. The complications come afterward.
The first is the lead. A lead and a sling on the same shoulder will braid together, and you find out when the dog pulls and takes the gun with it. Put the lead on the opposite shoulder from the gun, every time, without thinking about it.
The second is muzzle direction. A dog moves fast and low and ends up in places you did not plan for, including directly under a slung gun while you are bent over a decoy bag. Pick a carry that keeps the muzzle in a direction you are content with when your attention is on the dog rather than on the shotgun, and set the length short enough that it stays there when you turn.
The third is that a wet dog is a physical object with momentum. A retriever coming back into a blind will bump into whatever is there. A gun held tight against your body takes that fine. A gun hanging loose on a long sling gets knocked around and can come off your shoulder entirely.
There is no middle setting that works. Either the gun is racked and your hands are free for the dog, or it is slung tight against your body where nothing the dog does moves it. Half slung, hanging loose while you reach for a collar, is where the problems live.
Setting length over waders and layers
Set your length wearing what you actually hunt in. Waders plus a heavy jacket adds real bulk across the chest and shoulders, and a length that felt right in a shirt will be noticeably short. If your sling only adjusts across a narrow range, this is where you find out.
Wading with a slung shotgun changes where the muzzle points as you shift your weight against current or mud. Decide on a carry that keeps the muzzle clear of the water and clear of anyone behind you, and set the length so it stays there without a hand on it. A muzzle that dips into silt is both a safety problem and a barrel obstruction problem.
Rinsing and drying after a salt hunt
Everyone rinses the gun. Almost nobody rinses the sling, and salt does not care that the webbing is not the expensive part. Salt sits in the adjuster, in the swivel eyes and in the stitching, and it takes hardware apart slowly enough that you do not notice until something binds or fails.
The whole job takes about five minutes and it is worth building into the routine you already have.
-
Unload and verify before anything comes off the gun
Chamber empty, magazine empty, confirmed by sight and by feel. You are about to be working around the gun with tools and water and your attention elsewhere.
-
Take the sling off the gun
Rinsing it in place drives water and salt into the mounts rather than out of them, and a sling drying on a gun in a case is how both of them stay wet.
-
Rinse the whole thing in fresh water
Not a wipe down. Run water through it, and work the adjuster back and forth under the tap so the grit that has worked into it comes out rather than staying to grind.
-
Flush the swivels and the sockets
Push button hardware collects salt and silt in exactly the place the button needs to move. Work it a dozen times under running water and check it snaps back cleanly.
-
Hang it to dry, out of the case
Webbing that goes back into a closed case damp stays damp. Hang the sling and leave the case open until both are properly dry.
Once it is dry, load the sling hard before it goes back on the gun for the next hunt. A fitting that has corroded is much easier to find in your garage than on a levee at five in the morning.
Frequently asked questions
Do I even need a sling for duck hunting?
If you walk to your spot carrying gear, yes. If you drive to a permanent blind and carry the gun fifty yards, probably not. The sling earns its place the moment you need both hands for something other than the shotgun.
What sling material survives saltwater?
Webbing that does not absorb water, paired with hardware that is either corrosion resistant metal or properly finished. Rinse the whole sling with fresh water after a coastal hunt, the same way you would the gun, and dry it before it goes in a case.
Will a sling make noise and flare birds?
Metal against metal will. Check for a swivel or hook that can swing against the receiver or barrel, and tape the contact face if there is one. Webbing itself is quiet.
Should the sling come off in the blind?
Either fully off and racked, or on at shooting length. The failure case is leaving it slung loose while the gun rests somewhere, because that is when it catches on something as you stand.
Does camo pattern on the sling matter?
Far less than movement and shine do. A dark neutral is fine. Worry about a bright swivel catching light before you worry about the webbing pattern.
Setting up for the marsh
Prioritize retention over comfort, buy hardware that survives water, set your length in your actual layers, and take up the slack before the first flight. For mounting options see how to put a sling on a shotgun, and for the wider field setup see the best shotgun sling for hunting.
