Best Blind Bags for Duck and Goose Hunting

How to choose a blind bag

The blind bags below split on three published details: how much they hold and how it's organized, whether they float or just resist water, and how you carry them.

Capacity and organization first. The ALPS OutdoorZ Backpack Blind Bag is the largest here at 45 liters with two main compartments, nine shell loops and a drop-down gun boot. The Banded Air II is the smallest at 728 cubic inches, built for wading the last stretch rather than carrying a full day's kit.

Waterproofing is not one thing, and the makers describe it differently. The ALPS Floating Deluxe and Rig'Em Right Lowdown both build in closed-cell foam flotation, so the bag won't sink if you drop it in the water. The ALPS Guardian is waterproof PVC with a roll-top closure but carries no flotation foam. The Rig'Em Right Shell Shocker XLT is, by the maker's own words, "water resistant, not waterproof." Those are three different promises, and the difference matters if your bag routinely sits in standing water.

Carry system third. The ALPS Backpack and the Rig'Em Right Lowdown both use padded backpack straps; the rest here carry by a shoulder strap and handle. On warranty, ALPS covers its bags for the life of the product and Rig'Em Right for 1 year; Avery and Banded publish no bag warranty term for the models above.

Once you know what bag you want, our blind bag checklist covers what actually goes inside it.

How we scored these

Blind and decoy bags share a rubric: capacity and compartment layout (30%), material and waterproofing (25%), carry system (25%) and durability and warranty (20%). Full weighting is on how we score. These scores come from manufacturer spec pages and warranty terms, not from packing and hauling these bags ourselves.

Picking by hunt type

Long walks to the blind: the ALPS Backpack's waist belt and hard bottom, or the Rig'Em Right Lowdown's padded backrest, both keep weight off your shoulders on a long carry.

Timber and marsh where the bag gets set down in water: the ALPS Floating Deluxe or the Avery Floating 3.0, both built with foam flotation rather than a sealed compartment alone.

Run-and-gun setups where you wade the last stretch: the Banded Air II's compact size and armored bottom are built for that, not for hauling a full day's gear.

Dry storage over organization: the ALPS Guardian's roll-top PVC construction keeps a phone and spare layers dry, with fewer pockets than the other bags here.

Compartments and what earns its own pocket

Capacity alone doesn't tell you whether a bag stays organized once it's full. The ALPS Backpack Blind Bag publishes the most dedicated storage here: nine shell loops, three choke tube holders and a drop-down gun boot alongside its two main compartments. The Rig'Em Right Shell Shocker XLT builds in an internal ammo compartment, a hard sunglasses case and a rainproof cell phone pocket. The Avery Floating 3.0 splits into six separate compartments plus its own zippered sunglass case. At the other end, the ALPS Guardian's roll-top design is deliberately simple: one hold-open main compartment and a few interior mesh pockets, which is the tradeoff for its waterproof PVC construction and light weight. If you like a place for everything, look past capacity to how many named compartments a bag actually publishes.

Who should skip all of these

Looking for something to carry decoys rather than blind gear? See best decoy bags instead; those are built around slots and dozens, not compartments and a gun boot.

A blind bag is one line on a longer list. See the full duck hunting gear list for everything else that belongs in it, and blind bag checklist for the specific items worth packing every hunt.