un-cut corn field

[woodiewacker]

i was wondering if i could get some help me and my hunting buddy's have a uncut corn field that has been harvested it just wasn't cut after that so there is stuble sticking up knee high i was just wondering if you think the birds will get down in it, it isn't a feed hole i know that because we have just seen the geese fly over and some ducks to i just would like to hear some spread ideas if you have any or should we just not even bother, we hunt with a limited spread 1 dozen goose shells and 2 dozen home made silos with some ducks thrown in to we don't get a chance a geese very often and i would like to shoot my first goose along with my other buddy's oh and we never get to hunt dry fields either

[Killer Miller]

The less stubble, the better if you ask me. Geese like to be able to see all around them, and with the corn stalks that high they can't see very well. I have NEVER seen geese in knee high corn stalks. Not that it can't be done, but you probably would need more decoys, because you would basically be running traffic because they dont like tall stuff.

On Monday,me, my dad and uncle were in a cut cornfield about 200 yards of where the geese had been landing, basically just across the fenceline. The geese flew to the left of us and over us only to land right on the edge of a bean field and chizzle blowed cornfield. So apparently, they would rather land in a completely open area and have to dig for corn instead of land in a cornfield where there is corn scattered everywhere and the stalks are maybe 8 inches to a foot high.

But you also have to think about concealment. In my opinion, a regularly cut cornfield is ideal for goose hunting. Geese land in them all the time and you have enough cover to conceal a blind or blinds pretty well usually.

[rushcreekganderlander]

We do our best goose hunting in uncut cornfields. I don't think the stubble is knee high but close. It's very easy to hide your blinds in and there seems to be a lot more food readily available for the geese. If it ever gets cold enough to move the geese, you should be able to pull in migrators. Just last year we were in a cut corn field and all the geese were landing three fields over. We would drive by the field and not see them because the corn stubble was so tall. Finally we saw two glide in and we started to see their heads, but that was it. We normally don't hunt fields that have that high of stubble though.

[IowaMigr8tor]

Like Miller said, I have rarely seen them in tall stalks. I have hunted them in tall stalks with both results. The tall stalks can conceal predators which can be a reason that they might not like being in such a field. On the other hand it can conceal them from the predators, like ganderlander said it took a double take just to see them.
As for the stalks being tall, that is going to vary from field to field depending on the operator of the combine. That is what confuses me about your post, do the farmers usually come back and chop and bale the stalks in you area? It happens around here but not a lot. If so I can see what you mean by "uncut" field.

[greenhead]

thats what we do most of our hunting in. corn fields with stubble seems to work good for us.

[woodiewacker]

lets see i think last year before planting season they went back maybe a month before they planted and bush hogged it all as close to the ground as they could and then ran the hay rake over and bailed it all i can't really remmeber but any way i just wanna shoot geese and i really wanna shoot from a dry field of some sort but yeah i live in middle tn so i don't know how many migrators that we get comming through, and for the stuble i thought about going through and smashing it down and making a big hole like maybe a week before we hunt it don't know if that will help any ideas on how to set a spread with what i have and we are building on the deks as much as possible

[hammer007911]

Dude, it is by far the best hunting we have up here. Our stubble is way high, higher then your knees easy and guess where those 40 birds SRGSLTR shot came from? You got way high corn stubble :lol:

[woodiewacker]

yeah i was wondering if anybody else hunts in corn like that thanks man for the input, how do you set your spread and how many deks are in your spread i mean i am not running traffic so i won't have but maybe 40 or so birds come by they are all local birds to oh and what do you do about duck deks if you put those out to because we had about 50 ducks come over a while back so i wanna set up for them to

[wooziegoose]

i like hunting in tall stubble. its easy to conceal the blinds and dogs. my two best hunts this year were in knee high stubble. granted, it was super cold and snowy. as far as spreads go i would just make sure your set up in the most visable spot in the field. we usually set up on the biggest hump or ridge in the field.

[woodiewacker]

yeah there is a hump towards the middle and then there is a low spot near the river and the geese fly the river and the ducks fly right across the middle of the field i was thinking i can stick a couple of floaters in that low spot with the water and then stick some of the hardcore mallards we got around it and then stick the geese on the hill just behind them and put the blinds in the goose decoys i don't know though i am no field hunter although i would like to be

[RidgeNelson]

If you have a goose flag you should definatley use it. It gets attention to your spread and adds realism.

[hammer007911]

We actually were in the lower spot of the field just to hide better.

Hammer

[wooziegoose]

it sounds like the birds arent using their field so they'll be trafficing. in this case i would suggest getting your decoys as visible as possible. (on the highest point) also i would try to get movement in your spread.(flags and robo's). i would think the ducks would be easier to get since their flying over the field. the geese may be tougher.

[Hunter4UK]

Yeah I hunt with ol' woodie, and the field is fairly large. The ducks do come right across the thing and actually buzzed us in early goose season. We have some HC mallards on the way and 3 mojos, plus all the floaters we've got, so I think we'll be covered for the ducks, but with the geese we aren't really sure how to set them up in relation to the ducks. Any suggestions?

[woodiewacker]

yeah what hunter said i just didn't word it right

[woodiewacker]

i just wanna shoot some migratory waterfowl birds

[HARDCORE]

yeah on that high stuble, had same problem last year. felt like birds couldn't see the rig, already gunning in valley. spent about two hours on a 4 wheeler mashing stalks down in small area for decoys. birds would land out side rig in tall stalks. don't think it matters to the birds. DON'T LET IT STOP YOU FROM HUNTING, CAN'T KILL'EM IF YOU DON'T GO.

[woodiewacker]

thanks man i just thought maybe ya know but i guess we will get out there soon and try to shake and bake

[rushcreekganderlander]

Definitely try the field if birds are moving over the area. We've never had a problem landing geese in stubble. It doesn't hurt to put your decoys in some areas the might be a little more open but it shouldn't hurt if you can't. From my expirience geese don't have to see other geese to come check you out. If they hear you and like what they hear they will come close enough to see your decoys. I would suggest using a flag as well to get their attention.

[mndiverwacker]

make sure your setup where their landing, we had a similar situation where the birds were landing on top of a hill and walking 100-200 yards down the hill too feed so what we did was have around 80 decoys down where they were feeding and took 25 decoys to the top of the hill where we set our blinds. worked well.

i suggest taking a honda civic to those corn stalks where the birds are feeding to make the field more attractive to the geese.

[woodiewacker]

well see this isn't my field nor is it my family's field so i can't really go around mowing stuff down, and i have never seen the birds in there feeding so i don't know if they actualy get in to the field to feed but they do fly the river that runs the length of the field, also i am working with a limited decoy number we have only a dozen shells and 2 dozen silos but i am looking in to getting some fullbodies but they aren't fitting the budget right now. so i have a bunch of variables. as far the geese actually seeing the decoys , then having enough to make them actually get down in to shooting range once we get them to swing around us.

[greenhead]

yeah i would deffinately try it. you never know what it will be like until you go. we do our best hunting in corn stalks that are knee high and even above knee height. it doesnt bother the birds here.

[teamcarnageMN]

don't even set out duck decoys, just put up your mojo's in the goose decoys

[woodiewacker]

you don't think we need the duck decoys, i know i have seen goose hunters that are only going for geese shoot ducks with an all goose decoy spread but i didn't know if that works well, and the mojos they don't bother the geese because we have 3 to put out i just was wondering should we put all 3 or just 1 so that it didn't spook the geese, and then do i still need to flag for the geese with the mojos out

[wooziegoose]

theres a good chance it would work without dekes and just the robos, but if ya have time you might as well put out the dekes. either way i would suggest turning the robos off when the geese start flying. they tend to flare the geese.