Unorthodox Hides
Ryan Barnes for SPLIT REED
We’ve all hunted in situations where the hide isn’t great. Maybe you’re in a winter wheat field that has nothing but dirt and a few patches of green here and there. Or maybe you’re in a flooded gravel pit that is getting pounded by mallards. There have been some amazing advancements in concealment and what we can do with our hides- from layout blinds to A-frames, but there are some scenarios where you have to get really crazy. Think WAY outside the box. Here are a few of the most insane hide techniques I’ve ever used, or heard of.
1. PIVOT HEADS
This one really only applies to those of us that hunt out in fields that use sprinkler irrigation. Sorry to those of you that rely on rainfall or ditch irrigation. Pivots are a system that is placed in a field and mechanically rotated in a circle to irrigate fields. The head of the pivot is almost like a metal structure of a tent. If you’re in a scenario where you can’t put out your A-frame or your layouts in the middle of the field, we’ve placed wood boards along the sides of these pivot heads, brushed those in with the weeds that surround it (there’s usually quite a few) and shoot the geese from within the metal. One thing to keep in mind, this isn’t a very large space, so you might want to limit the hunting party to 3-4 people. You might also need to take turns on who gets the shooting lanes. The hide works well, but unfortunately, it can be a bit cramped. You’ll also want to bring something to sit on. These pivot heads sit on concrete, so having something, like a pad or pillow, to make things a bit more relaxing can make a world of difference while you’re waiting for those ducks or geese to come in.
2. THE MIRROR BLIND
This one is one of the most creative blinds I’ve ever been in. I was hunting geese in a field that had nothing more than inch-tall stubble for miles. A friend of mine suggested the “mirror blind”. He brought out a box with the cheap Walmart mirrors on all four sides and a removable burlap cover over the top. He had two which fit three people in each. The sides reached out and tilted down towards the ground, to reflect the ground we were hunting, and the burlap covered us in the blind. We placed some of the stubble on top of the blind, and from a distance, the mirrors were hardly noticeable due to the fact that they looked exactly like the field they were placed in. One thing to be cautious of when using this blind is the glare. It’s a mirror, you’ll obviously get some shine. It’s never a bad idea to “mud them in” before hunting with them. I’ve seen guys make similar blinds out of fishing toboggans with mirrors on the sides and some sort of mesh covering on the top. The only thing you want to make sure of is that the mirrors on the sides are completely reflecting the ground beneath them. When they do that, they have the same depth deception of an A-frame, without giving the birds the uncertainty of staring at a giant clump of weeds that wasn't there the day before.
3. THE FERTILIZER TANK
If you’ve ever wanted to put in a “pit” without actually putting in a pit, look no further than those big blue fertilizer tanks you see in fields. I ran into a guide once who said that when he leased a field that the farmer wouldn’t let him place a pit, he simply put in a blue fertilizer tank with a hole cut into it for the shooters. He said that the farmer usually had to “ok” it because the tank would be left there for most of the season as it would need to be permanent or semi-permanent so the birds could get used to it in the field. After talking to him, he said that outside of using a pit, it was one of his most successful hides. The birds never saw the hunters, and they were used to landing near the tank, so when they came to hit the field, they didn’t have to worry about brushing in, or what they were going to do for a hide. All they had to worry about was shooting straight and killing birds.
4. COW SILHOUETTES
Yes, I’ve done this. Yes, it works. In areas where geese are landing in fields where cows are present, the silhouette of a cow can be a great hide. I own 3 actually. They’ve come in handy for big game hunting as well. On one occasion, we were hunting a loafing pond on a dairy farm that had nothing on it but dirt, rocks, and cows. The cows didn’t bother the ducks and geese at all. So we went to the local sporting goods store, bought two cow silhouettes, and proceeded to pound the birds. The birds saw the “cows” close by and it almost worked as a confidence decoy for them. Every so often the birds would circle in from the back and see us from behind the cow silo and flare off, but as long as we played the wind right (like you would any other hunt), the birds piled in like there was no problem. I’ve even tried this in honker fields where cows aren’t immediately present. Just for kicks and giggles. It still worked. Geese land in fields that are shared by cattle so often I’m of the opinion that the presence of a cow doesn’t deter them from getting to where they want to eat.
5. BURLAP SHEETS
This one isn’t my favorite, but it works. I once was on a hunt where we had a field to run traffic in but had nowhere to hide. So we decided to roll out some sheets of burlap, and lay underneath. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but we all came away with a limit of honkers. I learned then and there that it’s amazing what you can do so long as geese don’t see anything out of place. We staked silhouettes to the ground between the shooters and added a few shells for good measure. Essentially it was a poor man’s layout blind with nothing to brush us in, but it worked and it worked well! We had to readjust the decoys each time we shot, but the birds decoyed like there wasn’t a problem in the world. We just kept enough of our heads out to see the birds working and once they got into range, tossed the burlap off, and went to work.
There aren’t a lot of times when you can’t find some way to hide in the usual fashions. From hunting the edge or in layouts, to brushing in an A-frame in the middle. One way or another it usually can happen. But on those days when it can’t, these are some hides that might give you an edge, or at least give you some inspiration to create some of your own unorthodox hides to help you bag more birds.
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