# Hunting without a blind



## twopopper (Sep 24, 2006)

Just started goose hunting this year. I purchased 3 dozen decoys, and the wife says NO to purchasing a blind. Wait untill next year. What is the best setup for no blind? Next to a slough or small grass area or will geese shy away due to preditors? How about just laying flat on the ground in the decoys with camo?

Trade wife for blind???????????????


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

Hopefully you can set up near a grassline, rockpile or slough for cover. I suppose you could lay in the dekes but i would try for some sort of cover.

won't let you get a blind? I would search the classifieds of here you may be able to get a good deal or i have a goose chair i could sell you for 50 bucks if you would like. Good luck!!!


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## ADN (Sep 27, 2005)

Trade wife for blind.

It all depends on the type of cover. If you have a field with limited or virtually no stubble, try setting up in a fence row/drainage ditch on the edge of the field.

If there is enough stubble in the field you can lay in the decoy spread in the middle of the field.

Geese tend to get wise as the season goes on that everytime they approach a field they get shot from the fence row.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

I have hunted with people who dug themselves in and covered up with burlap and stubble or whatever else is around.

I was just in sportsmans warehouse and they had the eliminator express blinds for $110 i think. I would take one of those in a second over using nothing.


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## hoosier dhr (Jul 24, 2003)

I hunt without a blind! 
And yes i kill geese and ducks.

Good camo and i use a big shell over my legs set toward the point of the decoys with landing hole down wind and be very still when birds are coming in.


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## MNgoosekiller (Aug 21, 2006)

A Max-4 Gore-Tex parka and trousers can easily cost as much as a decent blind. But still, you can get decent camo in fence lines and field ditches or even just hide yourself in the corn stubble. I just thorugh some camo burlap over myself and lay on the ground or laydown chair and cover myself with stubble (so its a little uncomfortable but hey it works right?). In areas around ponds with bulrushes, reeds, and grass it should't be very hard to get decent cover. Although the fancy pop up blinds are nice, you dont have to have them to get ducks. Good luck and have a great season!


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## thegoosemaster (Feb 2, 2006)

up untill this year i didnt have a blind so what i did was when i was hunting tilled corn fields. i had a pair of coveralls in the farmland corn patern and i'd dig a pit about 4-6 inches deep and just cover up and lay with the decoys and some times use a decoy. ive even had it where i didnt have time to cover up with stubble and just laid on the ground and the geese had no idea i was they're, IMO farmland corn is the best patern for tilled corn.


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## Springer (Dec 21, 2004)

This is something that I bought for my boys because I couldn't swing three blinds last year.

Blanket Blind


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

Do thos e blinds work ok springer. I was actually going to get one but they looked to high profile? I will kick my self for not getting one if they are not.


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## Springer (Dec 21, 2004)

If I remember I think there are three positions for the backrest or you could just lay it flat.

If you are getting up it seems that the stubble will fall out but then my kids were using them so they didn't exactly sit still either.

They were way better than the piece of plywood that I used the year before and just dug it in and then covered up with a piece of camo fabric.

They pack up very small and have backpack straps for carrying in also.

Not as good as a blind but they worked for a couple of years for us. 
I picked up a youth finisher at cabelas tent sale ($45) and a used finisher at a garage sale for $75 so now I only have to use one for my boys. Although that youth finisher will maybe only be good for one or two more years before he is too big, but I have a little girl that will probably be coming with if she has to so that we can go.


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

I have to satrt going to garage sales with you if you found a finisher for 75 bucks :beer:


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## mndemohead (Jan 1, 2006)

I hunt with a guy every now and then who is very "old school". While we are getting our blinds set up he is laying down on the ground covering himself with a piece of camo burlap and setting as much field debris on top of the burlap as he can. I hate to say it but many times he blends in better than we do in our expensive blinds. Its the way he has hunted for 30 years and its works well for him. People killed geese for generations before the invention of a laydown blind. I think sometimes people (including myself) forget the basics and get too consumed by high $$ products. Im just as guilty as the next guy, Dozens and Dozens of decoys, A couple blinds, trailer to haul all the stuff. $1,500 shot gun etc. I sometimes wonder when enough is enough and sometimes I see these guys out in the fields with nothing more than a dozen shells and some old army camo and they are having as much fun as we are with a lot less expenxe and headache. If you cant afford a blind, try to find some sort of cover or I would recomend the burlap technique.


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## MNgoosekiller (Aug 21, 2006)

hey well said demohead, I think I'm one of those guys out there in the dozen decoys with the mil surplus gear :wink: :lol: It works for us, dozen ducks, dozen geese. I like to keep things cheap and simple. Someday I'll probly get an avery blind and another dozen goose dekes, but heck like I've said before, you don't need lots of $$ invested in gear to hunt successfully. whether you have dozens and dozens of dekes and lots of gear and semi autos, or just a few shells, some burlap, a call, and ol' pump shotgun you can have fun either way, its for each person to decide. Happy hunting and keep warm! :beer:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Where's Old Hunter on this thread? He'd be telling you to go with your own goose suit in a heartbeat. 8)

You can build your own backrests easily, if I can do it anyone can. We used them for snows for years.

For Canadas I'd just lay on the ground flat with decoys around you. Worked for us for years, just without the comfort.


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## JC (Oct 14, 2006)

I have something that might work for you, and should only cost a few dollars to rig up. Any kind of cardboard will work, but the best thing to use is the 40x48 sheets used for pallets. They are rigid enough to hold their shape, but can be bent or cut to your particular dimensions. Just take two of these cardboard sheets and use about 4-5 pallet bands to keep them together. Not only do the bands let you adjust the cardboard lengthwise, but they make great stubble straps. You can do a little spray painting if you want, but since the cardboard is already dull brown and you can stubble them pretty well you may not need to even mess with the paint. Once you have the size you want, just stubble your bands and lay down under the cardboard. You'll be very well hidden and have a low profile as well. You should be able to get the cardboard for free from most stores or warehouses since they usually just recycle them anyway, and the pallet bands will only cost a couple of bucks. Get quite a few of the cardboard sheets, because as you can imagine they don't hold up in the rain or snow real well and you'll have to replace them sometimes between hunts.The first time we used these I took quite a bit of verbal abuse from my hunting partners (I have a history of coming up with cheap yet creative ideas...mainly cheap) because they thought it was ridiculous. They came around pretty quickly though when the geese started landing all over us. We eventually all bought blinds because they are warmer and a little easier to shoot out of, but the cardboard sheets really worked well. I actually think the geese finished better using the cardboard than with our laydown blinds because of the lower profile. Good luck.


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## twopopper (Sep 24, 2006)

Thanks for the idea JC. The way the weather sounds for morning I might have to steal the kids GI Joe camo sleeping bag. 20 Degrees BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## JC (Oct 14, 2006)

The cardboard method is cheap and works really well, but it's not the warmest thing in the world. We would lay on top of sleeping bags, exercise mats, camo cloth and everything else we could think of to keep us off of the cold ground. A couple of good things about the cardboard is that it's light so you can slide it out of the way quickly to shoot, and with the pallet bands holding the stubble on you didn't have to worry about constantly piling stuff back on top of you like you do with camo cloth or if you're just out there in camo clothing. It made a huge difference for us, the geese were regulary hanging up outside our decoys before we tried it. We honestly had them landing right next to us when we used the cardboard sheets along with face masks...despite our questionable calling abilities. It's amazing how good of a caller you become when the birds can't see you.


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

For a lot of years I used a 6" x30"x60"piece of foam rubber that I covered with oil cloth. Then used a piece of burlap to cover with. The foam and oil cloth kept me dry and added an insulating factor. Hunted in some very cold wet conditions with this and was comfortable. It rolls up for storage and transport.

Cost is under $30.00 and it will work! Used it in stubble, corn, tilled ground even sunflower field a time or two.


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## nutmeg honkers (Dec 21, 2003)

Although I love my Finisher for comfort, we hunted for years laying on those foam pads you buy at Wally World for under a sleeping bag. Then some camo burlap on top, corn stalks or stubble on that to break it up, and a facemask. Worked fine. The best deal going was my buddy had a pad from a deck lounge chair that had an olive colored flower pattern. It was great camo and about 4" thick.

One trick I haven't heard mentioned hear is that if you have a small blind bag, use that as your head rest, or you'll have some neck cramps.


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## FINAL_APPROACH_7 (Oct 21, 2006)

u should really start begging ur wife to let u get a ground blind, theres nothing better than hunting out of those things....but if u are looking for no blind field hunting tips, heres what i have. First look to see where in the firld the birds are feeding, if they are anywhere near a fence line, a rock pile, or a dry slough then your set. but if not i reccomend buying a strip of bulap and lay that over u along with the vegetation ur hunting in corn stubble,wheat what ever. then when u pull on the birds just put the cover back over u and wait for the next bunch. It may not be as comfortable but it works just as well


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