# Green Barley field hunting



## gadgetman (Sep 26, 2007)

The fields I have access to are (I'm told by the rancher) most planted in barley. The problem is that it has been harvested and tilled and the barley has re-sprouted. My friend that lets me hunt on his place say's it looks nice but my big questions is... Do ducks like a field like this? If it was stubble I'd be all excited but green second growth? I know that I'll need to scout it out to see and will do so friday when I get there but have any of found this type of field to be good and if so how in the heck did you hide in two inches of green barley?

Thanks!


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## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

iv had some of my best hunts ever in tilled green barley fields. only thing better to me is a cut corn field but then again I target geese and shoot ducks buzzing the spread, I dont actually "target" ducks so what do I know


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## I_grow_pheasants (Sep 28, 2005)

From my experiences and what i have seen ducks tend to like barley fields, even more then wheat fields. The regrowth if it is only a few inches deep whould be just fine. From what I know ducks and geese like when something starts to grow, so if it this length it should be just fine. I wouldn't mind having those fields myself. As far as hiding yourself if you have a layout blind that is best. The better you cover your blind with the natural surroundings the better, the barley may be hard to gather up, so that can be tough. We hunted a golf course earlier this year, and to cover our blinds we bought killer weed winter wheat, which worked great to cover our blinds, isn't cheap though, $25 a package, and it takes a little more the one to cover a blind. Or you can spend the time covering the blind with the barley, but it will take a lot. Also, use some green camo if you have no blinds. I hunted a wheat field on MN early goose that had regrown to about 6 inches and we still got 7 geese for two of us. Hope that was helpful, and good luck!


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

Barley rocks.


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## mshutt (Apr 21, 2007)

I've never seen a waterfowl bird in a barley field...ever...sorry to say it...

But on a good note, i have the perfect solution for covering up the blinds..AND ITS FREE!

First off, go find the nearest ditch.
Then go into the ditch, grab all the green grass in your area, enough to completly cover your blind. If the barley still looks like what wheat regrowth looks like, this is perfect!

And if you think that the grass in the ditch your in is too tall, well then all you gotta do is use common sense and fold it inhalf, then put it in your stubble straps! :beer:

Hopefully this helps, has never failed when ive hunted a wheat regrowth field!


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

mshutt said:


> I've never seen a waterfowl bird in a barley field...ever...sorry to say it...


 :splat: I whack you with a fish.


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## Gildog (Jan 30, 2007)

geese love new green barley, especially if it's about 2 or 3 inches tall, just coming out of the ground. we used barley as a cover crop for our set aside and prevent plant acres when i was in high school--after the geese hit the fields it was almost down to black dirt in a few days...was just covered up by honks, and a few snows. I don't remember getting any ducks there, but that was barley worked in the soil to sprout for cover.

no corn grown there, so the best fields for ducks and geese was barley stubble. even if it was chisel plowed once, they would attract birds all fall, until either worked black black, or covered white by snow.


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## prairie hunter (Mar 13, 2002)

ND dirt messes up automatics. That is the only negative.

Snows really love these fields. Ducks tend to eat less grass and like the barley seeds. I am sure if there are plenty of unsprouted barley - mallards will be there.

Barley is easily digested by birds and it was always the preferred early season grain crop - except for peas now replacing barley.

Corn is preferred when weather gets COLD!!!

I suspect many a newbie has hunted a cut barley field thinking they were in wheat :lol:


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## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

I find it tough to believe mshutt has never seen birds in a barley field??
You serious? What part of the country do you hunt?


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## Rick Risvold (May 25, 2003)

If it's green they will be seen.


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

Here I decided to take it upon myself to go out hunting in a tilled barley field to help you out bud (it's a dirty job, but heck I'll do it). I went out by myself which makes it a little easier to finish birds because you only have one head poking out of a blind and only one bump in the field, but here check these pics out.

Here is the spread, the blind is in the middle of that tighter group of dekes. Notice the green strips in the field, I dug my blind down a couple inches on the edge of one of the strips so I can just look like the grass on the edge of the strip. Also notice how the geese in the strips are feeding and the ones in between are walking. That is how they were last night. Also there are only 3 lookers. (no lookers in the field last night).









Here is a close-up of the blind.









Here is right on top of the blind with my 3-bird limit of geese. I landed three big groups of over 30 birds over the day. I just spooked those flocks up and shot at a pair and single. 3 shots three geese.









and I just thought this was a cool picture so here is some spam for Feather Duster, Tim Grounds, RNT, and Davey and Sons Lanyards.









Also, if the barley field you are hunting has been uber tilled here is an example of what you can do. This field was tilled a second time the day before we hunted it. MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS FILL IN IF YOU DIG DOWN!! Here are three blinds:


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## james.hunter (Sep 5, 2007)

Nice pics. Thats how blinds are supposed to look. :beer:


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## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

Sweet pics GB. I'll drive up next time so you're not so damn lonely out there. :lol:


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## gadgetman (Sep 26, 2007)

Thanks a MILLION for the tips. I'm heading out there tomorrow to scout.

Thanks again!


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## coolrider (Sep 28, 2007)

Just curious.

By putting the decoys tightly around the blind, does that cause the birds to focus more in on the location of your blind?

Obviously, you did well and do well. Just a thought.


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## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

coolrider said:


> By putting the decoys tightly around the blind, does that cause the birds to focus more in on the location of your blind?


It's not like it looks like a big "Velkomen" sign. It just helps conceal you.


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

It's a habit from when the blinds stick out a little more. It breaks up the outline of the blind. I also think it makes sense that the noise is all coming from that part of the spread, since they are so close.


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## Scraper (Apr 1, 2002)

We pounded mallards out of deep (5"-9") greened up barley on opener. The most important thing is to set up where the ducks want to be. Luckily, my cousin had seen these birds and pointed us to the field.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

I have heard, at least in terms of geese, that sprouted fields (epecially barley) are prefered because it is easier for the young birds to digest.


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