<P style="MARGIN: 0px">I Drove by one of my sweet corn fields this evening and there was a flock of geese picking corn off of the plants. The farmer came out to see what I was looking at.....and then all hell broke loose. I haven't seen an 80 year old man run like that in awhile. The geese scattered in every direction.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">The farmers are really picking and bushhogging a lot of fields right now and the geese are flocking to them. I just picked up a 300 acre sweet corn field last week. Less than 1/4 from a huge roost. Can't wait now!</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">I live in Lake County and we have a bunch of sweet corn. The problem is we can't hunt it!</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">The GP says that if the corn is mowed after picking it, it is a baited field. You can't hunt it until ten days after it is planted again. </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">I was told that if it is not an act of harvesting or planting the corn, that it was baiting. Brush hogging sweetcorn is not the act of planting or harvesting the corn. Since it is mowed after picking, it is a baited field. </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">You might want to check with the GP before hunting mowed sweetcorn. If you get the green light, let me know. I would love to hit the sweetcorn again. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">If the field is "Mechanically Harvested", it can then be brush hogged down and is viewed no differently than a field of field corn that has been harvested and then the farmer shreds the stalks. Hand picked sweet corn fields can be brush hogged as well, but then have to be disced or plowed prior to hunting. Abandoned sweet corn fields are fields that matured beyond saleable condition. They are almost always brush hogged down. The same holds true here as well. They must be disced or plowed prior to hunting. While these are all standard agricultural practices, your local Game Warden has some serious latitude when it comes to baiting laws.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">The best thing to do is work with your farmer to manage the crop residue to your benefit and his. You will kill a lot of birds in a sweet corn field that has been totally plowed under and where there is no visible residue or spent grain. Perhaps offering to do the work or an offer to pay for the fuel would work for him.</P>
<P>JB, my fields are looking "sweet"...now only if I get the chance to use them. Of course they have been flying of the neighbors ponds every morning I've been at the new house site. Might have a hammer in one hand and the Benelli close by. I never responded when you asked where we were building. Over in Suffield area by Paradise Lake Country Club and Hilgerts Berry Farm. Right between them...kind of on my own flyway to speak. Not far from 224.</P>
Definitely take the Benelli out with you. That would make a great photo. Tool belt, shotgun and a limit of Honkers. You might hear some shooting from us down that way in between your hammering. Good luck on the house. I have several friends out that way......beautiful area and growing like crazy. With you living out there, you should head to the Mogadore blind drawing in August.<br>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">John,</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">Chances are I will be at the drawings just because I like to open water hunt a little. However spending on average 45 days hunting on land has been pretty eventful for us these last couple years.</P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P> <P style="MARGIN: 0px">If it was up to my wife, my collection of 500 decoys for water would be up for sale tomorrow. She likes me hunting the fields because I get done quicker and have better success. You know what that means...more time for the honey do list. Right now tho the honey do list is pretty extensive. </P>
