[wetspot27]

I have been hunting feilds for a few years know but a mainly a water hunter down here we do flood fields so the hunting is a little different and we like five goose pits so my layout blind does not get a hole lot of use. I was jsut wondering what you guys all thought on number a guys you can get away with in a feild don't get me wrong I know you have to take along time to como the blinds I usually try to take at least a half hour per blind. but just wondering. If you need to know I will usually be hunting over about 14 dozen FB honkers and if after ducks we have 3 dozen FB mallards as well what do you all think. thanks in advance.

Wetspot.

 

[Triple B]

as a rule, we generally don't take over six in the field with us. usually its 4 or 5. it all depends on the situation and the species you are hunting, early season ducks you may be able to get away with more, and I've had a few late season honker hunts where we wished we would have had 10 guys, but once you start getting that many "clumps" of straw and stubble in the decoys it makes concealment a big issue.

 

[ruger1]

Concealment has never been my issue with number of guys. It's shooting opportunities and guys shooting over other guys. I prefer 2-3 good guys that you trust. That's it.

Honestly I prefer me and 1 other guy. Little to no room for confusion or errors.

 

[wetspot27]

yeah I would like to keep it around five but sometimes with my big family it gets hard to keep the numer of hunters down I have done 9 once but the corn was cut kind of high so it helped and did not hurt us. I know what ou mean about everyone getting good shooting but someties that is just the way it is. OUr trip to nodak there is 7 of us I would like to all hunt together but if the birds aren't working right I have no problem splitting up. we are going to bring more decoys than we need just i case we have to split up thanks guys.

 

[mshutt]

Ive hunted with 11 guys in a spread...the birds mainly worked to the one side...but the guys on the right side showed up late and didnt do much help at all with calling ect...so it was fine...we would of grinded em if we didnt have a guy downwind us :******:

Seriously, im lucky if I hunt with 4 or less guys on the weekends...It's not bad as long as you can get concealed somewhat, and put as many dekes around you as you can is what we do...

 

[honkerslayr]

the most I've ever set up with was 13. This only happened because the other group was headed to the same field as we were and we happened to know them. We had proper concealment and happened to get limits of ducks and geses in an hour. But having more guys in the spreads has it's pros and cons. Like most here...I usually only like to go with 3-5 guys that I know quite well and I can trust.

 

[WingedShooter7]

Most I've been with was 4 at one time. Really the max I would want to hunt with would be 6.

 

[barebackjack]

Have hunted with as many as six, didnt like it. Much prefer 2-3.

 

[huntingtim08]

I would love to hunt with 4-5 people, but every weekend i get like 7-8 guys in our party. Seems liek everybody wants to go hunting with me. Im always happy to take guys out it hasnt been a problem and so far the birds really havent minded. we alos usually have one of the guys run the camera and he is behind us a ways.

 

[NDTerminator]

I will not hunt with more than four shooters (counting myself) ever, and much prefer only one besides myself.

When you get a bunch of shooters out there, you have everything from concealment issues, to safety issues, to ethics (i.e. keeping track of bag limit) issues. The more shooters you have the more critical that you appoint a Pit Boss, and that's always me. I much prefer to relax and work my dogs when hunting, not organize and supervise a squad like I'm at work.

The fewer the blinds, the easier it is to hide them, the easier it is to keep track of muzzles and insure safe fields of fire, and the easiier it is to keep track of birds in the bag. Less hassle, more relaxed & to enjoy the morning...

 

[huntinND]

I hate hunting with large groups. I like 4 people at the most, but generally I only hunt with one other person. Part of it is because it takes the fun out of it when your worried about everything ND Terminator mentioned and it gets unorganized. Not everyone gets equal shooting opportunities, Some people are idiots and take bad shots or don't wear camoflauge like a guy that came with me the other day. A red hat, black jacket and no layout blind while duck hunting . If I know everyone well I may hunt with four or five people once a year.
But to answer your question if you are concealed well and really want to hunt in a large group then with a big enough spread you could probably hide eight blinds or so. I would much rather set up four blinds and rotate hunters though.

 

[benellinova]

I agree with previous posts usually 3-5. I haven't been hunting a lot since I just got into it (And I am hooked and LOVE it!!) but so far I am liking the 4 man hunts seems to work well and I don't feel so bad then being I can't call yet but I'm workin on it :lol:

 

[PJ]

I've hunted with as many as 14 out of pit blinds so concealment a non-factor. We got our 28 geese for a MN limit, but the pics don't look as good as five guys with 25 birds in the early season. 8)