Wheat stubble

D

Duckdog17

New member
Stupid question time... ;)

How many of ya'all hunt wheat stubble?
I know it can be productive,...I've done it,...but very seldom.
I just have the hardest darn time talking myself into hunting wheat stubble when there's CRP or milo stubble, or a nice looking water way to hunt.
Like I said, I know they're in there, but I have a serious mental block about wheat stubble! I hunt a lot by myself, so a full section of wheat stubble can be a little intimidating too.

So, (just for conversation sake), Generally speaking, how would you say pheasants behave in wheat stubble? Flush wilder? Hold for a point better?
Run like crazy?
 
I have shot more birds the last several years in wheat stubble than any other cover. I don't think the birds get bothered as much in it. I shot a limit two days in a row last year in the same quarter section of wheat stubble that was enrolled in WIHA. It joined some private ground I hunt, and I kept seeing pheasants flying out in it. All of the birds were old birds, and most of them held for the dogs. That tells me they hadn't been bothered much. If you can find some that was cut with a stripper header its even better than because it leave the stubble a lot higher.
 
Yeah its surprising how short the stubble can be and still hide a bird. A friend and I were cutting across a field of wheat stubble last year back to the truck. The wheat crop had been real poor, the stubble was really short and thin and you could see the ground, you wouldn't think any way a phez could hide in it. I was telling my friend the last time that field was wheat stubble the stubble was a lot heavier and it was full of pheasants. I had barely finished the sentence and the dogs went on point right in front of us. You would have thought you could see the rooster sitting there but you couldn't.
 
I like hunting wheat stubble, the taller the better. I see a lot of birds trying to run back behind, very fun walking.
 
I've read on here for years guys hunting wheat stubble, and I guess I've got the mental block too about it being to short and thin to hold birds. I admit I shouldn't, but do. Maybe will have to switch it up this year.
 
We hunted that last weekend of the season out west and hunted a 1/2 section on wheat stubble, season before last.

We took 8 birds between 3 of us in an hour or two.

We did not set out to hunt it. I was cutting across it to get back to the truck.
The dog went with me and the boys sat down and waited for me to come pick them up. Ace went on point about 200 yards in front, I got there and up came a rooster. It happen two more times before the boys got off their backsides and got out there into the action :D

The dog was all over the place, and I think that is what caused the birds to hold. He was pointing 30+ yards off the birds. We just walked around moving toward the dog. It was really a cool hunt.

I don't think the stubble was much more the about 5" high. 6-8" would be great.
 
I am going to ad to the ignorance. When you do hunt stubble, do you walk with the rows or against them? I just have trouble spending time to try it when there is good cover near by.
 
I've shot a lot of birds out of wheat stubble, but not much lately. With today's farming practices wheat stubble is generally shorter and almost devoid of weeds. If I see one that's relatively tall with a bunch of dead weeds in it, I'll hunt it enthusiatically. On the other hand, if it's short and doesn't show any weeds, that's when my mental block kicks in.

As far as the rows go, it doesn't make nearly as much difference in wheat as it does in milo. Walking cross-rows in milo stubble SUCKS. It works, but I hate doing it. Wheat stubble is much more forgiving about that.

I also have a mental block about cut corn.
 
smizell said:
I am going to ad to the ignorance. When you do hunt stubble, do you walk with the rows or against them? I just have trouble spending time to try it when there is good cover near by.
Click to expand...

When it's in strips and you can cover the breadth with good dogs and a few guys, walk with the rows. When your group is too small to cover it effectively, walk across the rows. It's important to note that if you're walking across the rows, you'll do better if your dog quarters well.
 
matto said:
I've shot a lot of birds out of wheat stubble, but not much lately. With today's farming practices wheat stubble is generally shorter and almost devoid of weeds. If I see one that's relatively tall with a bunch of dead weeds in it, I'll hunt it enthusiatically. On the other hand, if it's short and doesn't show any weeds, that's when my mental block kicks in.

As far as the rows go, it doesn't make nearly as much difference in wheat as it does in milo. Walking cross-rows in milo stubble SUCKS. It works, but I hate doing it. Wheat stubble is much more forgiving about that.

I also have a mental block about cut corn.
Click to expand...

Yes, my thoughts exactly. We used to have a lot of big weeds in the wheat stubble. When you found weedy wheat stubble next to milo or corn, the birds were usually thick and sat tight. The cleaner stubble fields aren't nearly as productive and I seldom see weedy ones these days.

I have seen some of those fields that were cut by the newer stripper-heads. Man, do those look like they should produce!
 
Yes I have. You can also find prairie chickens in this same cover if you are in prairie chicken country.

They dont always hold the best but its usually fun, not hard to walk and you get to see the dog in action.
 
wheat

pheasants absolutely love the stuff both for cover food. the problem today is the spraying. if the wheat has been sprayed, no birds, they won't use it. generally, if it has been sprayed, no weeds, no weeds, no pheasants. that simple

cheers
 
I've always had good luck in shin high brome grass too. Use to have a field that I could always count on a few birds out of. Last year I went there for the first time in years and it was a corn field. No brome left.
 
mustistuff said:
pheasants absolutely love the stuff both for cover food. the problem today is the spraying. if the wheat has been sprayed, no birds, they won't use it. generally, if it has been sprayed, no weeds, no weeds, no pheasants. that simple

cheers
Click to expand...

Not sure I agree with this....nope, I don't.
If you're hunting in no till country, it's been sprayed. If it hasn't, it will be chalk full of weeds AND birds.
There is no doubt that a wheat stubble field full of weeds and cover is going to be better than one that's not. (Duh)...but to say they don't use it is a little much.
You do know they spray the milo too....right?
 
Duckdog17 said:
Not sure I agree with this....nope, I don't.
If you're hunting in no till country, it's been sprayed. If it hasn't, it will be chalk full of weeds AND birds.
There is no doubt that a wheat stubble field full of weeds and cover is going to be better than one that's not. (Duh)...but to say they don't use it is a little much.
You do know they spray the milo too....right?
Click to expand...

I would agree. Two years ago I missed two cleanly:eek: out of a first year weedless patch that was shin high. If it is all that's available don't overlook it
 
For some reason the harder the wind is blowing the more they like the wheat stubble. And it doesn't have to be thick. I think they feel better because they can see since they can't hear. Not sure but it holds true, especially when its really cold.
 
I've been told this before. I was out on a weekend hunt in NW Kansas once, and after a long grueling day of very few birds, I ran into a couple of older gents with a couple of kids at the hotel and they'd done real well in the wheat stubble. He told me that they always hit the wheat stubble when it's hot and/or windy.

It makes sense, because Turkeys behave like that too. On real windy days, it's pretty common to see them in the wide open fields.
 
duckn66 said:
I've always had good luck in shin high brome grass too. Use to have a field that I could always count on a few birds out of. Last year I went there for the first time in years and it was a corn field. No brome left.
Click to expand...

You know I have had the same experience, convention says no to brome, only warm season grass, but I have repeatedly flushed pheasants and quail out of a tall stand of mostly brome. Fescue, forget about, back in the last generation of Soil bank, there was a lot of brome, heck a lot of everything in there, annual weeds, ragweed, bluestem, et.al. birds loved it.
 
Duckdog17 said:
I've been told this before. I was out on a weekend hunt in NW Kansas once, and after a long grueling day of very few birds, I ran into a couple of older gents with a couple of kids at the hotel and they'd done real well in the wheat stubble. He told me that they always hit the wheat stubble when it's hot and/or windy.

It makes sense, because Turkeys behave like that too. On real windy days, it's pretty common to see them in the wide open fields.
Click to expand...

I saw a group of about 20 flush from wheat stubble last year opening day when it was about 70+ by noon. We were in cut milo adjacent to them. The heat explanation makes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top