It started in late July when I noticed a sweetcorn field turning discolored, not getting too concerned yet but the thought of another baited-field did enter my mind. By September the field looked like mid-November corn, they had sprayed the insecticide too strong and killed it. Now the question became what will the farmer do with the standing crop. Around Rochester, Minnesota baited fields are nothing new. Farmers around here grow a lot of sweetcorn for the canning companies, and every year we have baited fields, the problem with this one was the location of it.

Hoping the farmer would chop the field and bail it up, which is considered a natural farm practice, we got the wrong answer the morning of October 11th. Doing a scouting mission I could see from about a quarter-mile away the field was black, and as I got closer it slowly turned yellow. The farmer had disked the standing cornfield over and all the crop laid on top. I don't think I have ever saw a sea of corn cobs like this before. Disked down the evening before, there where already geese pouring into the field the next morning. And for the next three months it never stopped as the field was deemed baited (which it was) and un-huntable.  

It was actually two fields, an 80 acre plot and a smaller 20 acre one...both right next to each other. What made this baited field hard to stomach was the location it was in. It was located in the heart of a major flightpath here in town. The first day the field was disked, about 500 birds found it. By October 20th it was holding 2,000 plus. By November 1st it had anywhere from 2,500 to 4,000. Then came a cold snap about November 10th and Rochester started to load up with birds. By the 20th of November the field was holding 10,000 to 12,000. And the number just kept growing. 

By the 25th of November a lot of the birds in town started to figure out where all the action was. The number grew to close to 20,000 Canada geese in a 80 acre field. The pictures taken don't do it justice as the field was divided by a big rolling hill in the middle. What we seen was if a goose has free food, he will fly right away each morning regardless of weather. Birds where going to the baited field by 9 am each day, and in other parts of town they would fly at 3 pm. The geese will also stay longer after freeze up knowing they have free food too. It was impressive to see geese adapt and change behavior when free food is available. A lot of people have asked did that many geese feed the field out....the answer is no. Still a lot of corn left in it today.