Setting up in the lower third of your decoy spread is usually the best way to go, but this can vary with weather conditions and bird movements.

Today, waterfowlers have many different brands of blinds to choose from, and Cooksey lays out the four most important factors to consider when selecting one.

"First," he says, "a layout blind must be easy for someone to get to the spot that they want to hunt. Second, it has to have a profile that eliminates shadows. Third, it has to be comfortable enough that you can sit in it without moving around a lot. And fourth, you must have good visibility. How you can see out of the blind with the doors closed is important, and this can actually be quite different from blind to blind. Here, it comes down to finding a blind that fits you physically."

Of course, there's more to using these blinds than just pulling them out of the box and plopping them in a field. For starters, Cooksey says hunters shouldn't make the mistake of trying to set up the blind for the first time on the morning of the hunt. Most layout blinds are easy to assemble and set up, but, "if the first time you're trying to do this, it's in the dark and 18 degrees, it's going to take a while," he says.

A better plan is to get in some practice with your blind in the off-season--even if it's just sitting in your living room with an unloaded gun. Taking your blind outside and shooting clays from it is even better.

Preparing the blind for the field is important, too. Today, camouflage has progressed to the point where many hunters no longer lay their shotguns down afield for fear of losing them. And while the same could be said about today's layout blinds--all of which feature the latest in photo-realistic camouflage--there is a little bit more to the invisibility process than simply heaving the blind into the stubble.

"After you've practiced setting up your blind, it's very important that you mud the blind," says Cooksey. "Take a bucket and get some dirt that's indigenous to the area. It doesn't have to match perfectly, but you need to get some dirt, mix it up with water, and just slather it all over the blind. Let it dry, and then just brush it off with a stiff broom."

Doing this will take away any unnatural sheen produced by the blind's fabric.

THE SETUP
Over the past five or so waterfowl seasons, I've begun to discover that there is indeed a science to using these low-profile blinds effectively. How the blinds are set up when gunning with multiple shooters, how to position the blinds in relationship to decoys, and how to use additional camouflage in the field can all make or break a hunting day, depending on the weather and other factors. Hunters such as Latschaw and Ohio calling legend Fred Zink have discovered many of these techniques through trial and error.

For instance, on those mornings when there's little or no wind, Zink has a special strategy for positioning his low-profile blinds and decoys. Such days are notoriously tough and often downright frustrating, says Zink, as geese can approach a spread from any direction.

"Under these conditions, the first thing I try to do is find a field that has a little more ground cover than normal," he says. "I set my layout blinds close together, and do a very, very good job of camouflaging them. I call to the birds at a distance, but as they approach, I get quiet."

"As for decoy numbers," he continues, "I use the least I think I can get away with, depending on the subspecies of Canada I'm hunting."

This means using fewer decoys for big Canadas and more for the smaller subspecies such as cacklers, Hutchinson's and lesser Canadas. Zink sets these decoys 10 to 15 yards in front of the blinds, sometimes a little to one side or the other, depending on the birds' most likely angle of approach.

"When the birds get close enough to the spread to tell that the calling isn't coming from the spread, I shut up," says Zink. "We call it 'nobody's home.' We allow the geese to come on their own and light just shy of the decoys."

Key to Zink's technique is to do a very good job of camouflaging his blinds. Unfortunately, some folks take this to mean covering their blind so as to create something about the size and shape of a 1,000-pound round bale. This defeats the purpose of the low-profile blind.

Low-profile or layout blinds have become a cornerstone of many waterfowlers' hunting strategies for one reason: They really work.

"I put maybe half the cover on the blinds that most people do when I'm out in the middle of a field," says Latschaw. "I'm just trying to break the blind up. Most guys cover it up and try to make it look like a pile of hay, and that's the first thing a bird sees. The blinds are supposed to hide the hunter. You're not supposed to hide the blind."

With very few exceptions, layout blinds used in situations with multiple hunters are generally arranged in a line, facing downwind, and are located in the lower third of the decoy spread. But here, too, there are factors to consider.

"Usually, I'm going to set the blinds about three feet apart," says Cooksey. "This gives me more than enough room to put decoys between the blinds. If you get decoys in between the blinds, they help to break up the visual aspect of the line. But you want your blinds close enough so you can talk. A big part of waterfowling is the social aspect. That, and I want to be close enough so I can say 'Get down, guys' without having to scream."

And nobody, Cooksey adds, wants to be screaming when the honkers are bowed up at 150 yards and the guy to your right is asleep, snoring loud enough to wake the proverbial dead.

Which, points out perhaps the biggest challenge to being flat on your back in a layout blind: It can get just a little too comfortable.