Cannot hide columns on GridView

I have a GridView that is successfully populated by an IList. IThere are about 2 dozen columns I only need 8. I am trying to call:
 
this.grdView.Columns[0].Visible = false;
 
But I get an index out of range error. And when I call, this.grdView.Columns.Count I get 0.
I have tried this on several events including: grdView_RowDataBound
 
I am not sure what is going on here but any help is appreciated.
 
 
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