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Post Info TOPIC: January 25th 1976
Bob


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January 25th 1976
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On this day I was into my second season out here and had my best solo hunt to date at that time. I made a note that of the 198 crows shot that morning 80 were shot with a model 42 Winchester pump 410 gauge with a 1/2 ounce load of # 9 shot. I was shooting hand loads in the 2 1/2 inch hulls. The remainder were shot with a Nikko 12 gauge over & under bored modified and full. I was using hand loads in the 12 bore as well, 1 1/8 th ounce loads in magnum # 7 1/2 shot. It was 32 degrees that morning with a 10 to 15 mph NE wind and snowing lightly.

My next big hunt (at least I thought it was big because I never did that well before alone) came the following season on December 26th, 1977  I was solo and ran out of ammo at 2:15 P.M. and wanted to shoot myself! I shot 220 crows with a 20 gauge model 12 Winchester bored modified with a 7/8th ounce load of # 8's. I used 276 20 gauge hulls for an 80% average that day. 50 degrees out & clear, Wind - west 5 mph. I shot from 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. and still had birds coming in!

My first 500 bird shoot came with my crow hunting mentor Boyd Robeson on October 13th 1977 when the two of us rolled 542 crows on an afternoon flyway shoot from 4:00 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. I shot 262 crows with 350 20 gauge hulls in # 8 shot out of a model 12 20 gauge. 75% average for me. Boyd shot 280 crows with 374 20 gauge hulls in # 8's for a 75% average. Boyd also used a model 12 20 gauge Winchester. We were setup 1 mile SW of the roost. We were hunting crows from the old St. John Kansas roost in Stafford County in those days. That was a huge roost of 1 million plus crows, it lasted until the farmers bull dozed the roost and that was the end in 1986.

 



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Bob


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Here is my first big time hunt (morning hunt solo) on December 1st. 1979.

I started shooting at 7:10 a.m. and ran out of ammo at 12:10 p.m. I shot every damn shell I had which was 632 20 gauge skeet loads in # 8's. I shot 410 crows and could have easily shot for another few hours or more. I used a model 12 Winchester 20 gauge with a modified choke. 65% average that morning. 20 degrees out & clear, wind - NW 5 mph. I remember that day quite well even to this day because it was very surreal, I kept looking at the counter and all the empty hulls and still could not believe it; it just did not sink in yet. These crows were from the roost north of my home in Hutchinson at Medora Kansas. This roost was also estimated to hold over a million birds in those days. This roost was 1 mile long and 1 mile wide!

Here is another shoot from February 12th. 1980 where Boyd Robeson & I shot 520 crows from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. that day. Boyd shot 275 crows with 488 20 gauge hulls in # 8's. I shot 245 crows with 371 20 gauge hulls in # 8's for a 66% average that day. When Boyd & I hunted together I used Remington hulls and he shot double A's in Winchester ammo. I made a note that day that this was our third 500 bird shoot together since 1974. I made another note that I had shot 17,265 crows in my first 6 seasons out here.

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Incredible! Around here like Bert Popowski would say 12 crows was doing good for a New England shoot but times have changed!
The old roost trees around here still remain but naturally we are talking apples and oranges here..a tree in Kansas is a precious commodity. Having seen your videos which are worth checking out I cannot imagine lugging 10 boxes of ammo , two shotguns, and a dozen decoys the distances you have had to cover. thank God you can drive a couple miles deep in those huge fields to unload!

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Hi Motion Decoy,

Most of the time you can drive right to the spot unless it's real wet in the fields. The farmers don't want deep ruts in there fields. I mentioned a day where I had to carry my gear in 200 yards, I used no e-caller and no decoys except for the ones I shot. I just carried in my bucket, one shotgun and 250 rounds of ammo. I shot it all and walked back to the truck and got another flat (250 rounds) and shot that up. I could have walked back for a third flat of ammo but I was exhausted from walking through 4 inch mud! I just used 3 hand calls.

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Bob,

Largest numbers I've witnessed down here was around 300 plus on a corn field, I know some of the Orcards we shoot have probably
more but you don't see them till they come in and of course we don't want them at one time. Still is amazing to know areas of the country hold that many crows and you have the opportunity to bust that many. Enjoyed the stories. Hope you have a great season this year and wear them out!


Butch

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Bob


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Hello Butch,

Yup, that is the way to have it, just having them come in one or two at a time.

I had an orchard shoot back in 1994 in February; two actually, one where I shot 285 and in the other orchard about 1 mile away shot 526. The farmers wife took photos of the 526 bird shoot and she put the film in backwards in the 35MM camera and the photos never turned out! From that time on I have always had my own camera with me.

Hope you have a banner season, keep us posted.

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I'd love to hear about your times at ft Cobb,Oklahoma before the crows were driven out...

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MD,

My crow hunting mentor Boyd Robeson took off the whole season to hunt crows in 1965 when his gun shop burned to the ground in September of that year. He rebuilt it in the spring of 1966. He was still living in Sioux City, Iowa in those days. Boyd started hunting crows here in Hutchinson, Harper and St. John Kansas in 1962. He also hunted Ft. Cobb at that time as well.

1965 was his best season, he told me that between October to late February to early March he killed a little over 16,000 crows with a pair of 12 gauge model 12 Winchesters using a trap load. He never counted his empty's in those days but he was a damn good shot. If he averaged 72% for the season that alone would be 22,000 empty hulls! Most were shot at Ft.Cobb, he said in those days when you turned on the e-caller (record player 45rpm) none of the crows were spooked, they all came in back in those days.

By 1978 Boyd & I quit hunting crows at Ft. Cobb, lots of crows but also lots of spooked crows!

Dick (my partner now) used to hunt Ft.Cobb. He said he ran into two guys from the left coast who had been hunting there for the past 23 years! Dick used to take one months vacation each year and spend it at Ft. Cobb. Boyd on the other hand would spend a week to 10 days down there and head for home. He said he had his fill after 10 straight days, but he came back every month.

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