Here is a hunt that I will always remember, I was setup by 7:00 a.m. with a north breeze of 10 mph and 60 degrees outside. This was on November 29th 2002. I was solo and it was partly cloudy that morning. Well when they started to move I had shooting as fast as I could keep the gun loaded for the first 25 minutes ( I shot the first 100 crows in 25 minutes) then it was steady all day long after that. I stayed in that spot until 5:15 p.m. that afternoon. I remember there were a few lulls of 10 to 15 minutes in that shoot, but then you would get some new birds moving again and shoot 45 to 50 within 15 minutes.
By the end of the day I shot 506 crows with 607 20 and 12 gauge hulls. 83% average that day. I used a full choke 20 gauge Remington Wing Master using a 7/8th ounce load of # 8's. I also used a 12 gauge 870 Wing Master bored full choke with a 1 1/8th ounce load of 7 1/2's.
My old pal Jim Lundquist who recently passed away in June of this year, we had some good times in the crow blind together over the years.
Here is a shoot from that same month where Jim & I shot 648 crows with out moving a step. From 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. that day. Jim was now using a custom Remington 870 Wing Master in 20 gauge bored full choke using # 8's. I was also using a custom 20 gauge 870 Wing Master using # 8's out of a full choke gun. Wind E - NE at 5 to 10 mph and 25 degrees out & clear. I shot up 571 20 gauge hulls for a 63% average that day. I was using reloads in Magnum # 8 shot.
Here is the actual photo from the 506 bird solo hunt from 2002. The coyotes ate over a hundred of the dead crows over night. I went back the next day to pick up all the dead crows for a photo with better lighting.
I think Bob you probably have tractor trailor loads of shotgun ammo delivered to your door? 506 crows-wooooww!!! You got to have twenty zillion crows when they are there? Pretty incredible you did it with nothing bigger than 7 1/2s and even 9s!!!
By 2002 I was shooting up the last of my reloads before I started buying all factory loads. I was buying up the Remington Nitro Handicap trap load in those days when they were around $ 6.00 a box.
I have 8,000 rounds stacked up in my ammo dump at home just waiting for the crows this coming season. They are all Federal trap loads in # 8's.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
That'll "trap" a few crows alright...years ago i swore that the crows must be wearing bullet proof vests but it took practice to hit them with anything.....thousands of crows using clay pigeon loads and using 8s and 9s....whoa!
No doubt some shoots stand out (in your mind) more than others over the years.
When I post some of these shoots I do it for the history of the sport. It's no different than Bert Popowski or Dick Mermon writing about there exploits over the years.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
No doubt some shoots stand out (in your mind) more than others over the years.
When I post some of these shoots I do it for the history of the sport. It's no different than Bert Popowski or Dick Mermon writing about there exploits over the years.
...which is right and proper for you to do.
Now, when do you anticipate your book will be available?
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"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
I would not give a book serious thought until I retired from crow hunting. By that time I could do a study to see if there were enough people to make it worth my time. With the amount of time and thought I would have to put into a 21st Century crow hunting book (plus photos) I would not want to just break even or lose money. Any decent hard cover book these days is going to run $24.95 or more, so the question is, are there enough crow hunters for that kind of market and if so will they want to pay for it?
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
If a fella was not restricted to certain days of the week in PA I would hunt there myself. PA still has some decent sized roosts. The million dollar question is, how much pressure do they get?
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Well, if they are here I don't know where the heck they are. I see occasional stories about "roosts" of crows near college towns etc, but when it comes down to it...there may be 500 crows there. I've been after them for some time in PA and know other PA hunters that visit this site. If they were here, hunted and pressured....there would be more posts about us PA guys whacking big numbers (over 150).
Gotta get to the peanut fields, the pecan orchards, the "I" state (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana) and parts of the plain states (western Texas, parts of Oklahoma, etc.) to have some atypical shoots. Too many places, not enough time. Will be heading west this fall (late Oct - early Nov), maybe plan an extra day or so to look around.
Funny how I hear about all the massive number of crows in PA when I mention something about finding some better hunting opportunities out of state.
In a nutshell, Bob summed up roost-style hunting quite well in his previous post.
Hunting pressure and land access are the 2 things I am always nervous about when hunting a new area.
You are right about there being crows in some of the areas you mentioned, however, there are plenty of crows in PA also. If you have not seen them then you are not looking in the right areas or are looking at the wrong time of day. It amazes me how well 10,000 to 20,000 crows can hide.
Big Honkers brought up a very good point about being out there at the right time of day!
You can have tens of thousands of birds in a roost area but if you are out just driving around the wrong time of day you might think there are hardly any in the area at all; unless you happen to stumble on to an area some are feeding in.
Years back there was a roost out of state (not a big one) that held roughly 25,000 crows 3 miles west of town. Very few of the locals knew there was a roost even in the county!
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
