Crow Busters Forum

Bob · Guru

300 and 400 bird shoots over 40 seasons.

Bob · Guru

I ran out of space at 1997.

As you can see the good shoots are not that many during the course of the season. This is going anywhere from 30 to 40 hunts a season.

I have 7 journals packed with crow shoots over the years. The one smart thing I did was record every shoot because there is no way a guy could remember all this stuff!

I used to love reading Bert Popowski's stories when I was in my late teens. He used to mention the numbers of crows shot and in those days all I said was "I wanna be just like that guy"

Don't ever think you were born to late to get outstanding shooting in modern times (21st Century) because it's all a matter of putting in the time to make it happen!

motiondecoy · Guru

Wow!!!

Butch · Guru

Bob,

Yourself and the fellow crow hunters on this site have given up a lot of information, It has saved us a lot of trial and error in the field, I thank everybody for the useful information we have gotten. The records and stats you have recorded I enjoy reading, glad you kept them. I do a journal of our hunts, I keep up with location,weather, time of year and day, estimate of crows seen and number killed. I don't keep up with shooting percentage because some days we can't hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle (lol).

Butch

Bob · Guru

Hello Butch,

If you save all your data over a period of five seasons you will start to see which places are the most productive and at what month of the year. You will also see (if you ever flyway hunt) which places are better in the morning or afternoon!

I mentioned that a fella can still get damn good shooting in the 21st century. As an example look at the shooting Bert Popowski had back in the 1940's and 1950's. I remember another quote of his "200 or more is note worthy" so he thought 100 crows was no big deal when he hunted around Omaha, Nebraska with his pal Red Watt. Bert was not the kind of guy who liked to hunt alone, my father was also like that.

The two largest shoots Bert ever had during his hunting years was 556, he and three other hunters shot from 1:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. that afternoon. All hand held crow calls, no e-callers! He shared another shoot of 527 with his oldest son John on an afternoon flyway shoot, here again no e-call just a hand held crow call.

Bert's best one week kill came to 884 crows but he scouted two of those days and only hunted 5 days out of 7. Like I mentioned earlier, Bert never hunted alone, he and Dr. John Phillips shot 1,941 crows together in 9 days in 1941 near Houston, Texas. Now in 1941 I was not even born yet! My point is this, if you look at some of the totals that Boyd Robeson, Jim Lundquist, Dick Kilbane, Jerry Byroad, Tedd Kimmel, Don Bardshar, Don Cole, Bob Alban and Bob Cooke and I have had plus some of my solo hunts; you can see that if you have the time you can find your own (to use Dick Mermon's quote) "local branch of crow association" in your state or neighboring state.

motiondecoy · Guru

1,941 crows dead eh? Absolutely incredible!

Bob · Guru

Motion Decoy,

Back in 2002 or 2003 Drew Moore and I shot over 1,900 crows in 6 days ! That was the hunt mentioned in the "Advanced Articles Section" on the Home Page. Look for "ole Time Crow Shooting in the 21st Century" by Drew Moore.

Bert Popowski's best week ever was 884 crows with him and one other shooter.

In 2010 I shot almost that amount in one day by myself! I shot 834 crows with 1,150 12 gauge trap loads. The day before (my second largest shoot solo) I shot 711 crows with 895 12 gauge trap loads.

Boyd Robeson & I shot 859 crows with out moving a step back in 1982. We only used 20 gauges with a 7/8th ounce load of # 9 shot (both of us) that day. We were shooting all day long for 8 hours.

The point is this, you can still get outstanding shooting in modern times if you have the drive inside you to do it. In my situation and my partner Dick's situation, both our wife's are deceased and we are both retired. We have no family obligations so we go and come as we please. We stay in an area as long as the shooting lasts then move to the next county or state.

Back in my working days I still got outstanding shooting but on a smaller scale. Time was my problem, I could only call in sick so many times when I picked the days in the week to hunt. I remember back in the early 1980's the company I worked for was shutting the plant down for two weeks at a time each month during crow season in those days! Business was slow and they had some layoff's. I was in heaven, I collected unemployment and shot crows!

Bob · Guru

Since I ran out of space on the shoots from 1974 to 1997 I will try to finish up on this page:

1998 - 457 - Jim Lundquist & I 321 - Jim & I 411 - Jim & I 460 - Bob Cooke & I 363 - Just me solo 427 - Just me solo 372 - Bob cooke & I 375 - Bob Cooke & I 353 - Just me solo

1999 - 423 - Jim Lundquist & I

2000 - 403 - Just me solo 310 - Jim & I 435 - Jim & I 393 - Jim & I 322 - Ryan & I 308 - Just me solo

2001 - 349 - Jim & I I did not hunt much this season because I used most of my crow fund to put the DVD "The Art of Crow Hunting" into production.

2002 - 314 - Drew Moore & I 353 - Jim & I 314 - Skip Woody & I 305 - Skip Woody & I 434 - Just me solo

2003 - 359 - Drew Moore & I 456 - Dick Kilbane & I 304 - Dick & I

2004 - 309 - Drew & I

2005 - 323 - Just me solo 311 - Drew & I 433 - Dick & I

2006 - 452 - Jerry Byroad & I 462 - Just me solo

2007 - 337 - Jerry Byroad & I 429 - Jerry & I 458 - Jerry & I 318 - Dick & I 366 - Dick & I

2008 - 331 - Jerry & I 425 - Jerry & I 404 - Jerry & I 327 - Jerry & I 324 - Jerry & I 348 - Dick & I 442 - Dick & I 311 - Dick & I 353 - Dick & I 349 - Dick & I 361 - Dick & I

2009 - 390 - Jerry & I 347 - Jerry & I 373 - Jerry & I 312 - Jerry & I 350 - Dick & I 453 - Dick & I 319 - Dick & I

2010 - 380 - Just me solo 375 - Just me solo

2011 - 350 - Just me solo 305 - Dick & I

2012 - 426 - Just me solo 343 - Just me solo 304 - Dick & I

2013 - 473 - Just me solo 344 - Dick & I 476 - Just me solo 390 - Dick & I

As you can see you don't get many in the 300 to 400 bird range during any given season.

Bob · Guru

I just added up the 300 and 400 bird shoots over 40 seasons:

We had 86 shoots of 300 or more.

We had 38 shoots of 400 or more.

This averages out to roughly two 300 bird shoots per season and one 400 bird shoot per season. So as you can see they are not common.