Crow Busters Forum

Ambush: "a concealed place where enemies lie in wait to attack by surprise" according to Webster. As a run & gunner I would admit "ambush" is sort of my mindset once I set up in the woods, concealed, lying in wait for crows to respond to my sounds. This was certainly my plan last Saturday at Bill Covington's dairy farm but I ran into a reversal of fortunes of sorts--the crows ambushed me in return. I now know how Custer felt!!

Never let anyone tell you dairy farms do not attract crows!! They do. I had not hunted this farm in 4-5 years and then mostly shot the pigeons that roosted in the 4 silos. I stopped by last Tuesday morning just to say "hi" to the 87 year old owner and the 20 minutes I was there noticed crows flew non-stop coming in from all directions plus I spotted a number of pecan trees within 1/2 mile. Grief.. I was in a crow hub!! I told Bill I would return Saturday and asked how early I could start shooting and not disturb milking....0900 was his reply. That is normally later than I like... daylight is 1st choice in a feeding situation. I showed up at 0830, placed my netting in a super place sort of near the edge of a huge pasture. I was very well hidden, had a fine view, knew I would kill a few birds, perhaps more than a few, especially the late feeders, etc. I shot the first bird at 15 yards at 0910.

I took 4 boxes of ammo with me initially. My truck was parked 400 yards away.. much further than I like but electric fences and mud decided that issue. I knew almost 100 rds would be sufficient for late morning birds, etc. calling on my vast experience and knowledge of crow behavior! What!!! I went through those 4 boxes in no time!! Amazing shooting...I had to hustle back to the truck and grabbed two more boxes with the full knowledge that this would be waaaay enough.. but in a brief few minutes I was out again. I promise, I could hardly believe how I had misjudged the situation. Back to the truck for my last two boxes..ammo I had intended to shoot clay targets later that afternoon! During the morning I shot an assortment of shells: Nitro 27's, Kent 1300 1 oz loads, Rio 1200 and 1250 1 1/8 oz loads and one box of Clever 1200 1 oz. I had shells of all different colors all over the ground.

 I could see most of them coming across the pasture.. hot and level flight looking for the fight! This is a treat for a run & gunner as I am almost always IN the woods and cannot see approaches.. just hear their calls for direction. Again, It was a visual treat for me but one that in the end I felt I had been ambushed!! Checking my "clicker" the TBC was 141. What a morning! One these old bones will long remember..

Why not 142? I ran out of ammo just short of 12:20 but I  killed the last five birds with the last 5 shells in my gun. Boy, did I love that ending! But my joy was short lived as I then had to suffer watching fresh birds hover overhead yacking at the pile of the fallen.. easy kills, far too many easy kills and grimace at the sight of my empty gun. I watched for 5 minutes, got the nerve to walk out into the pasture to start policing up the dead as I wanted a picture for my scrapbook. I picked up about 120 birds, the rest fell into thick under brush/briars and some hopped off. When I got back to my truck, worn out by the activities of the previous 3+ hours I turned to look towards the killing field only to see about 20 fresh birds orbiting the dead I had tossed into the woods. I will be doing a "MacArthur"... I shall return!!

Finally, I was ambushed by crows. Their numbers and aggression were not expected...not even remotely but what a fine shooting morning till the Max ran dry! But what a lucky solo hunt it was vs. such a fine target and I fully realize this was a very rare treat. Who knows what the crows will do next as the contest against them is never quite over, the field never quite ours.