Hunted an area for the 5th time since Sept. and blinded up in the same sweet spot for the fourth time, tried to move but this spot offers the best chance. Four of us hunted and this is something we have only done a time or two with limited sucess. Had hopes of some new birds moving in but was not the case. We thru the book at them as far as calls go and it really surprised us what they responded to, I got to messing with a few Fish crows , imitating them with the hand call and dang if the crows didn't start coming in. This worked several times on call shy birds, probly killed 10 plus and a couple of Fish crows doing this. As you can tell we tried it all. Managed to pick up 51 hard earned birds and got a lot of experience on educated birds. It's hard to hunt 4 people, even with great blinds, head movement is easily picked up by crows with a masters degree. The up side to 4 hunting is a lot of great fellowship and making fun of each others shooting abilities and anything else is fair game, nothing gets a pass with that many hunting. One of the best times with the Son, Grandson and a great Friend for me. Our Friend set up His phone on timer and got our pics and is going to send them to us, hope to post them in a few days (I did say "hope" ) Me and the pic process still haven't jelled. Anyway 1st hunt in the books for 2015 and it was a great time!
This is just my opinion on educated birds, I don't waste my time with them because all you are doing is spinning your wheel's.
If you are limited to the places you can hunt then it's up to the individual weather he wants to" just get out and get what he can get" under these circumstances.
As Skip mentioned in a previous post, once they are spooked it makes no difference what call you use, they do a 180 and head in the other direction!
I was out of state last week and was in an area where they had a lot of hunting pressure. Dick & I just shut the caller down and just let them decoy with out the call. It was a very slow hunt like that but we managed to shoot 145 which is not bad under those conditions. We would have got far less had we let the caller run!
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Your opinion is always welcome on what I post as with others on here. We were limited and with 4 it limits you even more. From what I've experienced from now till spring it will be tougher down here unless we find some good food sources to hold and draw them. Been reading about your hunts and Congrats, sounds like your having a good year!
When I get time I will post up some new photos of some of the hunts this season.
Getting back to the area where we had to shut the caller down, we got clear away from that area the next day. It's just not the same for me when they don't come to the call. But as a pool playing friend of mine says "desperate times call for desperate measures" that could well apply to crow hunting as well!
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
I won't use an electronic caller when I go out because too many others are doing it...I rely on movement decoys thus my weird s/n. To me mouth calls are far better when you have competition. Decoy placement and the type of decoys become critical here. When there is a lot of competition you got to place out a hell of a lot more decoys at this point...if you live around an area where the crows are bunching up now later in the season you got to imitate that. But if it's just one big flock hanging around well it's time to look at other areas.
If you can never ever hit an area where there has been activity...by other hunters....if you have to? Better use different techniques..these are not waterfowl you are hunting...even pigeons will smarten up!
I agree, three is a crowd in the blind..I don't like hunting with anyone...not usually..past hunters shot at the crows too far out and other things...study how the crows appear and set your decoys up like that.
I wish we knew. I wish there was a certain way to find out the answer to one of the great unanswered questions surrounding the crow: can you ever call the same crow twice? Change locations, change calls, change decoy arrangements, changes in weather, changes in the location of Jupiter, etc.. and etc.. and any combination there of.. can you call the same educated, "you shot at me and missed" pedigreed crow.. more than once INTO shotgun range....in that crow's lifetime!
It is my belief that crows that have been called in and shot at (and missed) in the past will not come in anything like they did before they had a grim experience with a crow hunter. Most will at best just come by (at what they think is a safe distance) on or near the fringe that will test the most skilled shot gunners. They are masters in the air with there ability to turn on a dime, side slip or power dive to evade being another digit on a crow hunters counter!
So, it is my opinion that yes, you can call the same crow more than once, but......... he is going to be much more cautious and stay at a safe distance weather it be flying pretty high or skirting your setup at low altitude but from afar! Some make the mistake of venturing a tad to close and it costs them there lives.
The day we shut the e-caller down we had birds come much closer but it was very drawn out hunting like that.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
I did learn one trick this season dealing with educated birds. If you can find a last stop water source close to the roost it is gold! We had a deep freeze 2 weeks ago and I located a ditch with a trickle of running water. I found it scouting. The birds were pouring in to a spot I had burned them good in twice. I noticed they were low in the trees and figured they had found a dead deer. It was the water. I shot it the next evening and put 63 on the ground in about 45 minutes. We lost a ton of birds to the south during the cold snap tho.
I took some photos of some crows riding down the river on "ice bergs", why fly when you can ride! This is when some of the rivers were starting to break up from being frozen solid two weeks ago. I will post up all these photos at the end of the season.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Cool! Snow hits here in any goodly amount and the crows head for their winter roosts! The only thing that would keep them here is if you have 3-4 farms with that hot steaming conveyor belt running 24/7!
We shoot the same place with the same 4 guys. We have plenty of room. We hunt an organic mulch farm. Cha-Ching. Last weekend when everybody left, I stayed. I placed 2 crows out and just sat their. Quiet and still. The crows settles down and they were flying in from every direction. I manage to get a few. I also like the sit and wait approach with no calling. You have to move and mix it up every so often. I had fun and glad I stayed.
