Crow Busters Forum

Long time lurker, first time poster.  Trying not to bore you with the regular old 101 type questions, I've done some hunting and spent some time reading here so hopefully I'm ready for the "202" style tactics!

I could pound my chest and say I've been calling crows for 16 years but that really doesn't do my skill level justice given the present company.  In that time frame, I've been hot and cold with my efforts and enthusiasm toward killing crows.   In my prime (bachelor days) I'd kill 15-50 a day, 15-20 days a year.  Now I'm operating at about half that speed.  Low testosterone I guess?

I'm hoping you more experienced guys can help me like a good church community and "meet me where I am" as I try to improve.

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Here's where I am.

Hunting Kentucky.  Not a natural flyway to my knowledge. I've never seen 100+ crows in a single field.  I'm just working scattered groups of 10-30.  Big woods, medium pastures, small crops, some CRP.

I have a ton of scattered land access for 30-40 mile radius from home.

I am proficient at hand calls, using some 20 year old wooden crow & owl calls.  I call turkeys, bobcats, coyote and such so calling is definitely my strong suit.

I have a loud & clear electronic caller.

I run a Franchi 12i improved cylinder.  Been using hi-brass #6's for years.

I have a dozen full body crow decoys, a hawk & an owl.

Right now I'm setting up in mid-height (6-20') vegetation often surrounded by similar or higher canopies. 

I'm setting up decoys - killing a few, hand calling - killing a few, and turning on the electronics for the grand finale.  If time allows and I hear plenty of crows in the distance, I'll sometimes shut it down for 10-15 minutes (maybe pull some decoys and relocate the deads) and start back in with hand calls.  That's usually good for a few more.

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So, that's where I'm at.  The average stand this season has killed 8-10 crows (plenty of misses in there) and the best I've ever done is 33 on an hour long stand. 

Here are some of my questions, thoughts and goals.

A) I've been reading some input here and it seems you guys prefer 7-1/2 & 8 shot over the 5's & 6's.  This might be some hardheadedness on my part, but I've always thought my crows' late season feathers were harder to penetrate and required larger shot.  Are the flyway birds (which I presume make up a lot of the "numbers" on this forum) more fragile than the resident winter crows I'm dealing with?  After reading a recent thread here, I'm going to give the smaller shot a whirl again and see what happens. 

B) I'm playing with my stand selection a little, in an effort to pull the crows lower on their inbound flight.  Has anyone ever noticed changes in topography or vegetation height that seem to bring crows in LOWER?  Of course, this is taking into consideration the wind direction has to be right... but do you have any preferences like facing uphill/downhill or into high/low vegetation?  

C) I really get a kick out of decoys with all my hunting endeavors so I probably take them more seriously than necessary.  I'm preparing to flock my hard-body decoys.  Does anyone have any experience, pro or con, with flocked decoys?  Short of the perfect setup location, I see the decoys as my best chance to turn a 50 yard bird into a 15 yard bird. Maybe I'm wrong?

D) Since I'm not using a feeding scene, I generally hang my decoys 6-12' high with the raptor decoy being low (ground-48").  Near that raptor I'll often employ a motion decoy.   Does anyone have experience in decoying these type of "fight" scenarios?  Curious if anyone has seen a variation of decoy placement that helps hook incoming birds better?  I know sometimes less is more, but sometimes less is just less, so I'm trying to find the right balance with my decoy spread.  I'd like the early birds to lock up right on the spread, and the latecomers to commit to a low flight.  Wouldn't we all?

Thanks for your time, your input is appreciated!