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Post Info TOPIC: Skip Woody in the Varmint Hunter magazine.
Bob


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Hey, if you check the spring issue of the Varmint Hunter Magazine you will see a well written article about Skip.

He even has the 82 year old lady who owns the property doing manual labor pushing wheel barrows full of crows out of the kill area!

Nice article Skip.



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Pretty neat. I'd love to read it.

If this is the same fine young lady that Skip has posted about in the past...

...Im guessing that the story ends with a freshly baked pie for Skip.

BH

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BH, that's the one. A "pee-con" pie.. I'll be seeing Skip next Tuesday and planing on getting my edition signed along with pictures.. What a treasure.



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Thanks Bob,

Will pick up a copy to read.


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I'm glad to see that Skip is still in pretty good shape for an old bastard.

It makes no difference how much money you have, if your health is no good and you can not get around all the money in the world does you no good!

Good health is a blessing to be sure!

Skip & I shared a hunt many years ago where we were averaging a little over 250 crows a day for 6 days. I remember one hunt in particular where we had roughly 300 birds down in one spot and all of a sudden the birds started flaring for no apparent reason. I looked in back of our blind and the kids in the area thought it was funny spooking some of our crows. They were about 40 to 50 yards in back of us and we did not know they were there for the first 10 to 15 minutes. Skip was not happy because those little devils cost us about 30 birds!

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Bob wrote:

Skip & I shared a hunt many years ago where we were averaging a little over 250 crows a day for 6 days. I remember one hunt in particular where we had roughly 300 birds down in one spot and all of a sudden the birds started flaring for no apparent reason. I looked in back of our blind and the kids in the area thought it was funny spooking some of our crows. They were about 40 to 50 yards in back of us and we did not know they were there for the first 10 to 15 minutes. Skip was not happy because those little devils cost us about 30 birds!


 Future PETA members?  confuse



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My partner and i had a hotspot many years ago...the crows were coming down in  great flights-I even got a triple and the same day i got two piebalds but suddenly  the crows were flaring left and right...I looked to see about half a dozen kids running across the field with kites...we just packed it in...that day for this area now we got  about 40+ crows which would be our big day as after that things gradually slowed down...however the following week end  with a different partner brought down a dozen but there was only a brief window of any decent shooting anyways....just hit it right the previous week end when  those kids showed up about noone I think...nothing we could do. it was known to us that  this area was a shared area and when people showed up it was time to leave.

 On another note after the NH(2015) spring season ended in came the wintering crows....and jeeze some people wonder why i wanted to change the season! That isn't all...2013(?) fall the season was winding down to a close and  suddenly a huge flight of crows appeared...and I could not get any permission in that area PERIOD to hunt them...this is crazy period!

 Anyways it did not occur to me I was being legally sabotaged by a bunch of children specifically regarding the opening  of this post...but one thing I am sure of, after seeing the gradual severe of hunting land in the west of me here despite the ironic  decline of crows in that area anyways, (but not elsewhere) tells me that  any kind of hunting in this state will go the way of the Do Do Bird sooner than we think and it won't take posted land to do it!



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The reason there is any hunting left in Massachussettes? The massive numbers of goose calling cards and the other wintering water fowl has really ticked off even the rich left wing monarchists still loyal to England whose brethren have showed up here but doing unheard of activities such as poisoning certain wild life on the sea coast some where...and by the way where in tarnation did those Mississippi kites come from? Exeter is a few thousand miles away from the gulf!?!?!

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What I have noticed when watching "American" crow shooting videos, is that you rarely use decoys, whirlies, bouncers/floaters etc. and almost NEVER EVER tidy up dead birds !!
Why is this? We find over here that crows are VERY intelligent birds, and a shot bird on its back for instance will cause crows to flare away and keep away, long before they are in range.
We are very meticulous, and as soon as there is a lull in the shooting, we are put and tidying up the birds into decoys feeding, or hidden under a camp tarp so as not to scare birds off.
Larger dead crows are used to make bouncer/floater decoys, or are put on the whirlies, although I have now made some plastic flocked and winged decoys for the whirlies to save having to wait until I've shot a couple.
We generally make a pattern in a horseshoe (C) shape, with the opening facing AWAY from the wind, so they come in towards the wind. Usually a couple of floaters/bouncers heading into the C about 15-20 metres out. A whirlie or two slightly off to one side of the C opening, and again, about 20-25 metres away.
This tends to funnel them into coming in to the opening of the C as they like to land into the wind. Where your hide is will depend on where you are shooting from in relation to the wind. But generally your hide will be between 20 and 35 metres from the centre of the C. . . Ohh, and we tend to put one or two "sentry birds" up on a lofting pole, about 5-7 metres high at least resting in a tree

-- Edited by Redditch on Saturday 2nd of May 2015 01:51:09 PM

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Redditch,

With us it relative to where and what type of hunting ground we are on ( agriculture or orchards). We do use decoys but some spots we wouldn't have to at certain times of the year. We do tidy up during slow times, especially bring in long birds and make the others look natural. As the birds get hunted, we use all the tricks we know to lure them in to the kill zone. The "sentry birds" are priority to our hunting and we try and get as many up that looks natural for the area hunted. We don't flyway shoot, that's another game in itself with variables that I knw nothing about except what I have read. Anyway glad to see Ireland represented on the board and look forward to reading about your style of hunting.


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Red,

I have relatives on my mothers side in Ireland.

Dead crows on there backs or other wise don't seem to spook the crows that I hunt. The crows know they are dead long before they get into range. They are coming to my calling plus the effect of the dead crows on the ground. They want to know what's going on and come over for a closer look, that's all it takes!

The first three photos are field setups, the next two are flyway shoots. The last photo is of a crow coming in with all the dead ones on the ground, this was a field hunt.



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Bob:

It never ceases to amaze me: your photos of a blind, all by itself, in what appears to be an area with absolutely nothing else about you (huge field). That set-up, combined with all of the crow carcasses laying about, proves that Mr. Crow, in some locations/situations anyway, is not the genius he's thought to be.



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OA,

In field types of hunts the key is to have them coming just in ones, two's and three's, in the large flocks you will have a smart one that will lead them off sometimes.

My blind just looks like an evergreen tree to them even if it is out in the open.

Bert Popowski said that with crows (just like the human race) you have perhaps 10% of them that are very sharp, they keep the other 90% alive in most cases!

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I have the feeling that the USA having a "closed season" for crows may help in their shooting.
Here in the UK and ireland you can shoot them 365 days a year, no protection.
(Except in Northern Ireland, where they aren't allowed to be shot on Sunday's)
Add that to the fact that you have what we call "crow educators/teachers" (people who can't shoot a damn, and fire off shots when they are still at 100-150 metres :( ) and the crows get very savvy here, very fast.
The slightest thing out of the ordinary (I.e. A crow facing away from the wind, or a crow in its side or back) and they won't come within shooting distance, instead sit out on a tree a 100 metres away and scream warnings.
That said, if you are out in the field tidying up the pattern and have NO GUN in your hands, they will land right next to you, only flying off when you head back towards the hide.
I've often set a one man "pop up" hide with seat in the middle of a field, and the decoys around it, and even had birds land on it with me in it LOL

-- Edited by Redditch on Sunday 3rd of May 2015 08:15:37 AM

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I tried to post a picture of one of my decoy setups to the board, but for some reason, although the iPad says "selected" the board doesn't upload the file :(
So, I've sent the file to Tom (HV Trapper) per email, and maybe he can upload it for me when he gets time :)
Then you will see the scale of the setup.
Usually it's in a C pattern with the open end of the C facing away from the wind (they like to land into the wind, and into an open space amongst others )
Usually 15-20 decoy crows each side, sometimes a floater/bouncer in the middle as if landing. The hide will be 30-35 metres from the centre of the C pattern, as the centre of the C is your "kill zone"
This pattern works for crow and pigeon, and often we will add 10-15 pigeon decoys in amongst the mix, to attract pigeons too, as they often feed together here.
Then we will add a magpie decoy off to one side about 10 metres away, as there is often a magpie about, but usually never more than two, unless they are alone.
Then we will put a whirly off to one side of the open C end, about 20-30 metres away, as if they are circling before going in to land, and then put a floater half way between the opening of the C and the whirlie.
Another whirlie will be put on a high spot if it's a hilly field, to bring the attention of far away crows.
The sentries will be on a "lofting pole" with a T on the top, one each side of the T, and put leaning against a tree, or against a telegraph pole, or even on its own sticking up in a hedge .



-- Edited by Redditch on Sunday 3rd of May 2015 08:38:30 AM

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Red,

Do you use either a hand held crow call or electronic crow caller in Ireland? If my memory serves me right I don't think it's legal to use an e-caller in your country; how about a hand held call that you blow manually?

On average what number of crows come in to your setup at any given time, 1-2-3- 8-10? What is an average hunt and what is a very good hunt numbers wise? Do you shoot jackdaws and rooks as well or are they just in England?

I would guess that you are retired military?

Here are a few photos (that cost me a lot of birds because I was doing the camera work) that I took of my partner on a morning flyway shoot here in the USA.



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Hi Bob,
The use of an caller in the whole of the UK is forbidden by law for calling birds to shoot. I usually have 5-7 different mouth callers with me, and the best I have found is the "Nordik Crow Call" which funnily enough is built of plastic, very large, and gives a nice deep raspy tone, as opposed to the higher tones most American calls and wooden calls give. It's classed as the best crow call bar none in Europe. I sent Skip one and all being well he will do a review on it one of these days :) also I found through the years (before they banned them, that electronic callers weren't all that. Effective, as you couldn't react to what the crow was calling, most giving just a frenzy or a hello, never the come over here for food, or come back.
The normal amount of crows (corvids) that come will be 1-3 but often groups into 20 will come at once too. If you are out in the pattern, and DON'T have a gun with you, they will happily land next to you, but as soon as you make a beeline for the hide they are gone LOL.
The best numbers I've had was with a friend four years ago, 2011. We set up on two barely fields, 100 metres apart each shooting opposite directions, and finished the day just short of 800 birds, a mixture of corvids and pigeon.
Corvids are all the crow species, I.e. Magpie, Jay, raven, jackdaw, rook, hooded, grey, carrion, etc.
Jay and Raven are OFF LIMITS, being protected species., Pigeon is the venerable wood pigeon, or feral racing pigeons.
Normal racing pigeons and doves ARE OFF LIMITS! Protected species again.
We also have a "cross species" which makes life difficult, as not sure whether it's allowed to be shot or not, a cross between a raven and a carrion crow. The size of a raven, but calls with the calls of a carrion, I.e. A higher not so raspy tone as the raven. Their is no legislation as the species hasn't been studied, so we leave them be for the time being.

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And yes, I'm retired military LOL. I just don't advertise the fact, as where I live there is still an ongoing "security situation" with dissident republicans, and if they knew that I would be targeted :(

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The biggest problem we have now, is too many shooters. Since the 60's and 70's (when we use. To get flocks of 20-30,000 wood pigeon, and several thousand crows, we are no reduced to flocks mostly in the 30-60 range, with the odd flock getting to a couple of hundred.
The problem, is everyone is hooting them, and most are shooting them during the breeding season too, they have NO IDEA of conservation :( the same is true of foxes, and rabbits. I had a nice field, 40 rabbits a night, every night, no problem, would shoot it a month long, get 800-1,000 rabbits (they. Have 10 young a pair every 30 days average), and then leave it for six months before shooting it again.
Went back recently, and cartridge cases everywhere, and only seen three rabbits. The poachers had been there and wiped them out. I would always leave 50-60 per field, ensuring always enough to harvest, and leaving enough for foxes. The poachers come over the border, shoot them all, take them back over the border and sell them on the market place.
The same with foxes, people seem to have a "shoot them 24/7 there will always be more mentality". Explain to them that the Americans thought the same of the passenger pigeon and the bison/buffalo, and they laugh at you and call you an idiot and scaremongering.
We have people openly boasting of shooting 20+ foxes a night in breeding season, and then wondering when suddenly there are none left to shoot in their area. These people then often become poachers too, raiding neighbouring shooters permissions, and wiping their populations out too.
Their only motivation is to kill, not control, and I have no time for them at all. If I catch them, they get turned over to the police, and lose their FAC (gun licence)


-- Edited by Redditch on Monday 4th of May 2015 03:09:34 PM

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Redditch wrote:

The biggest problem we have now, is too many shooters....Their only motivation is to kill, not control, and I have no time for them at all. If I catch them, they get turned over to the police, and lose their FAC (gun licence)

-- Edited by Redditch on Monday 4th of May 2015 10:14:24 AM


 We call them (among other things) "Slob Hunters." Poachers over here, when they're caught by a Conservation Officer (or reported to a CO by a hunter, as I imagine you have done) are hit with large fines and can lose their license to hunt, for a long time. Sadly, there are still too many who think the laws are for "other people" (many of our politicians also think that way).



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Yep, same here, and then we have the ones who do it openly, as being informers (as regards insurgent activity or criminal activity) they are protected by the police, and won't be touched :(
We have a few over here that openly poach everywhere, use dogs on fox and deer, shoot deer with sub calibre weapons etc, and are never touched, despite being reported for years and years :(

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Ray, (Red)

It does present a problem if the birds get hunted to much by to many hunters "then nobody gets nothing"

In your area you mention that you hunt on freshly cut barely fields? Is this before or after they harvest the barely? How many acres (how large) are some of the barely fields in Ireland? Can the crows and pigeons feed in many different areas or is the farming more concentrated to certain areas which concentrates the birds in those feeding areas?

Do you ever use a fighting call or distress call when you use your mouth calls on a hunt?

Have you ever shot the crows on there way back to the roost in the afternoon hours or do you just field hunt them?

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Ray,

I can see how shooting 100 meters apart would help if you are shooting pigeons as it keeps the birds moving. In USA terms 100 meters is a tad over a hundred yards for those who are reading your thread.

In the states if you are hunting crows like that you would hinder each other. My partner & I usually hunt together or far a part, by that I mean at least a mile so both of us are shooting a whole different bunch of birds. This way you don't inter fear with one another.

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The fields are generally 100-150 metres long, and 80-100 metres wide, and unfortunately there is often a plentiful spread everywhere where they can feed, as everyone plants as soon as we get some dry weather, which isn't often here :( Mostly the pigeon will hit a freshly sown field, but the corvids won't generally touch it until the chute sneaks through the surface, then the seed is nice and soft, and they go mad for it. That's generally a week or so after its planted, and can continue until the chutes are about 3-4 inches high. At that height they stop feeding on it, and look for other things like slow berries etc. we used to shoot them in the roosts, but the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) got an ear in government, and it's now banned to shoot them 1 hour after dark until 1 hour before sunrise, and not within 150 metres of the roost. They tried to get Corvid shooting banned altogether, but only managed a full stop on Jays and Ravens (till now). As for hunting 100 metres apart, that came about as it was two separate fields, on opposite angles of a square, so between us we were covering 300 metres. Here you can ONLY shoot fields that you have written permission from the farmer for, or you lose you licence and guns. Sometimes we try fighting (frenzy) calls, and even sometimes use an owl or fox decoy, but that only generally works when they have young, and I don't shoot them when they have young, as then they are doing good taking grubs (larvae, caterpillars, and leatherjackets), and leaving the chutes etc alone. Once the young start to fly the nest, then the real work begins, and we shoot hundreds each day. We also have a good run on pigeon and Corvid when they harvest the crops, generally the first 3 days after a crop has been harvested. Mostly it's barley, with the occasional field of oats or wheat in my area. Further to the east they have more of a pigeon problem, as they harvest lettuce, and other greens, and they have less crows there (their crows aren't as hardy either)

-- Edited by Redditch on Saturday 9th of May 2015 06:09:51 PM

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Finally got Redditch's photo loaded.

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Thanks Tom, for some reason my iPad has stopped uploading to the forum :(
That's how we set out decoy patterns here. That one is for pigeon and crow.
Crow only would be small islands of 5-6 birds about 10 metres apart, again in a C pattern, whereas pigeon alone would be two sides of a C, but a 10 metre gap where the base of the C is so it would look like this ( ) and in the one gap we would put a whirly or floater/bouncer.

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Ray,

I'd buy that setup if I were a crow!

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It only works if they are flying, and the last few days they haven't been flying, instead staying around the farms and in old farm buildings :(

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I like the magpie deek front and centre!

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Always have 1-2 magpie Deeks off to one side of the pattern somewhere, as they are always about on a normal murder of crows

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