I did my first crow hunt the other morning; it was awesome. Despite my bad calling and 20 mph winds crows came to my 5 decoys and I shot a couple. The next day I hunted a different field in the afternoon. I got there around 1 pm and heard a lone crow calling. I got brushed in good behind a burlap blind and called periodically until dusk. The skies were empty and dead silent. My questions to this forum is, What happened? Why did things go dead?
My second question is how long will I be able to hunt a 2,300 acre management land before the crows wise up and become hard to hunt? I live 5 min. from this place and plan on hunting it a lot.
thanks for the help
-- Edited by Crow magnon man on Wednesday 28th of December 2016 06:38:32 PM
-- Edited by Crow magnon man on Wednesday 28th of December 2016 07:27:20 PM
Can't say that this applies to your part of the country, but this is what I have learned from hunting crows in the Southeast (over decoys, calling them in with hand calls vs. "running & gunning" with electronic call):
For us, the most active time to hunt is from sunup until they get tired of feeding, which can be anytime from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM, depending on their frame of mind that day.
Relative to crows wising up, once educated, crows generally avoid a feeding area for 3-4 weeks. During this time, you will notice a reduced number of birds responding to your calls. At 3 weeks, you might get 75% of the activity you experienced originally and at 4 weeks it may go up to 80-90%. This will vary depending on fresh or migratory birds coming in and/or other factors. Best to find new sites beyond hearing range of your last hunting area and rotate your blind location.
Hope this helps and good hunting,
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Thanks for the reply. How far is hearing distance? The management land I hunt is mix of woods, grass lands and farm fields. Its all entirely flat. I'm using the hamerin, crow call and calling loud enough to hear an echo. This morning when I was hunting I could hear church bells from three miles away.
It all depends on the wind, the call and conditions that day (humidity, fog, etc.). The church bell would be a good indication, but you were probably downwind.
The trick is to develop a good list of sites to hunt. This will help you, for instance, if you show up at a spot and find that someone else has hunted there just prior and the birds don't respond at all... just pick up and relocate to the next spot. Scouting these new sites takes work, but it is worth it.
With electronic calls, crow hunting looks easy, so lots of people will try it out until they get frustrated. Those casual hunters educate lots of crows and their activity makes it hard for the serious hunters, but unfortunately it is a fact of life these days. Crow hunting is not as easy as it looks!
Finding perfect conditions is sometimes a hard nut to crack, but when it happens there is nothing like it and you will be hooked forever!
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
You shouldn't go back to the same exact everything sooner than 4 weeks optimum. But if you got that much acreage you could do this again opposite this immediate area you hit initially. Overall having new crows is a huge plus coming in. At this time you shouldn't leave your vehicle exposed if applicable. Cover it with some military surplus blind material and make sure it ain't blowing all about too(!)to get out of it cheap.
Things could get rough too if other hunters utilize that property for any other reason too. Crows don't know who they are shooting at! Sharing the acreage with other hunters will be detrimental to the numbers.... if the others are goose hunting putting your decoys alongside can work really well too or just setting out your decoys such as geese or sea gulls but you will probably want waterfowl or duck stamps if you do it that way and use steel shot and a plug if applicable...me-I just use pigeon decoys to fore go all that. I would use pigeon decoys the next time mixed with your crow decoys the next time you went. I would use a different call too...
I couldn't get them to show any interest so I borrowed a call from the home page under advanced techniques-it worked and how! I won't mess with electronic calls much these days-everybody has them! Are they useful? Yes! But during migration might be the best time. If you got the type of crow activity I suspect then others will be hunting your fields too and your percentage will drop like a rock in a well! I quit the electronic stuff when I notice others doing it too-the gig was up. Waste of time.
Use different techniques. You know the standard idea. Who doesn't do that? I know of those who use the same old tired worn out techniques and the crows in that area just stay far,far away....he might get a couple crows all day long-waste of time.Soon the crows will leave the area for the season even. I know this area that is way too popular and to even go is a total waste of time. Happens time and again so ultimately you need to find someplace more private.
And think outside the box. I got a lesson this season I won't soon forget. I thought I was being clever well I wasn't. Others were there and I got the left overs. So I struck out big time. I found why they were blowing by me this year so next year I should do what I never did before-get the numbers!
Fog is your best friend. Very light rain too; leaves you alone afield but wear a good rain coat!
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Top Cat Statutes never replaced or rewrote the constitution!
I have yet to have a good hunt in the afternoons. My hunting time is from sunrise and the first 3 hours of daylight. Had a few days where some more came in later but it wasnt really worth staying for those in hind site. That wind will make it pretty rough though. I have seen them playing on a hillside in high wind once. That was during modern gun for deer this year. Winds where 25mph with 35mph gusts. Saw them all in one small place hopping up and gliding backwards over the others then land and the one up front would do the same thing. Really wierd to see. Didnt see any of them move until we would get some light moments in the wind then they would fly a little ways and do that same thing.
It was windy! My decoys have clothes pins instead of legs. It was windy enough to where the decoys flipped upside down and I had to clip them to sticks and shove them in the ground.
Here is another question. Will the crows ever land in the decoy spread? How long will they swoop over the decoys before they realize something is up?
Many a time crows landed right amongst the dekes and they came barrel axing in too without hesitation. If there's a dead crow amongst your dekes the crows will soar around all day so long as they don't see you!
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Top Cat Statutes never replaced or rewrote the constitution!
Never use those clothes pin decoys in heavy winds. Once in a great whiles you can find those old heavy rubber Missouri decoys. I got a few as someone had them in an old barn and didn't know what they had. Get some with those realistic feet and they come with stakes and or stick heavy branches between their feet....
OOrrr you can get an old garden owl at the hardware store or garden center and take that stopper off the bottom and stuff a wooden stake there and leave a crow decoy on its' back but weighed down; tie a string to a heavy branch or tree limb...and good luck! A plastic hawk will do too..
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Top Cat Statutes never replaced or rewrote the constitution!
Sounds like there was one crow using the area and it moved on. Simple as that...unless you have seen a good number of birds there in the past couple days I would not expect anything different.