How big is your spread ? How many deks do you put out ? How many do you hand in the trees ? How many different decoys do you use ? Do you have a pattern that you use or do you just throw them out ? Do you use other animals in your spread ?
What is the method to your madness ?
Here is why I am asking. Here lately there have been some great topics brought back up that were lost in the new transition, so in staying with that I am hoping that this will put some more great information back up on the board.
My biggest fear is that I end up going out to buy more decoys.
OH , I do have a good one to add. If you have a Mojo Critter, you got to try it out. Put the Mojo in the middle with deks facing it while it is one and then play the Crow fight off of the FoxPro. Something about the erratic movement rocks that crap out of the crow. I tried it at work with two deks. I should have got it on video, it rocks.
Yo Puppy, I usually use 2 dozen or so,and hang the dead crows as I retrieve 'em.Some I hang on branches,some I'll take twigs/steaks and stick 'em in the crows chest then in the ground with the wings out so they look real.( can be messy,but it works!) The cripple ones I tie down to a steak with mono and let 'em do what they want,flop squawk etc. sometimes I run mono back to the blind and pull on it to piss 'em off when other crows are around(WORKS AWESOME!) and you don't even need to call,drives 'em crazy! I have Flambeau dekes and had 'em for years,2 mojo's and 2 crowbuster 11's. "KEEP BLASTING!!"
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"LOAD and RELOAD" "NEVER FORGET THOSE THAT TOOK A HIT FOR YOU EVEN WHEN THEY DID'T KNOW YOU" U.S. VETERANS!!
When I hunt alone I take 10 plus a Mojo and a Buster. When hunting with my partner add another 12. We spread them out with at least 6 feet between decoys. We position them so they are facing different directions in random pattern rather then have them looking all the same way like toy soldiers. When possible we try to put a few in the trees and shrubs.
The majority are flambeau's but I have three old style carry-lites with detachable feet. When using the Mojo I try to put it on one side of the blind and tight against the treeline or row of corn. I find it helps take their eyes off any movement coming from the blind and by putting it against the treeline it seems to work better. I have found a flapper/buster works better than the mojo in the middle of the spread. When birds are moving 10 decoys is plenty and in short time the bodies of the ones shot start multiplying the size of the decoy spread.
I do not believe in using a cripple crow for a decoy and I put them out of the misery asap. I also believe it is hunting over a live decoy and illegal.
We put out as many as 30, but cannot use electonic motion decoys for crows in Pa. Other times we put out as few as 3, it depends on where we hunt and number of birds around. If you calling small pockets of crows I believe less is better. I always try to elevate a least one as a sentry. We don't even use owl decoy anymore, cause everyone else uses that setupnow
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whatever i'm doing i'm thinking about crow hunting
Watch 'em, What you need down there is one of those politicians or one of their relatives to contract "TRIPPLE E" or "WEST NILE VIRUS" then you will be able to use CROW BUSTERS or MO-JO'S! You gotta be SH--ing me!I thought P.A. had their hunting act together!.....?????
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"LOAD and RELOAD" "NEVER FORGET THOSE THAT TOOK A HIT FOR YOU EVEN WHEN THEY DID'T KNOW YOU" U.S. VETERANS!!
I have never used more than 14 deeks, I hang 3 or 4 carrylites with the pegs cut off in the trees. I usually have 9 to 11 on the ground. I have carrylite feeders,sentry's and have incorperated GHG aggressive callers this year. When I first started I used to put the deeks out like goose deeks, all facing the wind, wrong thing to do the birds didn't like it. I now put them out about ten feet apart facing all directions. Learned this after watching crows feed for hours on windy days. A bandit is real social but also greedy. If he finds a bite of food he wants to be far enough away from his buddies not to get the morsel stolen from his mouth, but yet close enough to flush if he sees his buddy flush. Ive seen bandits flush in a 25 mph wind with the wind directly to thier back. How they do it I have no idea. You would be amazed at how much better your hunts would get if a guy just spends time watching the behavior of crows I was watching a murder feed one time in the bottoms. No trees so they had no sentry's. They were leap frogging as they fed. That way a crow or 2 was in the air constantly, I saw a yote walking about 100 yards away not even headed in the direction the crows were feeding in. A leapfrogging bandit gave the warning call and boom the whole flock rose up as one and headed at an angle from the yote. It was funny cause 2 crows broke away from the flock and made a swoop at the young yote and scolded him and flew off out of sight. Down here bigger is not better. Most murders are only 7 to 15 birds unless they are gathering at a staging area to roost. Just some info to share,,,,Ive watched them on the nest too,,,now that is amazing
Pa. game commission is run to much like washington, they think they know what is best for hunting.. And like the folks in washington they are , clueless.
Believe it or not gun must be plugged to 3 total shots while crowhunting
-- Edited by watch em fall on Friday 3rd of September 2010 01:49:33 AM
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whatever i'm doing i'm thinking about crow hunting
I hunt by the rules even if I don't agree with them, besides fines and harassment isn't worth doing otherwise. We have conservation officers that take their jobs very seriously, and I have a good reputation and repoor with them. Not willing to risk either.
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whatever i'm doing i'm thinking about crow hunting
Don't stir up the alligators till your out of the water! I am working on getting motion decoys in pa. And every year till I get them I will call the pa game commission and let them know to change it.
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If you are gonna be dumb you gotta be tough
You can't fix stupid!
O yeah I kant spel eether
That may be a toughy cause crow over laps alot of other seasons on fri and sat so I think you may be better off learning how to reload quick in the middle of a barrage. You would be amazed at how quick you can get. I have got more than a few that must have been counting the bangs before they dove in only to be greeted by a few fast reloads for shots 4 and5 being loaded while the gun was still in the mount position. That's the only problem hunting solo no ones there to say nice shooting when you are done
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If you are gonna be dumb you gotta be tough
You can't fix stupid!
O yeah I kant spel eether
you are prolly right, but I've never had a good explanation why 3 shot capacity law exists in the first place. Sure on pheasant,grouse, and turkey I can see it because of bag limits. But on coyote you can load up as many as she'll hold, no bag limit. Well there is no bag limit on crows either. Just an explanation or better yet laws that are consistant and make sense is all we can hope for .
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whatever i'm doing i'm thinking about crow hunting
You guy's need to form a sportsmans advocate forum down there!! We had the same problem in Mass. with discharge distances and beach access, we formed an alliance and persued and influenced our reps in the state house ,but MAN ITS a lot of work!
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"LOAD and RELOAD" "NEVER FORGET THOSE THAT TOOK A HIT FOR YOU EVEN WHEN THEY DID'T KNOW YOU" U.S. VETERANS!!
Just some info to share,,,,Ive watched them on the nest too,,,now that is amazing
think they know what is best for hunting.. And like the folks in washington they are 
.
. Just an explanation or better yet laws that are consistant and make sense is all we can hope for 
.