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Post Info TOPIC: Mixing it up with the TCP
Gadget Bob


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Mixing it up with the TCP
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Hi boys,

The TCP minus one (Lone Star Phil) plus one (James R.) hit the road at 5:00AM this morning to respond to a farmers request for decrowing operations.   Phil was at the Texas State Fair yesterday, along with attending the Texas/OU game at the Cotton Bowl and did not have the strength to ride along early this morning.

We setup a few decoys, a static owl and 4 Carrylite deks, and starting calling about 7:00AM.  The crows were really responding to our FoxPro callers playing JS Owl & Crow Fight and Death Cry of a Crow with a lot of vigor.  After about 45 minutes with our “Metroguns”, most of my personal 50 round belt load was expended, so I returned to Toyota One to “reload”.  As I arrived at our trucks, I noted a Jeep approaching through the trees and assumed it was the landowner.  Nope.  It was a neighbor friend of the landowner.  He was watching us from afar and wanted to join in the fun.  Unfortunately, I did not have a third Metrogun with me, so he had to use his 1100, without the benefit of “Metro” sound control.   After his first two shots, the area that had been “alive” with a few hundred crows, became painfully silent and the rate of crows responding to our ecalling/mouth calling fell dramatically.  Clearly in this feeding set operation, having the “quieter” guns were a big advantage.  This neighbor was a very good shot, and I wish I could have put a Metro gun in his hands. 

Well Texas Matt and James had to pull out at 11:00AM, after we jointly tried 3 “raccoon stands”, and at that point we had combined on 71 crows.  After they left, I whacked another 4 for a grand total of 75.  Then I finally called and bagged a small raccoon, just over 9 pounds, for our TCP mixed bag.   It should be noted this raccoon charged past the Mojo Critter ($35) and attempted to attack the FoxPro Fury ($599!!! Yikes) that I had placed at 8 feet in a crotch of a tree limb.  It got to about 5 feet up the “Fury Tree”, when I opened up with my BPS MetroGun.  I had to empty on it, all 5 of our reloaded Winchester AA Featherlite clones, to put it down.

Lastly, I tried one more raccoon stand and wouldn’t you know it, a huge coyote responded.  I did have a 3 inch Winchester XX Mag 4 in the Metrogun chamber, but alas only one “Featherlite” behind it as I expected another raccoon.  Anyway, I knocked it down with the 4’s and walked over to ground check it.  As I started to poke it with the barrel, it blinked and instead of just shooting it at point blank, I backed off to not gash it and just let it expire.   At that point it jumps up, I hit it with those slow speed 8’s knocking it down again, but it ran off into the brush.  I searched for about an hour without luck.  Real smooth, Gadget Bob…

It is always an adventure with the TCP!!!

Regards,

Gadget Bob

This racky was kinda a squirt, too...  Very aggresive though!

P1000880.jpg
P1000881.jpgP1000884.jpg



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watch em fall


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Nicewink

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Pat B


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Fine job. Tks for the report. Always enjoy reading you after-action reports...

Pat

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TexasMatt


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Bob,

This certainly was a fun morning. It was great to get back in a 'crowy' orchard.

It should be noted that this was James' first crow shoot, and he we so convinced of the effectivness of the metro barrels that he ordered one as soon as we got home.

Also, I estimate that he killed half of the daily total. Between your interaction with our visitor, and my gun problems, he was the only operational defense battery for much of the morning.

-- Edited by TexasMatt on Monday 4th of October 2010 01:11:55 AM

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watch em fall


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Does a metro barrel muffle the sound of heavy load too? And you've probably answered this before but how do they pattern?

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TexasMatt


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You need to use subsonic ammo to see any real benefit. Full power loads are still really loud. The barrels accept choke tubes, so your pattern will depend on the choke tube installed. The patterns seem to be really consistent through, probably because the low velocity doesn't blow them out, and there is probably very little pellet deformation.

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Gadget Bob


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Hi Watch 'em,

Yes it reduces the noise of "full power" shells but they still are loud and will hurt your hearing.  For maximum effect, Winchester AA "Featherlite" loads or equivalent are needed.

As far as patterning, no real effect - it uses the same style choke tubes as the base shotgun.  Mine are all Invector Plus for BPS's and my "special" Browning Fusion modified to "blowback" operation by SRM Performance to function with Featherlites.  T-Matt has a "Remchoke" Metro-barrel for his 870.

Regards, 


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Thanks for info, I was curious. We don't have large volume shoots in Pa., mostly between 1-12 birds at a spot. But maybe the loud gunfire is partly to blame for thatconfuse.

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Gadget Bob


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Hi again Watch 'em,

I think they would be helpful.  You don't "pollute" your area of operation with noise and therefore are able to pull in more crows at a given spot.  Our problem in Texas is land access.  When we get access to a place, we want to maximize the crows we can take there.  Our Metroguns allows us to do that and help us be good neighbors, too.

www.Metrogun.com

I "beat" T-Matt with this answer!

Regards,


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Land access isn't really a problem here. If we approach a farmer and ask to hunt crows and coyotes, the response is almost always a resounding shoot every censored.gif one whenever you want. Might look into this further when$ permits. Thanks again for info and the link. Take care and shoot every censored.gif one you can.

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Splash One


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Great job guys... Looking forward to getting into some crowy action in the near future.

 I sure do love shooting my Super Black Eagle II, but I just can't deny the effectiveness of the Metro system... Here in TX there are orchards that will hold large numbers crows, but they are held to this property mostly just to feed. Shooting a loud gun on these properties is like throwing a boulder into a pond.. The crows just fly off to some other orchard and the hunt at your orchard is over. Other types of crow infested areas might not need the metro system, but it sure is nice not having to wear ear plugs.
 

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