Took my new homebuilt out this morning and it will bring all the bird in I care to miss! Right after shooting light, I had around 100 crows over me. I would have traded the Benelli for a camcorder in a second to have gotten a pic of that site. When I finally started shooting, they were making so much noise they ignored the shots and kept circling. I would guess I call in around 300 birds.
All totaled, I killed 19 and shot a little over 2 boxes of shells. I usually shoot a little over 50% but today I was just off. Not sure I could have hit the truck this morn.
I was good just to be out, wish I had shot better.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
19 birds is 19 birds!! I don't like getting skunked & for me 19 is a good AM. I think you done good.
Its not the number of birds that I killed that bugs me, Its the number that I just flat out missed that drives me nuts!!! I need to count my shells and see how many I really did miss. Not too sure exactly how many shell I shot but I bet is was close to 2 and a half boxes. That first 100 that rolled in rattled me pretty good I guess.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
There's a lot that goes into that percentage. Like the bird that you draw a drop dead bead on & at the last second it flares & your trigger finger has been committed. No control over that!! LOL I also have the occasional crow that I need to pop a 2nd time especially in the winter months. I add those shots in as well since I didn't get it done on the 1st shot. I've even taken shots a bit further than I normally would because at times the birds just aren't coming inside that 30yd mark that I feel the most comfortable with. I also use a 20ga. I've killed them well beyond dead at times out to 40yds but then there are times when I will wing a flaring bird at 20yds & have to finish it off. I shoot 70-75% if I only count the 1 shot kills. My real field average is more often that not in the 60-65% range. Not only that but I'm sure quite a few of us have our bad days. I would be lieing if I didn't say I have them. I just wish there weren't so many of them. LOL
I remember shooting a 15 dove limit here in Ohio one day with 21 shells. About 72%. On the other hand I can remember a day where I shot 4 crows with 23 shells. Or about 18%. Man that was a bad day. I missed them at 10-12 FEET!! LOL
I don't like the big groups coming in either. Long & slow & a few at a time is the best for us.
i recently had my hand put in a cast thats put me out of commision till the 24th but i still work the caller & video my cousin shooting. we had a 10-15 bird count come in hovering & hollering at us last weekend. he totally froze up! he never even fired the 1st shot. lol i have the birds & him frantically aiming at each 1 for 2 seconds on video. im saying shoot, shoot, boy. lol he had 0% kill rate.
