I would like to hunt some of the Hundreds of Thousands of acres of national forest and WMAs around here for crow. Most is either swamp land or mature timber (TALL pines and oaks). How would y'all that cover a lot of ground in a day suggest to hunt this. I expect there to be lots of local family groups but don't expect to find any major flyways. What do y'all look for when you have large blocks (some are 60000 - 70000 acres or larger) of timber and what setup do you use.
Thanks
-- Edited by 8fishermen on Thursday 20th of January 2011 12:17:44 AM
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
id hunt any openings for sure, dead spots in the woods or fields first. i only hunted a spot that big 1 time & there were little fields everywhere. i dont have much experience calling in the woods. the 1 time i tried a swamp i only saw 2 way high above the trees. i believe the duck hunters had them ran out. lol
Do find some clearings and windows in the trees if you can. Dekes will slow you down on covering the most amount of land but, if speed is not an issue, bring a couple of dekes. The birds are scanning through the canopy looking for where the sounds are coming from. Some will drop in if they see a deke or two.
Do find some clearings and windows in the trees if you can. Dekes will slow you down on covering the most amount of land but, if speed is not an issue, bring a couple of dekes. The birds are scanning through the canopy looking for where the sounds are coming from. Some will drop in if they see a deke or two.
I was thinking of a buster on a hook to hang on a low lying bush. no pole, just hang it as visible from above as possible.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
greg yeah we use around 10-12 decoys. 1 or 2 motion activated. when we was in the clearings we done better in the woods. (like dried up duck holes) some would come back for a repeat. other times we would b in the woods hunting anything and hear 1 holler then just turn the caller on with no decoys. just stand against a tree. 1 would fly in through the trees but he wont stop.
i never heard of the triangle.
i agree with mike27 buster never does me wrong lol
When we use that term "triangle" we are referring to the positioning of the shooters at the triangle points, with the decoys in the middle. Perhaps other are using the term differently.
When we use that term "triangle" we are referring to the positioning of the shooters at the triangle points, with the decoys in the middle. Perhaps other are using the term differently.
Regards,
Gadget Bob
Bob,
Are you using this set for R n' G??? Could you explain the decoy set?? What do you look for when scouting and RnGing new woods?
Thanks.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
I do not run 'n gun much anymore. I do not get NEAR the amount of satisfaction with that method as I do gunning crows over decoys in a feeding or flyway scenario.
IMO, decoys are not needed to run 'n gun. A couple wont hurt but I would not go thru the trouble to get them way high in trees or anything...I'd place them on the ground in the middle of the opening.
One benefit to the run 'n gun style is you do not really have to scout. I'd put a priority on hitting as many locations as possible in a short amount of time. I never walked far from the vehicle, maybe 100 yards. Find an opening large enough to shoot through but not big enough that you could not shoot across it. Turn the caller on and see what happens. 10 minutes per stand.
8fisherman: Big Honkers is almost entirely correct. I say "almost" as there is great shooting to be had in run & gun. That is the only approach I have ever used and we kill 100+ almost each outing. It is very nice, however, to find a place where larger flocks are feeding.. and set up as BH prefers. We occasionally have that situation with peanuts.. that crows love...but normally we will make 16-24 stands in one day.. pure run & gun. We have no flyways here.
True... you do not need decoys. Use a dead bird or two at any given stand IF you have a proper opening that incoming birds might see. The most important consideration in run and gun..is finding the proper place to hide. I was not encouraged to read that most of your hunting area was mature ( read tall ) pine and hardwoods. Crows tend to come in about the height of the tallest trees...but not always. We try and hunt mostly pines as they provide cover year round but hardwoods often provide NO cover..and it is difficult to hide well enough not to flare birds before they get into range.
We almost never walk further than 100/150 yards from our vehicle...assuming that distance is covered by woods. Crows are not alarmed at seeing a vehicle that far from the calling.
As for "scouting".. what you are actually scouting for.. is the proper place to set up.. not scouting to actually SEE crows? This time of year, most trees do not have leaves and shooting amongst them is not a problem. A thick pine thicket is however, so you need to find that opening.. or a series of small openings.. to set up. When I say 'set up'... all I mean is find a good spot... preferably shorter trees... some openings..etc.. and start calling. IF there are crows within ear shot, they should respond within a few seconds... 2-3 minutes at the most. If you hear nothing.. move and repeat. One big advantage to R&G is the ability to move..move away from educated birds..find virgin birds..etc. Virgins are the key...to a high TBC. Good luck!!
My friends and I have a huge public piece of land that we run and gun in Livingston County Michigan.
However, we run 9 different spots and most of them involve jumping in the truck to get to each spot.
We start our morning off in the dark at Spot #1 and bang the first set. When things get calm we rush to the truck and run and gun each spot. We are in and out very quickly from each spot banging a handful of birds in each section. At about 3PM we find ourselves at the local pub having a cold one with about 20-30 birds on a good day. But thats Michigan.
Its alot of work to hit these spots quickly... We are in and out..and we move fast.. We're strictly business... party time comes later at 3 PM Great post and some good discussions.
Brian www.americangunnery.com
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www.americangunnery.com
It's not the size of your kill. Its the memories that mean the most
Another helpful hint that I use for a run and gun.
We never use decoys either and we choose our position in low cut trees to force the birds in low for observation. Works great for us. We run a 100 yards from the truck maximum.
We have about 15% fallout on birds perched in trees that watch us run from the truck. Thats just the way it goes.
These are the guys with PHD's and they will lay up high in an oak tree and laugh at our crow distress...we know when its dead... and we'll boogie in 10 minutes to the next spot...if we know we're caught.
-- Edited by ublycrow on Wednesday 19th of January 2011 02:16:30 AM
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www.americangunnery.com
It's not the size of your kill. Its the memories that mean the most
1. No decoys or limit to one or two if location allows and doesn't slow you down. 2. Aggressive calling 3. Find shorter trees or small clearings and suitable places to hide. 4. 3-5 min... no birds... move on. 5. Cover lots of ground.
One more question, how far do you move before setting up again? I understand there are a lot of variables here.
I know this is not most peoples cup of tea, but here in Miss., there are no other crow hunters. I think I will be shooting green birds and there are tons of public places to hunt. Some have lots of food sources near by and excellent roost sites. May get lucky.
-- Edited by 8fishermen on Wednesday 19th of January 2011 04:35:33 AM
__________________
"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
Greg, Lots of us wish we had your problem. To much land to cover and no competition. If there is a roost or large family groups, I would try a crack of dawn setup and then you could do a R & G. Drive a mile or two, or ten, scan for birds and there is your next spot.
Here in Maine, the county I live in, (Very large, 1,600 sq. miles) is 92% forested. That doesn't leave many fields to hunt.
Charles and I strated R&G last year with 1 decoy and a FoxPro caller. We found it very fun with the crows flying down to swoop past the deke. We hunted clearings or over lower trees, IF that were available. When it wasn't, the crows didn't hesitate too much to fly under the canopy to see were the call was coming from.
It made for fast, exciting action. Many times we didn't see the crow until they were close.
8fisherman: How far do you go for the next stand? Two answers: far enough so as not to call the same bunch of crows again... and once beyond that, you stop at the very next suitable place (woods) in which you can reasonably hide and/or have permission. Repeat till sundown.
Today, I drove around one of the local WMAs that I have never hunted. As I suspected, it is quite a few square miles of thinned mature pines with a sprinkling of oak bottoms. There are small (1-2 acre) clearings that are called "Wildlife Openings" every mile or so. These areas are nothing more than small plots they dozed down and left to grow back up.
The first pic is of the mature pines. They are on a burn rotation so there is no 2nd story trees, only underbrush. The second pic is of one of the "Wildlife Openings". Any thoughts on setups???
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
8fisherman: You would have a hard time hiding in the first picture.. no where near enough cover. We have pines just like this.. neatly cleared out to promote growth...and too "clean" to hide. I cannot tell how tall the pines are.. but they do not appear too tall for busting crows.. plus they are open enough that the birds should come down beneath the canopy when approaching.. at least some of them would. But you would need some sort of cover that I do not see.
The second picture is too blurry for me to see.. but I do see a larger opening.. which you should stay away from. Both pics do not show me enough cover to hide. Many crow hunters just do not hide well enough... not saying you don't of course.
Wait 2 years.. let the undergrowth make some headway..and you should easily find proper cover here..
That first pic is "saw log" size pines. A bird over the tops of them would be an impressive kill. there are some stands of shorter(40'), muck thicker timber mixed in that one could hide on the edges in between the saw logs and the 40'ers.
I didn't realize how blurry that second pic was till I got home. It is basically a small cutover that they call "wildlife openings" It is dense and about 10' tall. Lots to hide under there.
If there are birds there, they will not have been hunted. There are a lot of chicken processing plants, rendering plants, and poultry houses near by. I think there will be birds there. I think I will carry a piece of camo burlap to get under if need be.
Gonna give it a try tomorrow after a morning field hunt near the orchard. Like I said, no one to my knowledge hunts crows here. There are too many other seasons that people prefer to hunt that over lap crow season. Take for instance deer season, It opens the first of Oct and runs though the last day of Jan. The bag limits are liberal and no tag systems except on public land. No one has any intrest in crow hunting when every year the chances of killing a B n' C buck increase on public land. We have more and more taken ever year.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
Great post and some good discussions.
