Crow Busters Forum

Wingsetter · Senior Member

LAYOUT BLIND FOR THE MORNING HUNT

SHANEDOG · Guru

Nice job, Jim!! smile

8fishermen · Guru

Nice.

Splash One · Senior Member

How did you set up your blind and decoys in relation to the sun and wind?

Wingsetter · Senior Member

Had a South wind, so I was set up along the south fench line Sun came up over my right shoulder. I put about 3 decoys right close to the blind, A couple of decoys on fence posts about 15 to 20 yards directly to my left. Then a dozen scattered in front of me singles and pairs.

Wingsetter · Senior Member

Forgot to mention I rarely use my electronic call, there's a few other hunters around that have schooled them pretty well so I usually let the decoys do the work and I'll give a confidence call every now and then if needed.

crow commander · Senior Member

id b lost without my caller! lol

Mainehunt · Guru

I love using my layout blind on crows. biggrin

Kev
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Polish Hammer · Senior Member

Hey guys,

When you use your layout blind, how do you get away with all the movement? I mean, when you throw open the blind to shoot...they're gonna flare. Even close birds that flare are tough shots. I have a nice layout blind for goose hunting but I have never tried it crow hunting. Maybe I'll give it a whirl here before season goes out. I actually think it may have an advantage because you could get out in the field and away from the woods edge. If I were a crow (haha) I would fly less cautiously to decoys out in the middle of a big field than a group of decoys 20-25 yds from a woods edge.

Minimal calling seems to work if there are good crow numbers and you are in an area where crows fly by.

I am curious about a layout blind setup.

Hammer

NHCrow · Veteran Member

Hammer, they do flare when you open the doors. Usually pretty hard. A few things I do are wait until they are as close as they are gonna get, (I had several 10 feet over my head last fall) sit up slowly, don't whip the doors open, just sit up through the doors, and I try to come up when the bird I am focused on is looking away if I can. I am no expert hunting crows out of the layouts as last fall was the first time I tried it but those are the tips I learned.

Polish Hammer · Senior Member

I definitely think it would be a different and more challenging (maybe) way to hunt them. I think you could get them right in your lap. If the birds would come in one or two at a time, it wouldn't be that bad. That's what I was think though....let them get as close as possilble.

Thanks,

Hammer

Splash One · Senior Member

I would think the ideal weather would be sunny, with an east wind 10-15 mph. I would have to guess that placing the layout facing west and the decoys approximately 20 yards down wind would help to keep them out in front and blinded by the sun.

There are layouts that have one lid designed to flip up instead of two that swing open sideways e.g. The avery "power hunter"... I bet one could prop open the pop up lid just enough to shoot down range birds without much motion.

Wingsetter · Senior Member

I actually use a totally different blind for crows then I use for goose although I'm sure my FA SUB would work fine. I'm hunting them out of a blind called the field house by Ameristep, It has a slightly higher profile then normal layouts , what is nice though is your basically sitting up when you pop the blind. Oh and it normally scares the crap out of them (it's made out of spring steel), I let 'm flare and then squeeze off as they straighten out their escape path. Medium to high flyers won't hardly break a wing beat most times. Most of the crows I shoot though are right on top of the decoys they've landed several times when they snuck in from behind me and just dropped in. I enjoy hunting from a ground blind. It's great practice for Goose season !!