So New Jersey's eason is done and doesn't reopen until August. I have a notion to go to the WMA's a few times and set up some decoys and practice calling them in. Any downside to this, such as accidentally educating my eventual pray that I set up dummies that waste their precious crow time?
Good question!! IF you call a crow for any reason.. practice..fun.. non-shooting... you will educate him. The bird will, at least, be less aggressive in responding WHEN you are calling in earnest...and at worst, he will not respond at all.
It never crossed my mind to practice when I was learning to call, as we had NO closed season. I learned to call crows by trying to mimic them.. mimic the sounds they made as they responded to the guy I was with who could call. I really think that is the best method.. mimic the actual bird.. the actual calls..as they are happening..and as you hear them in real time.
I have thought of this too. I was thinking of trying some of the parks and lakes and things like that where I wouldn't disturb too many people and just hand call without the decs. I have a family group that is nesting in the woods behind my house. They have become my alarm clock. Ever morning they spend about and hour raising cane back there. Nice to listen to.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
I have a group of crows, about 60 adults, that nest in the big pines across the road from my house. After years of calling with my voice, hand calls and my FoxPro, these adult crows won't even look my way anymore.
The new young every summer, being ignorant of my calls will come right in to my front porch however.
I have thought of doing the same thing to get better at calling. When I have done any practice calling without a gun, I have gone to areas that were not open to hunting, such as the federal game preserve nearby or in muncipal areas that have a population of crows. My son attends the state school for the deaf in Flint, MI, which as a decent crow population behind his school. When I pick him up it is a good time to practice, although I draw some disturbing stares from other parents. Probably could shoot some while I am there because the sound of gunfire in Flint is not out of place. Today I saw a pair of crows carrying twigs to the top of a pine tree. I hit the call and they took flight, I started the mourning call from Bobs tape and they were circling my truck while I stood outside it in a parking lot. Had the samething happen at a truck stop parking lot, blowing the mourning call and had four circling 20 yards above my truck while I stood outside of it. Guess they could see I was unarmed...with a long gun that is.
If it were me and you want to practice on live crows why not go to an area where you can't hunt? This way you get to see how the birds respond to you're calling. Another good point when doing this in a "no hunting area" is that you are not wising up the birds you plan to hunt when the season rolls around.
I used to go to the local state parks to get some practice in when I was first starting out.
Bob A.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Thanks for the great answers. I had thought the question would have sounded silly. I am glad I have this figured out a littled bit. I do like the idea of walking around and mimicing crows sounds as practice. That seems a good way to get good at the calls but not pull them in to a decoy situation that could actually teach them something.
I also have Bobs CD. Bob, do you consider that, or could it be possible that, the NE crows you hunted in NJ have a slightly diffent language than those on the plains? I ask because I have heard many more sounds up here that seem to do the same as what you have on the CD but are different.
-- Edited by bulpup on Saturday 26th of March 2011 09:41:47 PM
In some parts of the country the crows are more vocal than others but as far as a differen't language goes I don't think so. I used to hunt crows with my father in Quebec, Canada many years ago and they came to the same calls we used south of the border in the USA. I used to call the crows in differen't locations in Japan back in the late 1960's when I was in the US Navy in the 7th Fleet. So keep at it Dave because once they start to come to "you're calling" you will be on the road to feeling a great deal of accomplishment both now and for the rest of you're life.
Bob A.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Cool, thanks. Keeps me from overthinking things. I have had some pretty good luck getting them in from afar, and with hardly any practice. Getting them in close is the next hurdle. I went out on the last day of the season with about 8 NRA FUDS and some camo mesh just to see what I could do. Too late in the season for me to get my act together now after waiting so long. Any way, they did come, quietly. two came in and pretty much hovered directly overhead. We have the tall pine out where I can shoot so he was up over them by about 50 feet. Maybe 150 total and I was just at a loss as to how to get him down. I had no faith in the FUDs being able to keep them fooled so I took a shot and dropped him.
He came down until about 30 feet off the ground then recovered and limped off. I took another shot and could see him take the hit but kept on flying. I'm sure he died within minutes but I couldn't see him anymore. 4 more came around the periphery but I didn't feel that I had enough camo and good enough soft calling to get them to come off the tree tops to check the little fold ups out.
Anyway, A lot to think about for August. Camo, soft calls, decoys and some run and gun.
