Last week I shot a crow and instantly folded up and dropped about 10 feet only to regain life somehow and begin to fly away. I then shot him again and instead of folding as I normally see them do this one just stop instantly mid flight and dopped to the ground with wings still outstreached as if flying yet dropping straight down. I went to look for him but he landed in thick bush. I tried to find him for quite some time with no luck. I have not been hunting crows for very long and I have never seen this as they usually fold up when falling. Is this normal? Texas Matt's picture reminded me of this particular bird because roughly 25 to 30 seconds after the first shot, one lone feather drifted down within five feet of where I was sitting.
Sometimes they just get stunned. One day I shot a high bird that folded up. It moaned all the way down like someone letting the air out of accordian. The last 5 feet before the ground, it stuck out it's wing and took off in a hurry.
Very common to have crows wobble off a short distance to several hundred yards before piling up. Often, when hit hard, crows will appear to fly off in a leasurely manner instead if beating their wings hard to get out of there. When they turn into the wind and their feet drop games over as they are basically dead in the air.
I have seen these spin down wings locked and extended like a propeller, fold and drop a distance away, or simply loose altitude until contacting the ground. IMO if you have shot a lot of crows you will develop a sense which indicates to you that a crow has been hit hard simply by it's body actions.
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
I call those "Black Hawk Down." I would much prefer a good "poof" shot but on occasion you hit one that flies a short distance before the lights go out. I do hate watching wounded birds but it is kinda funny to watch them die in mid flight with the wings out spinning to earth like a helicopter.
Were you filming one of my hunts ? Man that happens to me more time than not. Call'em , Shoot'em, Fold'em, then watch them get up and fly off. Yep sounds about right . Heck just ask Jon about the bird we shot at down east. Three men, one bird , # of shells ? , knocked the bird out of the sky, pushed him across the ground and he still got up. They are just tough. Its like BH said, make' m go poof. Making " Black Rain " is a great thing.
Naildriver, one of our members over at Puppy's Predator Hunters Association, knocked one down with the wad - just stunned him - and believe it or not, he picked him up and took him home.
He took some great photos of mr. c sitting on his dog's back and stuff, but i can't find them. I'll see if he'll post some for us.
I found the original story by naildriver over at http://northcarolinapha.com/ :
ok, so i went out to test my theory of dressing to match your surroundings again. i left the dogs at the house and went to a totally new area i had never even seen, muchless hunted. i knew it was a popular spot for leaf lookers so i dressed in plain clothes and headed out with the 12ga and a single hand call. well, i missed one and dropped another..... kinda.... i shot and he staggered his flights turned around and "flew" like a baloon filled with air, smacked into a power line and then dropped to the ground. might i mention i was using 6 1/2 instead of my typical #4 nitro (which i love for crow) and this one was at the edge of my shooting range. well i went got my "downed" bird and headed to the car and then home, with my new friend by my side.... ;) ... well its not to often that you get to turn loose the crow you shot, but this time i did. all that hit the bird was the wadding from my gun :shock: ... it hit the crows wing and crippled it... after playing with him for a lil while i went out side where he hung around for a few minutes and took flight to be shot down another day.... heres the pics. his wing is still a lil limp from the wadd but no blood or wounds anywhere!!!!
Talk about catch and release! lol
-- Edited by jonthepain on Saturday 25th of June 2011 09:30:10 PM
