A friend and I have been hunting these tricky birds for a little under 18 months now, and unfortunately no crows.. The first time we went out, we had one 5 dollar plastic call and he was in his black snowmobile suit (kinda stuck out in the snow.. lol). Needless to say we didn't leave with any birds.
Crows: 1
Us: 0
Last August my friend, brother and I head up north for the week to his cabin for our second shot at crow hunting (which is in the middle of nowhere, closest neighbor is about 5 miles away). After getting unpacked and gathering some fire wood we sit down and turn on this cheap little E-caller. A few minutes pass and no noise. I see two shadows above me and low and behold 2 crows 25 yards up flying right above us. Guess what.. forgot my shotgun on the shooting bench. Well I caught a case of "crow fever" started yelling my friend to grab his shotgun. Again.. no crows. Days pass and crow sightings few, but when we do they dont respond. Trip ends and no crows.
I'm sure you veteran crow hunters are shaking your head at our stupidity. And believe me as I write this I am too. Our underestimation of this extremely intelligent bird was our own dimise.
Crows: 2
Us: 0
Well sick of this dry streak and being out smarted by an animal I did my research on these birds. Found this website and started learning. I bought Bob A's calling crow CD and a Gibson Short Mag crow call. I practiced my little heart out til I had crows circling above me. My friend got the long range and in tandem we sound pretty good (he just started a day before our third hunt).
Today we load up the shotguns and head to a local shooting pit/hunting land. We had crows in the distance but nothing would come within 200 yards of our blind. All WMA's are closed in MN from Mar 1- Sept 1 which we found out the hard way after 3 hours of driving. (State shutdown wont let you look at DNR website...) after checking out places to hunt we leave discouraged yet again and head home. On the way back my buddy spots a group of crows landing in a dead tree, we slam on the breaks and ask the farmer if he would let us set up. NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK!!! THEY HATE CROWS! We sneak through piles of cow pies and sloppy mud (hard rain earlier now a slight drizzle). Since we got out of the car we could hear the crows still in the same area. Hopping a creek and practically crawling to this opening we set up, on the count of seeing a crow heading our way. Catching us by suprise we shoot 3 times, and miss.. but we move on deeper into the muck to where the majority of the crows were. They all had left but I managed to call one back and it landed 15 yards from us. Not being able to get a shot turned out to be a great thing. The crow called his family back. We step out and both blast our first crow! Right away we both do the mourning call and almost the second later 7 or 8 concerned crows come back looking for their fallen comrade. Reloading I stand up and dump another crow and miss the one following it. After the crows left and refused to come back to our mourning calls we grab the first crow and look for the second one for about 30 mins. It must have ran off once it hit the ground because it was no where to be found. Man these birds are TOUGH!! Now that I have my first one all the jitters will hopefully be gone. lol. And I can make smart decisions when I hunt.
It was a ton of fun and am deffiantly hooked on crows. In fact tomorrow me and my pops are headed out tomorrow to see if we cant bag a few.
Crows: 2
Us: 2
Ill see if I cant get a pic or two up it was taken on my friends phone, I'm not tech-savy so we'll see. Hopefully you enjoyed this story, even though its long.
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A man can be beaten in two ways... he gives up or he dies.
The mourning call works much better when you have a bunch (at least 24) of crows dead on the ground that they can see from the air. It works the very best when you hear them give that call and then you join right in with them, thats when they will seek you out. It's just a matter of knowing what to do and when to do it is all.
Bob A.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
You're mentally equipped to handle this sport. I can see it in your field observation skills, your unabashed reflections of your actions and your penchant for trying something new to overcome past errors!
I like your enthusiasm - anyone who will crawl through mud to gain the upper hand on a crow has got 'spirit' in spades!
This is a great place to learn from the other 'mud crawlers'!
Good blind placement, quality decoys, complete camouflage and first class calling equipment are the 'secret sauce' to bring crows to you. And, acknowledging your own obsevation that these are intelligent birds, putting them on the ground is great but, if you keep in mind the notion that the very moment in time that your opponent does something he shouldn't do or doesn't want to do - you own him, that is what really gives satisfaction. Hearing that thump is a consequence of good tactics and shooting skill, the fomer more important than the latter.
So, when Mr. Crow, circling maddenly out of range, reacts to your "Dying crow" call and wings over into your decoy spread, at that exact moment in time he's lost the battle of wits and then it is up to you and your bubbas to take him out of the gene pool.
The mourning call works much better when you have a bunch (at least 24) of crows dead on the ground that they can see from the air. It works the very best when you hear them give that call and then you join right in with them, thats when they will seek you out. It's just a matter of knowing what to do and when to do it is all.
Bob A.
Thanks for the link....great stuff.
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~Yote59~
If you're not speaking from experience, then shut up, nobody cares.
New Varmint Hunters Forum: http://varminthunters.createaforum.com Lets Help get it off the ground.
Thanks everybody for reading. I had tons of fun with my crow experiences and you can count on some more stories in the comming months . I appreciate the positive feedback and welcome to the Crow Busters community.
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A man can be beaten in two ways... he gives up or he dies.