Crow Busters Forum

Scottie_The_Boy · Veteran Member

layout blind crow hunting

chip · Guru

Oh They will feel you alright!!! Since you have one go ahead and git ye some of it I would not buy one for bandits tho!!! I've been there done that and bought that T-shirt. Far as Im concerned you just as well kneel down or just stand there... They dont like em, They see em, And you can't see them. It ain't like waterfowl huntin where you can predict a flight pattern, Watch what happens when you pop up out of that thing to shoot Bandits will laugh their ass off at ya!!! All you can do is cuss and reload,,,,Thats just my opinion of them hmm

Scottie_The_Boy · Veteran Member

Chip,Okay..felt I best ask....wasn't to sure..... I do use it for waterfowl,September early season goose hunting for sure in chopped corn with our goose decoy spread and some crows circle i have seen,yet never came in close to our spread and blinds....

So It will save extra to cart along... Maybe room for 6 more hard plastic crow decoys then... or other gear ... Thanks

Scottie_The_Boy

Mike27 · Senior Member

Scottie,

When a goose hears the report of a gun, whether they see you or not, they are gone. So save the layout for the geese. The whole idea with crow hunting is keeping the birds there while you are shooting. The second you fling open the doors of a layout blind your done. Stay hiden in a stand up blind or be still in the woods or tree line. Keep your movement to a minimum even while shooting. Full camo, head to toe.

Goose opens for NJ tommorow. Crow is open on Thurdays also. biggrin A buddy of mine just backed out of the hunt last night due to power just returning. North Jersey rivers will still be over flood stage for days.

Mike

SHANEDOG · Guru

Mike, is right on!! smile

Mainehunt · Guru

I disagree with these guys. I posted that I use a layout on here about 2 years ago. Several guys on this forum slamed me for even mentioning it.

Fact is, where I live and hunt, a layout blind works well for crows. Several places where I hunt for crows, they simply will not come in to a call because they get called by MANY different hunters and they're too used to it. However, If we setup in the middle of a cut cornfield in our layout blinds with decoys around us, no calls at all, they fly in just a couple at a time. We pop up and kill them. They might see us before we shoot, but we pop up when they're 10 yds or closer. So, they might be laughing at us, but they die laughing.

Kev

M12Shooter · Guru

I have always had a hard time shooting well out of a layout situation, be it crows, waterfowl or whatever. IMO very hard to use proper shooting technique in a sitting or "fowlers" position. Find myself doing too much point and shoot or "snap shooting" once birds are up and over past the kill zone.

Much prefer to shoot in the standing position. I hunt crows often in very open country. Finding a bit of cover is almost always possible even in the most open terrain. Have even used a vehicle for cover on occation and shot good strings of crows before they got smart.

Photo below depicts this where where a dozen birds were shot in short order while crouching behind my vehicle. This was very open country which was basically open prairie. Ecaller placed right on the roof...if ya can believe that! smile

Ted

Happy Hunter · Member

I've never tried it but I recall a young fella that used to post on the old forum...I think he was from Minnesota and went by the handle "Old Crow" ...used layout blinds with good success even having shoots over 100 birds.

I'm in general agreement with the comments here and if I had a choice I'd choose to a blind where I could stand but just because it doesn't work for one guy doesn't mean it won't work for another.

I guess it would depend on the situation and the local crows but if you think it might work I'd say give it a try, there are a couple of guys here that it has worked for. What's the worst that can happen...you end up lugging a bunch of gear out and not getting a lot of crows...I've done that lots of times trying different things...it's all part of the game.

Good Luck and let us know if you give it a try

HH

chip · Guru

From what I gather here is that these birds from way up north are less educated, than they are when they get this far south. I bet you Maine, if you came down here and hunted with your lay out blind you would throw it in the ditch after a couple hours. By the same token I might bring mine up there with you boys and love it. I can shoot from any position and enjoy a layout blind for waterfowl. I'm so arthritic now I have to have help gettin up after I've been in it for an hour.LOL..... Moral to the story,,,,,,,Different strokes for different folks.......Different part of the country,,,,Same crows Different attitudes,,, as well as degrees in education biggrin

Minnesota John · Senior Member

I hunt all over the country for crows and can tell you it is way eaisier down south to pile up crows then north.

JH

Puppypopper · Senior Member

HMMM ? Kind of looks like this . ( Jon's in the blind )

I would say that it worked pretty good for us. We had birds coming really low. Like under 12' low. We did run into some set up problems. First time trying it and we need to work out the bugs. But given the right set-up, they work pretty good.

Over all though they have the up's and down's. You really would have to pick and choose the stands as to where and when to use them.

-- Edited by Puppypopper on Thursday 1st of September 2011 02:37:59 AM

M12Shooter · Guru

chip wrote:
From what I gather here is that these birds from way up north are less educated, than they are when they get this far south. I bet you Maine, if you came down here and hunted with your lay out blind you would throw it in the ditch after a couple hours. By the same token I might bring mine up there with you boys and love it. I can shoot from any position and enjoy a layout blind for waterfowl. I'm so arthritic now I have to have help gettin up after I've been in it for an hour.LOL..... Moral to the story,,,,,,,Different strokes for different folks.......Different part of the country,,,,Same crows Different attitudes,,, as well as degrees in education

Bingo! Up here in Canada during the summer and fall I have shot crow while wearing a white shirt and shorts biggrin . Most are young and have never been shot at before. They get educated real fast though. Our spring crows on the other hand are very wary. They have been shot at by guys in the Midwest all winter and when migrating up here are very tough to fool evileye .

Ted

Bob · Guru

Hello Puppy,

Here are a few photos of some of my setups under similar circumstances as yours.

Bob A.

Scottie_The_Boy · Veteran Member

M12shooter,

Is that a JC Higgins By any Chance in your Pic to the Left of your Post... as I have a 12 gauge Model 20 that looks Exactly the same.. yet it's not a 16 like that one,yet a 12 gauge....

I Have a few hedge rows i can sit in Friday Morning ...also a Pile of them large round bales near a silage bunker.....

Scottie_The_Boy

Bob · Guru

Scottie,

You just hurled the worst insult imaginable to M 12 Shooter calling his prized Model 12 Winchester a JC Higgins LOL.

Bob A.

Scottie_The_Boy · Veteran Member

Bob,gotta make good friends some how..he he...I should of Known a JC Higgins has nothing to hold up to for upland game birds or lasting a few seasons he he... Mine is a gun cabinet dust collector as I never shot it or took it out to show a neighbor even.. lmao..

Sorry Shooter,Can we still be friends.. ..

All in good humor M 12....

Atless i didn't think it was a Mossburg.... DUCKING.....

Scottie_The_Boy

SHANEDOG · Guru

Them lay downs blinds look great for takin a nap in when the goose huntin gets slow!! smile

Puppypopper · Senior Member

Shane, its the first and I'm going today !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll post some pics tonight.

Big Honkers · Guru

HappyHunter,

Good memory. I also remember those fellas from MN that posted pics of several hunts where layout blinds were used. They did use, however, powerhunters that are a little more forgiving in the movement-upon-shooting situation. They have lids that you can slowly creep from underneath VS flipping the doors open to expose your location like in most other types of layout blinds.

I have a couple layout blinds but have yet to use them for crow hunting. I guess it is because crows are easier to decoy near the edges of fields VS waterfowl that generally prefer the middle where there is no cover. I have brought my layout blind along several times on hunts but always left it in the truck because I always found a set up were I was able to call the crows over to some sort of cover.

jonthepain · Guru

Puppypopper wrote:
Shane, its the first and I'm going today !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll post some pics tonight.

phone broke?

Big Honkers · Guru

Nope. You're just too ugly.

biggrin biggrin biggrin

Just bust'n your chops of course!

biggrin

SHANEDOG · Guru

Hey Pup, early goose starts Sept 6 here,I am going with My pal Brian and My Dad,we all are sporten new laydown blinds that we got cheap at the end of the season from Cabelas,clearance sale. We can shoot seven each in the early season.I have been so busy at work trying to keep the buisness going I have not had time to scout.

chip · Guru

You gonna shoot them honkers with that 20 guage Shanedog!!!! And make it sporting like biggrin Or you gonna meat hog em with a 12 Whatever you do don't shoot your dads swing.. LOL!!!!!!

chip · Guru

Bob the first pic of your layout blind looks real good,,,,, You sure you didn't have Shane come up er and camo that thing for ya biggrin

jonthepain · Guru

oh snap!

you win.

Mainehunt · Guru

chip wrote:
From what I gather here is that these birds from way up north are less educated, than they are when they get this far south. I bet you Maine, if you came down here and hunted with your lay out blind you would throw it in the ditch after a couple hours. By the same token I might bring mine up there with you boys and love it. I can shoot from any position and enjoy a layout blind for waterfowl. I'm so arthritic now I have to have help gettin up after I've been in it for an hour.LOL..... Moral to the story,,,,,,,Different strokes for different folks.......Different part of the country,,,,Same crows Different attitudes,,, as well as degrees in education

Agreed

M12Shooter · Guru

Scottie_The_Boy wrote:
M12shooter,

Is that a JC Higgins By any Chance in your Pic to the Left of your Post... as I have a 12 gauge Model 20 that looks Exactly the same.. yet it's not a 16 like that one,yet a 12 gauge....

I Have a few hedge rows i can sit in Friday Morning ...also a Pile of them large round bales near a silage bunker.....

Scottie_The_Boy

Scottie, the shotgun depicted by my avatar is most certainly an M12 Winchester chambered in 16 gauge... which happens to be one of my favorite gauges for upland stuff. It is one of a half dozen "daily shooters" 12's I own. Also have several classic M 12's that rarely see the light of day short of the trap range and/or special occations biggrin

Have to agree with you though, the Higgins M20 does appear to share common reciever lines likely copied from the Winchester.

Take your JC Higgins out and drop a few crows with it. Don't worry about what others think smile

Ted

Bob · Guru

Hi Chip,

Perhaps we need to have Shane on the payroll so he can keep my blinds brushed up real well.

I just picked up 2,500 rounds at Walmart, I could hardly push the damn cart! No food, just ammo. The guy in back of me said, man you must have some dove spot? I said, not really, I'm just a very poor shot and "where there is lead in the air there is hope!"

Talk with ya soon Chip.

Bob A.

M12Shooter · Guru

Bob wrote:
Hi Chip,

Perhaps we need to have Shane on the payroll so he can keep my blinds brushed up real well.

I just picked up 2,500 rounds at Walmart, I could hardly push the damn cart! No food, just ammo. The guy in back of me said, man you must have some dove spot? I said, not really, I'm just a very poor shot and "where there is lead in the air there is hope!"

Talk with ya soon Chip.

Bob A.

Your going to have to beef up the suspension on your half ton there as well Bob smile

Ted

chip · Guru

Bob you truly are slicker than a hounds nut without a shadow of a doubt,,,,Please tell me they weren't Federals

Bob · Guru

Hello Chip,

I get either the Federal or Remington load (El Cheapo Loads) at Walmart. As long as it's the 3 dram load it does a fine job for me.

Bob A.

Puppypopper · Senior Member

Jon, just did not want to waste your time. To some degree that was all it was.

Bob · Guru

Hi Ted,

Jerry Byroade used to say "Bob, now I know why you trade trucks every two years" mainly highway miles. I average 18,000 miles a season hunting crows.

I keep most of the ammo in the bed of the truck right behind the drivers seat.

Bob A.