Another decent shoot, this time with a friend. Decided to rest the sunflower field for a few days so we set up along a flight path across a river about a mile from this field. Location was a small open area in an otherwise well treed river valley.
Nothing showed until about 09:30 as my friend was beginning to doubt my assurance that lots of crows were using the area. Crows then came in good numbers and the shoot was on! We both were shootin 12's and I pressed my old Browning double auto into service.
I must say I shot very poorly as most of my hunts are solo and frankly I'm not used to sharing a blind. Communication was poor and many birds were shot at by both of us. I had lots of crows shot out from under as I was about to pull the trigger and vise versa.
To make the situation worse the environmental conditions were "bluebird" and there was no wind to speak of. Crows came from all directions making for lots of twisting and turning with many wasted rounds.
Still we managed a solid 70 something bag by 11 AM when the flight abruptly ended. Attatched a photo of some of the recovered kill. Many dropped in the thick brush and burdock below and thus unrecovered.
Ted
-- Edited by M12Shooter on Thursday 29th of September 2011 03:12:58 AM
If I hunt with someone we both take turns, this way when it's your turn you can shoot the birds in whatever order you choose. You don't have to rush because you are afraid a bird will get blown out from under you! As you know a guy shoots much better when he has all the birds to himself.
Bob A.
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I like to take turns on the singles. On doubles and up, it requires some teamwork. My main crow hunting buddy and I have gotten it worked out where he will always take the one on the left and we have learned to allow that first bird to get in good and close before it is shot. Doing so, gets the other birds in good range before they start to flare from the movement and shots.
Once we got to where we weren't tryting to out quick each other and starting to work together, our kill numbers went up pretty strong.
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Good work on the nice kill. Here's how my buddy and I divvy up a multiple arrival. We agree to take the birds on our own side, right or left. If he's on the left side of the blind he takes the ones on the keft and i take the ones on the right with the dividing line straight out of the blind. It keeps things simple and saves ammo. We agree on singles before they arrrive as soon as we see them. Sneak attackers from behind or ones who silently arrive are up for grabs.
Thanks for the commentary guys. Mistake we made yesterday was to split up resulting in poor communication. Shooting location was a open bowl about 40 yards across on a well treed river valley. Thought by splitting up we could create a "killing zone" with little escape. This would have worked if there had been some moderate wind to keep the crows coming in from one direction. With no wind birds were arriving from all angles in big groups and circling above resulting in confusion.
I still like to hunt crows solo. And yes, hunters sharing a blind best alternate shots for best results. Good communication is important when a smooth flow of targets are arriving as well. Going to hit the sunflower field again tomorrow morning. Have to get on them as up here at this time of the year the crows are here one day, gone the next!
Ted
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Crows unlike ducks or geese are notorious for chris crossing at the last moment in mid air which adds to the confusion. Which one do I shoot, the one that was on my side that just chris crossed to my partners side or stay on my side. The answer is stay on your side no matter what, but you always have it in your mind "I hope my partner dosen't shoot the wrong bird" and this adds pressure which equals more shells per bird.
If a guy can shoot well he aught to be able to handle 3 crows by himself if they are not to spread out.
What I used to do with my old pal Boyd Robeson when the birds were strung out was we would take turns on who shot the long shots and the other guy took the soft shots.
Bob A.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
