Hey guys, just wanted to say by looking at some of your pics and reading the posts, you guys are awsome, I've been hunting ducks and geese in Arkansas for about 15 years and in the past 2 or three I've really started hunting dogs and crows pretty hard. I'm looking for a hunting buddy in my area, I've got most of the stuff we need but lack the experience on hunting dogs, I'm a towboat captain so I'm home for a month every other month and have plenty of time for shooting. Thanks Zach
motion dekes work great, just like they do for ducks, if you can find a mojo crow they seem like the best, unfortunately they stopped making them. Welcome from upstate NY.
Is a mini crow better than a flapper or is it just a preferance, when hunting crow is there a shape that you guys like to use like an x or a j pattern for your decoys on the ground or does it seem to make a difference?
Have never worried about the pattern on crows. A few in the trees for sure. I spread a few out on the ground as well. The dead ones fill in the gaps! LOL
You will have to get out of the blind from time to time to pick up the outlayers and cripples and bring them back in. Otherwise, the crows will start hanging up out of range.
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Ok, that's what I have been doing, just haven't ever used motion or put decoys in the trees, just didn't know if it was like duck where you need a pocket.
We don't get out of the blind unless it is an emergency, caller quits or something like that. We leave them all lie. Those that hang up will usually come on in at some point and are usually really low when they do. Wind is critical as they will hang in it out of range if you make a bad set. The Buster II on crowbusters is what we use and they work well. They add a little motion to the set that helps sometimes. Concealment is of utmost importance and trumps ALL other factors except for one... and that is being where the birds are. Without birds none of the rest matter.
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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 300 watt 4 speacker homemade pa call that I use for snow goose hunting. I might adjust the volume and tones a little and maybe only use one speaker but it has 100 ft of cord on each speaker so I can control it from the blind. I think it will work well I built it for about $125 bucks
I too use a homemade caller. We run them pretty loud. The loudest commercial built callers that I am aware of are from Foxpro. It is called the "Snow Crow Pro". I think it is similar to yours. You might check it out just to see if the volumes are similar. From what you described I would start out on lower volume and gradually increase to full throttle as the shooting slows. We have called crows form Very long distances. Sometimes the louder the caller the better but not always. Wind and terrain are the primary factors. On RARE occasion too much volume will flair crows. If you have periods of silence and birds are in close to the speakers when the sound comes on again, the blast of sound will scare them. Continuous loud volume does not seem to flare them. Just don't run it so loud that it distorts the calls.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
You're a towboat captain plying the Father of Waters?!
Banks, sandbars, crops of all kinds lining the banks and bottomland for miles . . . .
If you can you shoot from your towboat, I'd spend some time finding out where, what and when you can shoot, put an electronc caller on the fantail and pass your off duty time with a good pair of binoculars from the bridge, shotgun, rifle and bipod.
Avast there! Be that a coyote on the bank?! Crows off the stern, Mount 41 manned and ready!!
Ya, I don't think the coast guard would like a gun on the boat. I've heard stories of capt. A long time ago shooting fresh deer and hog from the boat, but not in this day and age. I WISH , but I do know some pretty good places to hunt ducks and deer and hogs that are a little too far from home for me to hunt. If you guys live or hunt near the miss river flood basin and the Ohio flood basin or in the west canal from baton rouge or new Orleans over to brownsville. I could probably give a few good tips where to go. but I use a set of binoculars on a regular basis, just wishing I could stop the boat and hunt for a few hours.