Crow Busters Forum

8fishermen · Guru

How many leave the blind to tidy up during the hunt?

Big Honkers · Guru

Like you, I generally just let them lay where they fall for the duration of the hunt.

However.

If the hunt slows and I get bored or cold I will occasionally take a walk to the downwind side of the spread to bring things in a bit.

Mainehunt · Guru

Big Honkers wrote:
If the hunt slows and I get bored or cold I will occasionally take a walk to the downwind side of the spread to bring things in a bit.

Same here..........I also have adult-ADHD.

Kev

spud76 · Veteran Member

Ive found the crows around these parts dont like too many dead crows lying about. In saying that the crows seem to show up as I have just left the blind however if i stand still they will come to the decoys and my friend will get a crack at them.

Elkhunter · Senior Member

I pick up way out birds and bring them back in every hour or so. Is pretty each to tell when it is needed because the birds will start hanging up more often. As long as they are coming in good though, I leave things alone.

gearly65 · Senior Member

I usually leave them all lay until were done, except when we get one flopping around way out. I then try to go get it when the action slows.

Lone Star Phil · Senior Member

Greg:

Without speaking for my fellow patrolmen, we practice the following rules:

1. Timely dispatch all the hoppers with prejudice. Rimfire rifles are good for this effort. Hoppers out there will attract flying crows and that isn't good.

2. Retrieve dead during lulls in action and toss near decoy display/caller.

Practically speaking, if our fire produces a hopper, the nearest gun will usually immeidately displace and run the hopper down, hopefully when no crows are in the air. And besides the detriment described above that hoppers cause, orchardmen are only impressed with piles of crows they can see.

I can't recall seeing any crows flaring and hitting the burners when they see piles of bandits on the ground. Of course, we do all of our hunting in orchards so flying crows always have a desire to be in the area. When pressed for time, I've started arraying the dead in a matrix to facilitate easier counting while Gadget and Matt man the guns. Even while I'm out in the open doing this housekeeping ("Freeze Phil - Crows in the air!"), we've had crows enter the kill zone. And they are commonly observed coming in to our kill zone with the dead arranged in rectangular matices and all of the TCP hidden.

nhcrowshooter · Guru

When the action is slow and you haven't seen a bird in the sky for a long time that is the time to leave the blind, tidy up, stretch your legs, warm up, relieve yourself etc because THAT gaurantees birds will come into the setup when you are out of position. Works almost every time I try it biggrin

This should be included in advanced tips LOL!

Glen · Senior Member

I get out & retrieve any birds that I feel are too far from the dekes as well. Pick up the empties. I always carry my shotgun tho. I've been walking back after chasing a cripple & had one flying in low & lazy like. I stopped & stooped over & when the crow got within 50yds I tossed the dead bird into the mix. The live crow really wanted a piece of the action & dive bombed into the setup. When he realized what was going on he attempted to pull up. That was when he fell out of the sky stone cold dead. lol

skeetshooter · Member

If you ask enough people you,ll get enough answers to float a battleship then the question is which one is right! Just me but I wouldnt get out for anything and are far as cripples go they generally leave the scene entirely in a few minutes anyway if they can walk and you can give me all the floppers i can get in the decoys!!! Now eight i,ll compare crow knowledge with anyone on this site inculding bob and hold my own so dont think i,ll lead you astray on this or any other topic , but giving up your location by movement in or out of your hiding spot is a mistake !!!

When the student becomes the teacher the learning stops!

M12Shooter · Guru

Only get out of the blind to stretch my legs and to relieve myself should nature call. If my shooting is good I usually don't have to chase down too many cripples. Most often just hit cripples again on the ground with the shotgun should they be overly lively.

After the shoot I pick up any dead in plain view and toss them into the bush nearby. On private lands I tend to be a bit more particular and at times haul off dead crows as per the land owners request.

Ted

Mark · Guru

I shot with (professional guide) Jerry Tomlin on Thursday.. We ended up with 105. We lost 3 in the woods.. We were constanly picking up birds outside the decoys..It works much better when they (the dead) are within the decoys. We killed 9.1 birds per box of shells..

SHANEDOG · Guru

nhcrowshooter wrote:
When the action is slow and you haven't seen a bird in the sky for a long time that is the time to leave the blind, tidy up, stretch your legs, warm up, relieve yourself etc because THAT gaurantees birds will come into the setup when you are out of position. Works almost every time I try it
This should be included in advanced tips LOL!

LOL !!! Ya,it works great with geese also,I climbed out of my laydown yesterday to take a whizz and here comes six low and slow into my setup,and of course I had the wrong gun in hand!!

-- Edited by SHANEDOG on Sunday 1st of January 2012 01:27:12 PM

chip · Guru

I agree with skeet. But I have this thing about dead birds that are all sprawled out in the deeks. I will go out and try to make them look as alive as possible. Its burned me several times but its something that just bugs me. Hoppers will kill your hunt if they get too far from your spread...

Big Honkers · Guru

I have never had a hopper do anything positive or negative to my hunt IMO.

I generally do not have that many birds get away from me but I had a recent hunt where I had 4 hoppers out front at one time between 50 and 150 yards away. This was in an open corn field so they were very visible. The birds kept work'n.

BH

gearly65 · Senior Member

I have found that a hopper with bring the birds in ever better. The only problem is when a hopper gets way out and the birds work it, been screwed with that situation before.