Crow Busters Forum

Mike27 wrote:

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Got to say no on the lay out, too much movement when you flip it open.

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 I have used layout blinds very successfully on crow.

IF it is under the right conditions that is. There is one particular farm up here where the crows fly around in singles or pairs only. MAYBE you'll see 3-4 once in a while. They fly between a landfill and the river along a particular flight path. A few different times I have setup in my layout in the middle of cut corn. Put a few dekes around me and lay there with no caler at all. When they come along, they fly right down to the dekes. Pop up, BANG. Either you get them or not, but no flock to spook out of the area.

Kev

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Jocrow:

It helps to think like a crow when it comes to camouflage, concealment, blinds, etc.  Blinds are great ways to conceal yourself and camouflage clothing is a prerequisite.

In those open pasture settings, look at your challenge by satisfying the basics: Stay in any shadow you can find, do not venture into sunlight, blind or no blind (sunlight is a sight magnifyer to aerial eyes), use motion decoys to misdirect the attention of in-bound crows, keep movement slow, smooth and to the minimum (shotgun shouldered if need be), and appear like your surroundings ("camouflage" is a French word that doesn't mean "to hide"; rather it means, "to look like something else than what you are").  

I may be opining contrary to this blog's tenets (and I apologize to anyone who is offended by this opinion) but I have shot hundreds of crows seated on the ground with my legs covered in locally available leaves next to a brushy fence post in my leafy gear play suit out in plain sight on numerous occasions in pecan orchards.  It is my belief, borne of hours of field study, that crows are not alarmed by a 'bush' next to a fence post.  That scene is very common to them and, with some thoughtful planning and modern camouflage apparel (head to toe and covering the face and hands), is easy to achieve. 

You guys understand a lot of the basics of fooling crows, with high mounted sentries and other dekes.

Last weekend, when Gadget Bob and I dropped 126, I spent much of my gun time, butt on the ground, legs out in front of me, on the shady side of a piece of pecan gathering equipment, next to a fence.  Gadget stood next to the  front of a John Deere tractor under a metal shed overhang. Neither of us was in a blind.  If you had walked into that farm equipment yard you would have spotted us both without much trouble.  But to an in-bound crow, we were harmless vegetation that was not worthy of any additional scrutiny.

If you have a quality electronic caller or are a talented operator of mouth calls, have a prominent sentry decoy (very important), have a good decoy arrangement and work on the aforementioned rules, you should be presented with fooled crows.  By 'fooled crows' I mean crows coming in within ten feet of the altitude of your highest sentry decoy, wings outstretched, flaps down and at minimal attainable airspeed.  Bead on beak; slap the trigger.  Repeat as necessary.

We hunt pecan orchards - your results may vary depending on the milieu you frequent.  Some other comments:

Stop the 'hoppers' as they are fervent in expressing their plight and their presence will always divert in-bound crows to their location, which is always moving away from you.  A  designated 'hopper whacker' in your battery armed with a rimfire rifle and shooting safely (rimfire bullets can go over a mile, even after a ricochet) is a good technique to use to mitigate the hopper distraction.

When there are lulls in the crow movements, quickly gather up the dead crows and concentrate in your kill zone.  A dead crow is clearly identifiable from the sky and in-bound crows will certainly see them and focus on them, so bring the dead ones into battery range when you are afforded the opportunity - "You wanna gawk at your dead bubba on the ground? Come in and circle over him!"

If possible, keep your backs to the wind.  Give the fooled crows every opportunity to float there, right in your sweet spot.

Match your electronic calls to your decoy display.  If you find the "owl-crow" fight sequences are productive, try using an owl decoy on a fence post near the caller.  In such a calling situation, an in-bound crow will be looking for one or more sentries, a visible owl and a few injured crows on the ground.  I believe you could be wearing a Hawaiian shirt and that crow would never see you, so focused he is in watching the pesky owl.

Keep an eye out for outlying sentries (live ones!) for they will land in the tops of trees to carefully view your kill zone and do not move if there are any about because if they 'bust' you, you're probably done for that stand.

Try something and if doesn't work, try something else.  Then share what you've observed that works with the rest of us knuckleheads!

-- Edited by Lone Star Phil on Monday 20th of February 2012 01:58:07 AM