I have just started crow hunting and I am having trouble getting birds to finish into my setups. I am hidden well, using primos power dog call and 8 full body decoys. I see hundreds of crows every morning I go but they stay very high and circle a few times and leave. Is there something I am doing wrong?
Hi Morgan, if your setup is good you should get at least one or two approaches by the same crows with birds low enough to shoot. If you don't shoot they will continue to circle the setup but will gain altitude pulling any other inbound crows up with them. If they come in high and they stay high there are a few possible causes, one is educated/hunted birds. The other is they are seeing and or hearing something they don't like. No matter how well hidden you are examine it some more. What sounds are you using? If you really thing you are hidden well enough try going it with just a mouth call and see what happens. This may help figure out what it is that they don't like one step at a time.
The call says it is crow frenzy. I tried a mouthcall also, it didn't seem to help. I'm guessing we usually see a few hundred every morning and might get 2 or 3 in range. Tried a hawk decoy too. Now I am determined too figure this out. We do a lot of duck hunting and decided to try this to keep us busy and sharpen our shooting now we are addicted. I never thought they would be such a challenge.
Are you hiding right close, or under your dekes? If so you may want to try moving off to the side of Dekes by 10/15 yards. Full camo, including hands/face, and no movement until it's time to shoot.
Switching up call sounds can help, also try shuting caller off for a few minutes, then restart.
It is fun, but does take a lot of trys to figure out what they like-dont like. Keep tryen, mix it up a little each time out, you'll figure them out.
Yep, that's what happens... you're hooked now. I share some of your pain as I am still learning. You might try turning down the volume on the caller. I wasn't giving enough credit to crows for their hearing. If you have some other calls to choose from, try some gathering or calling category instead of jumping right into the fighting. Just some thoughts...