Crow Busters Forum

Hi again boys,

Last week select elements of the TCP had the honor of joining Skip Woody on a crow hunt in the Midwest.  Between the three of us we traveled in excess of 7200 miles via car and air to make this hunt a reality.  As it turned out, Matt took one shot at a pair of crows at almost 500 yards and the result was a miss short last Tuesday.  That was the only opportunity to engage crows on the 3 days “in theater“ with the Field Marshal.

Now it turns out Skip’s low yield crow hunt offered additional targets in the form of prairie dogs a plenty!  It was revealed once underway that Skip has a “particular set of skills” like Liam Neeson’s character in “Taken”, in additional to his legendary run and gun crow hunting ability.  Over the past ten years our TCP “Hero of the Crow Struggle” has covertly developed a mobile PD assault technique that resulted in the best varmint hunting that Texas Matt and I have ever experienced in our lives.

Skip’s mounted precision rifle fire with his .17 Fireball, .223 Remington, .20 Tactical and .20 VarTarg custom bolt guns was most impressive while Texas Matt acquitted himself with his .223 Savage earning him “Rookie of the Year” honors on well placed shots out to 300 or so yards.  Me.  My performance toggled between woefully inept and painfully incompetent, but my fun meter was pegged throughout the hunt.  Skip did consistently fight the “power of the steering wheel” to set me up for short range shots in my wheelhouse and I appreciate his thoughtfulness.  It certainly offset his crippling criticism of my shooting skills and equipment, but I was inured to that based on two prior crow hunting trips with the Skipper.  His constant refrain was “Joy or No Joy” indicating success or lack thereof on our PD targets.  Mucho joy was felt by the TCPer's present, indeed.

Another particular skill that I knew Skip processed was the ability to capture action photos of bullet impacts as well as any professional photographer.  He does not use video or a burst camera mode, but rather a well timed “snap” with his digital SLR and stabilized, telephoto lens.  The results are awesome, as you can see below.

If any of you are fortunate to get an invitation to hunt with Skip, I would suggest you reply in the affirmative since it appears to this reporter, based on personal experience, you will be in for a great time and a lifetime of fond memories!