I said I would report back on how the Red-tail hawk decoy worked with the home-made sock-puppet crow added to his “talons.” Set up this morning at a friend's blueberry farm at which I had not yet hunted crows. Well, I had some fly by and two dropped in. A better wing shooter might have picked off a dozen. Sigh. On a positive note, today was the first time ever wearing full camouflage (Two-piece raggedy-leaf shirt and pants--Wal-Mart's finest, on sale.) and using a simple blind made from a piece of camouflage screen hung from the upper corners to adjacent trees. I was in the shade, sunrise to my back. I am convinced they did not see me at all when they were coming in as I had my face covered with the jacket's attached hat/veil; black gun, black gloves.
Two groups (of four) hung around out of range/sight in the tree line above and behind me and made a racket either over the hawk decoy or the fact that I dropped one of their buds. Don’t know. My other five decoys were split between two clipped high in the blueberry bushes and three on the ground. I used the full array of Bob's and FoxPro sounds. Conclusion: they were interested in the hawk decoy.
Since Bob placed some of his cool photos up a short time ago, I thought I would include one of a rainbow over my decoys (Yes, I got wet…). The hawk decoy appears to have black legs, but those are the "dead" crow's wings. Not as clear as Bob’s, but kind of nice to have a rainbow, any day, even if you do get wet.
Nice job. Love the pictures. I am not a seasoned crow hunter myself, but one trick i have found is if you drop one and they didn't see you to hit the distress call. Alot of times their buddies will come back to help. Here in MI. I see a lot more hawk/crow fights then owls. Good luck the rest of this season we only have 22 days left
arnoldc: I think you're right about the various "dying/struggling" calls working to entice a group back. I'm looking for patterns and learning. Didn't mean to show the photos twice. I'm still getting the hang of this website, which is much easier to use than some......
Good luck to you also!
To those of you outside MI, one neat thing about our game laws pertaining to crow shooting is that crows may be
"...taken outside the open season during hunting hours, in compliance with federal regulations, if these birds are causing a nuisance or creating a health hazard."
Some of the farmers/owners provide written permits around here, that include statements to the effect that I may shoot "vermin" and give examples of ground hogs, coyotes, crows, etc. Good deal. Also, have you ever seen a crow that is not intent on "creating a nuisance" or just returning from "creating a nuisance." It's their job!
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"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
