Crow Busters Forum

Thanks Bob. I was thinking the same thing.

Bob wrote:

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Hi Barry,

I would hit it again in the morning because you only got to educate a fraction of the birds in that fog. The bulk of them (if they were new to the area and not locals) more than likely never made it to the orchard in that fog. Just my opinion.

Bob A.

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Sounds right! Hit 'em!!!

Elkhunter wrote:

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jonthepain wrote:

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i love fog. it's the greatest for crow shooting.

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 Do you do anything different on foggy days?

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 i attach a bayonet

Well I can safely say 1 week is not long enough! LOL Had a great setup this morn, just not many birds. Ended up with 32. Did have one great volley. I took out 4 out of a 5 bird group coming in all at once. The 5th bird did one of those great moves right as I pulled the trigger or he would have been with the rest of the bunch!

Hi Barry,

There is no rule set in concrete, but on average once every 3 to 4 weeks works just fine. The reason I thought you would do much better is because I thought (figured wrong, won't be the first time) the fog stopped a lot of crows from finding that orchard on your first hunt; they must have been all locals.

An example of "no rules set in concrete" is a shoot I shared with Drew Moore a number of years ago. I shot 500 crows in this one spot before Drew joined me several days later. 3 days after that shoot Drew and I shot over 300 more out of the very same spot!

Last season I had a good flyway shoot by myself and shot 290 crows with 382 12 & 20 gauge hulls, 3:00 p.m. to 5:.00 p.m. The very next day I shot 350 crows out of the very same spot from 12:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. using 481 12 gauge trap loads in 7 1/2's. But........ this is not the norm!

Bob A.

I agree with what Bob has said. Also I would add, don't be afraid to hit these same spots in a month or two or even three. Last year we had hunted a HUGE orchard early in the season that someone else was hunting every week. We only killed 30 or so. We gave the orchard up as a loss and didn't go back till season was almost over. We started the morning on a hunt that was to be promising on a dump flyway. Wind was terrible and only killed 8 birds. On a whim and not wanting to go home as this would be one of the last hunts of the season, we drove an hour south and set up in the orchard. Got there at 9am and by 12 had another 91 on the ground. You never know. The fellow that was shooting them ever few days had moved on and there were birds everywhere! Had we have been there at daylight, it would have been on!! 

 

Good luck.

Hi Elk,

Always good advice on this board, and I agree 3 to 4 weeks generally will work.  But the driver is whether you are shooting local birds or new migrants.  The locals get smart real quick.  If new birds are filtering in, less wait time is necessary. 

Regards,

Well Alabama is pretty far south. I am guessing all my birds at this time are locals. When would ya'll expect new birds to be showing up this far south?

Elkhunter wrote:

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I shot a pecan orchard last weekend and killed 60 crows in horrible fog. The farmer called this week and said I didn't make a dent. I was thinking about going and busting them again in the morning. Is that too soon?

 

If I go, I plan on setting up in the other end of the orchard. It has I guess about 75 trees in it.

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I keep hitting a spot until it's quite obvious that the majority of the birds are on to me. With fall feeding concentrations, often continuous recruitment will make for plenty of fresh birds. I often get 3 or 4 decent shoots from the same location in the time frame of a week or so. When the kill drops off at one location, often just moving over a mile or two will net another good shoot.  A "decent" fall shoot for me is 40 or so crows when hunting solo.

Ted

Thanks for the advice guys. Last weekend I carried my full choke gun and my 870 with a modified in it. I dropped a few from the clouds with the full choke, but shot the 870 for the most part. There were very few birds getting away. I did have a group of 5 floaters come in late. It was so sweet. I dropped birds on shots 1, 2, 3, and 5. Bird 4 did the most amazing move that any hummingbird would have been proud of or he would have bit the dust as well.

Elkhunter wrote:

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Thanks for the advice guys. Last weekend I carried my full choke gun and my 870 with a modified in it. I dropped a few from the clouds with the full choke, but shot the 870 for the most part. There were very few birds getting away. I did have a group of 5 floaters come in late. It was so sweet. I dropped birds on shots 1, 2, 3, and 5. Bird 4 did the most amazing move that any hummingbird would have been proud of or he would have bit the dust as well.

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Nice work!  You are lucky you don't live in a state where a gun must be plugged for a limit of 3 shots on crows.

Bob wrote:

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Barry,

I know how you feel with your quadruple, it is seldom that a guy gets an opportunity like that and can make the most of it. You were probably rushing like a wild man trying to wipe em all out, I know exactly where your coming from in a situation like that. Very few wing shots can keep there head down and the muzzle (four or more times in a row) moving inorder to get a quadruple.

Bob A.

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 Bob,

It was pretty sweet. I was by myself so I had no other distractions to be concerned with. The birds came in low and soft. After doing this for years, you learn which birds to shoot first. I am sure you are a pro at this. The first 3 were super easy. The miss was in easy range as well, he just made a good move on me, number 5 was heading for the hills but still in good range. If I had been in an open field or something, it would have been easier but in a pecan orchard with tight quarters, I had to pick the correct order.

I just hope I have some new birds move in later in the year. I found out there was a man and son from Birmingham hunting in my area years ago. They killed about 350 one day in mid Jan. The funny part is I remember that day. I was sitting in a tree deer hunting and heard the war all morning. They had set up on a fence row with very little cover on the edge of a corn field. I would have never guessed that as a good location that time of year. But, live and learn.