We are in our final week of deer season here in Central NY - muzzleloader time. Already plenty of venison in the freezer, so I am getting ready for the start of my late crow season. It's hard to brush in blinds with leafless bushes and hardwoods, but I'm trying. Not many large numbers of crows, but I am gonna throw everything I have at them. I've got my full-body dekes, and some homemade silhouettes, Triple Play and Buster II, converted Mojo Dove, my fishing reel elevation system and a new 15' converted golf ball retriever with hook on the end (I am 6'5" so I can reach up 20-22 feet), and my homemade "flying" crows -- they hang a few feet off the ground suspended from painted old fishing rods and move with slightest of wind.
My latest addition -- wind-activated lawn ornaments that I special-ordered from a retired gentleman. I even gave him my own silhouette template to use. (I bought my wife the Cardinal! Hope she likes it!)
I plan to have 5-6 dekes in trees this year, and I am going to try my gut piles and, yes, the Happy Meal! I will let you know how it all goes. Pictures of some of these items here...
Merry Christmas!
Jerry
-- Edited by Rook-ie on Monday 10th of December 2012 05:54:51 PM
I like it! Keep us posted as to which one(s) work under different conditions and how pulling out different decoys ("...it takes a lot of guts...") brings them back for another look.
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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
I officially still suck, that's why I'll always be a "Rook-ie" and the "Crows are still winning," but it's fun! So, my first real morning to get out last week was a disaster! Just me, up at 5 AM, drove truck down the farm lane dashing through the snow and to my blind, unloaded gear, got set up, and parked the truck way across the field, and waited for some light. Turkeys woke up, heard crows in most directions, and started e-caller on basic caws and moderate volume. Had plenty of replies, but not much commitment. Main problem: lightly snowing and my spread had a dusting on it -- they do not like decoys with snow on them. Damn! Thought it was supposed to snow later in the morning.
So, kept trying, got a couple of shots and missed, and was pretty much toast!
After finally giving up, proceeded to get the truck stuck in the snow and mud. Got it out once, and kept going to get stuck again. Totally exhausted, had to call in some help. Several guys, and my son's friend with a 1.25 ton Chevy military pick-up truck, and we got it out of there. Whew! While waiting for assistance up by the road, I could hear the crows down near the stuck truck laughing their asses off!
Made the rounds later delivering 12-packs of good beer and New Year wishes to those who helped me.
We hunted in a morning of snow squals a few weeks ago as well..........and we sucked as well..
I don't think the crows liked flying in that weather, and certainly don't like to commit, as they cant see as good during the snow. About 1pm the snow quit, and we set our last set up , we took 13 crows in about 20 minutes.....which is good for our area and run & gun . Wound up with 18 on the day, the other 5 took from daylight til 1pm to kill.
Same experience with me and snow. I had heavy snow come in and all crow activity stopped. Also didn't get stuck, but that because I walked the mile in to the setup.
rookie.....Liked your idea of putting floaters on old fish poles. What did you make the dekes out of. Can you think of any source for spread-wing dekes for floaters? Interesting that there crows were playing scarce. They must be staying somewhere else. There are very few around here in the winter and that is to be expected. Regards, Trenchcrow.
rookie.....Liked your idea of putting floaters on old fish poles. What did you make the dekes out of. Can you think of any source for spread-wing dekes for floaters? Interesting that there crows were playing scarce. They must be staying somewhere else. There are very few around here in the winter and that is to be expected. Regards, Trenchcrow.
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