On this website, postings are made frequently by crow hunters ranting that No. 4, 5, & 6 shot size are the best for crow shooting. I definitely disagree! Here's why.
I am going to try to post some pics of a full feathered crow, and the same crow after I singed the feathers off. The singed crow looks gruesome, but it will show just how much smaller a crow actually is, compared to its "target" size with feathers. The pictures are not in true perspective, as I was several inches closer with the camera to the singed crow, making it look larger, when compared to the feathered crow. Just compare the sizes of the feathered crow, and the singed cadaver, by looking at the yard stick, and the white, foot long rule. The feathered crow looks as there may be 2 square feet of effective killing area, mostly due to feathers, and the singed bird shows only a few square inches! The singed cadaver illustrates just how small a crows body actually is, compared to the feathered one. Small bodies require small shot!
The cardboard silhouette picture of a crows body is actual size, and of another crow I killed, and has two 12 ga. shells at it for comparison.
If you shoot a pattern at 50 yards with 1.125 oz of No. 6 shot, even if the pattern is full choke measurement, you will see that there are many places where a crow could slip through it and not be touched by even one pellet! I know, because I tried it. There are also several places where it will be killed. A good policy is to practice your hunting skills, so you don't shoot crows at 50 yds.
There are also two pics of motor-battery powered decoys that I made. The decoys facing each other, bob up and down, as if they were pecking something on the ground. The other decoy, with three decoys on it, one in the middle, and one on either end of extended stems, rotates, as if the crows were temporarily chasing each other. Each has a intermittent timer in it, and they work very well!
The pics of the shotgun is my SKB Model 1900....above all others, my favorite shotgun.
Thanks to the crow whom gave his all in the name of research. His brothers would call him Judas!
Kencrow
Spoken like a person who has not used the larger shot through tight chokes at longer range on live crows or a blind man who can't see the results first hand. If your 12 gauge with a 1 1/8 of #6 can't produce a pattern a crow can't get through it is either not choked like you think or the shell and or gun are defective.
....and why in the world would you pass up a shot at a crow at 50 yards if it won't close for some reason like gunfire or exiting after others have been downed?
The See Saw decoy rig is pretty cool, very clever.
This 7/8 ounce of #6 at 40 yards from a 20 gauge choked full.
-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Wednesday 27th of February 2013 06:55:39 PM
On this website, postings are made frequently by crow hunters ranting that No. 4, 5, & 6 shot size are the best for crow shooting. I definitely disagree! Here's why.
I am going to try to post some pics of a full feathered crow, and the same crow after I singed the feathers off. The singed crow looks gruesome, but it will show just how much smaller a crow actually is, compared to its "target" size with feathers. The pictures are not in true perspective, as I was several inches closer with the camera to the singed crow, making it look larger, when compared to the feathered crow. Just compare the sizes of the feathered crow, and the singed cadaver, by looking at the yard stick, and the white, foot long rule. The feathered crow looks as there may be 2 square feet of effective killing area, mostly due to feathers, and the singed bird shows only a few square inches! The singed cadaver illustrates just how small a crows body actually is, compared to the feathered one. Small bodies require small shot!
The cardboard silhouette picture of a crows body is actual size, and of another crow I killed, and has two 12 ga. shells at it for comparison.
If you shoot a pattern at 50 yards with 1.125 oz of No. 6 shot, even if the pattern is full choke measurement, you will see that there are many places where a crow could slip through it and not be touched by even one pellet! I know, because I tried it. There are also several places where it will be killed. A good policy is to practice your hunting skills, so you don't shoot crows at 50 yds.
There are also two pics of motor-battery powered decoys that I made. The decoys facing each other, bob up and down, as if they were pecking something on the ground. The other decoy, with three decoys on it, one in the middle, and one on either end of extended stems, rotates, as if the crows were temporarily chasing each other. Each has a intermittent timer in it, and they work very well!
The pics of the shotgun is my SKB Model 1900....above all others, my favorite shotgun.
Thanks to the crow whom gave his all in the name of research. His brothers would call him Judas!
In your 5th photo, it reminds me of a guy I hunted with from Wisconsin many years ago who had a rig similar to yours. His decoys were in flying mode.
Your photos are a good eye opener as to the actual size of a crow, you ought to turn that crow on it's side to show that you have even a smaller target to hit on a broad side shot.
I'm not going to argue shot size. What I need to know about shot size, I have already proved to myself. As far as your pattern leaving holes, that just tells me that your gun/choke/cartridge combination is all wrong. I have load with #5 shot that no holes a crow could fit in and the gun is a double IC/IC. You just need to find a different cartridge for that gun and choke.
Remember "we " did bring this up again, the 6 patten looks good to me. oh it was my 20 ga that did it. i am a taxidermist and i skin 100's of birds out so i see all kinds of shot size holes , body size with out skin or feathers and hits. Why would i still shoot 6 or 5 shot after seening bodys sizes for the last 40 years,why?? BECAUSE THEY WORK. 10gacs
What is the diameter of the circle that you shot with your 20 ga?. How many pellets hit inside of the circle? Was the shell a factory load, or one you reloaded?
What is the diameter of the circle that you shot with your 20 ga?. How many pellets hit inside of the circle? Was the shell a factory load, or one you reloaded?
Looks like a nice, uniform, deadly pattern!
Thanks...Kencrow
the dia. is a standard 30 in. that gun will shoot 75& patterns. its a 30 parker VHE choked .023 in both barrels i use my reloaded shells, at 1150 fps. the crow body is a life size but the wings were kind of drawn in. i use the 20 when crows are flying and need to carry lost of shells. try them you like them
. Thanks for the informative study