Another beautiful but chilly (39 deg) morning near the middle of the blueberry field—we have lots of them around here. This time I carefully reconnoitered the day prior, having been on this farm previously, but not in this particular field. Had the “crows on a stick” out and sentinel up on the hotstick nice and high above the bushes. As there are many sprinkler systems around here, this did not seem an unusual perch for a crow, I suppose. It did not seem to spook them. This was a typical morning, as the crows came zooming out after a couple of calls from the Spitfire at about 15 minutes before official sunrise and it did not take long to down two confirmed and one probable. The ol’ M12 did the entire job today flawlessly (Unfortunately it only directs pellets where one aims it. Uh, I missed a few).
Speaking of reconnaissance, remember to also check out your proposed vehicle “hide spot” carefully as well. I thought I did, but as you can see, it was softer than I thought right there, when I parked the truck (at 0650) after setup, in the dark before sunrise (0724) to get to shooting.Fortunately, one of my hunting partners, a big rig driver (who lives about 3 miles from here) responded to my “Help!” text and was about one hour away and coming home. He rescued me and we had a good laugh. Best of all, two (maybe three) bandits down.
One recurring topic on the Forum has been where to set up—tree lines or in open. This season, I shifted from tree lines to places in the open, on the theory that the bandits could then not hide as easily in the trees above. This is proving to work. I included the somewhat fuzzy aerial photo of an “undisclosed location” in Michigan to show you where I set up in the blueberry field this morning. Also how compartmentalized area farms are. This photo is currently planted with corn to the SE and to the NE. Also thought of a setup between two cornfields using the road leading to the E. Our crow hunting problem and challenge includes the fact that sometimes the farmers will plant right up to the edge of the wood lines. Often not even leaving a road. Blueberry fields are usually bordered by roads and sometimes there are easy ways to get to within the field or on the edge where it borders another crop, because of the access roads. I think the height of our blueberry bushes is just about ideal to set up the roofless doghouse blind with a few small branches of nearby foliage (Not blueberry bush branches!) added. Just a FYI.
-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Sunday 15th of September 2013 06:59:33 PM
Craig how do you like the crow deek on the conduit??? I started using an aggressive caller (instead of the standard sentry type deek)on a 10 or 15 foot piece of 1/4 inch conduit. PVC too flimsy. The aggressive caller is factory flocked and looks very real. I tape the peg it sits on to the conduit and it will spin naturaly in the wind. I put my CS-24 at the base of the conduit and they really like it. Since I started that I have been flaring less birds. The AC's are pricey but the bandits are VERY fooled by them.
-- Edited by chip on Friday 27th of September 2013 12:37:30 AM
-- Edited by chip on Friday 27th of September 2013 12:38:36 AM
The single decoy shown atop the pole is a full plastic body, flat black finish model sold by Dunham's, a big-box sporting goods store in our region, for about $7.00. It's taped to the top of an extendable fiberglass "hot-stick," of the type used by utility companies--adjustable from 5' to about 40' in just moments. I like your idea of letting it rotate with the (facing into the) wind. I'll have to design another fitting for the top to make that happen. Something to do following this season.
I think it's an essential decoy to have up in any situation that will permit its use. I like it silhouetted at the top of a tree or among leafless dead branches. Or, above the blueberry bushes as if atop a sprinkler head. They don't seem to be bothered by the pole. I have actually had one crow land right next to the decoy, way up in the tree and squawk (his final act on this earth) at it. As for the other crows in the air, my observation is that it brings them in, and back, depending on their level of education.
The other short crow stands that I began using this season for shorter bushes, "crow on a stick," are working quite well, I think. Adds variety.
Craig, the single "lookout" deek on a pole is a very effective tool IMO. I often use this in the spring as it gives incoming bandits some thing to fixate on. I cut a small tree, or branch, depending on how much height required to get the setup above surrounding shrubs. Decoy(s) are then put in place on the ground. Simply stand up the tree or branch up and tie with couple short lengths of chalk line to existing live growth... as per photos.
I've noticed that your silhouettes have a sharper beak than mine, which came from the SEP, 1936 Popular Science template. Perhaps crows have evolved narrower beaks since then.
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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
Craig, actually the decoys in the photos are commercially produced. I believe they are called "Boondockers" or were produced by that outfit. They are simply plastic shells that are flocked. Very light weight and quite practical I have found.
Further I applaud you for making your own decoys. I constructed a couple full bodied hollow cedar crow deeks many years ago. Such pleasure killing crows over your own decoy creations.
I also carved 7 cedar mallard decoys that were again hollowed out. They sported basswood heads with glass eyes. Sadly these were stolen some years ago from our summer cabin.
I recall you showed us some of your hand carved decoys a while back. As I recall, they should be on your mantel they looked so good. Or, at least in whichever room passes for the "man-cave" in your home.
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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
Good idea to always keep your vehicles hidden but failing that-use some military surplus cover of one nature or another to make your vehicle look like part of the landscape.I don't like walking long distances either but...
Out here in the central part of the USA the crows are used to seeing pickups & tractors in the field. The only reason I don't park the pickup closer than 75 to 100 yards from the blind is that I don't want dead birds hitting the pickup.
Many times when I used to run & gun in upstate New York during the summer months I would park the vehicle in some trees and stand right next to the vehicle as they topped out over the trees. As Greg stated, by the time they clear the trees it's to late!
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
I'd ask you to send some down here, but it's now too late. I did manage to nail one Darwin Award recipient, however, like the one you shot from your deck recently.
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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
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