Crow Busters Forum

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

Any other hunting

M12Shooter · Guru

Our regular rifle deer season open Monday. That will occupy my spare time for a couple weeks. Deer numbers are way down here due to a series of severe winters. Still plan on putting an "eater" in the deep freeze and then looking for something big.

Ted

Old Artilleryman · Guru

In MI, we can still ambush turkeys through the 14th; gun deer season begins the next day (15th); small game ongoing (bunnies, tree rats). I guess the honker hunters have some things going on--they relish the crummy rainy weather like we have today. Glad they like it....

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

Neither early goose season or regular waterfowl season have been all that special so far this year. Little water, few birds in comparison to last few years. The gloomy weather finally brought some flights birds down the last few days but I've been sitting in a tree almost every day for the last two weeks and only watching the greenheads fly over. just not enough hours in the day this time of year. Yesterday was my last scheduled vacation day for awhile so it looks like deer and waterfowl season are coming pretty much to the end for me this year. Hopefully i can get in a couple of days with the bow yet as i have little interest in hunting in gun season at least until the december muzzleloader season.

8fishermen · Guru

Deer opened Oct 1 here and runs though the end of Jan. Sometimes I think we have more deer than crows. I am in the middle of processing 7 right now that a friend has killed in the past few weeks with his bow. They have to take 50 does from his 3000 acre hunting club and then reevaluate to see how many more need to be killed. We have 2.9 million people and 1.75 million deer in this state.

Squirrel, rabbit, coon, dove and others are open now. Ducks to come in Dec and Jan but I don't hunt those. Here in Mississippi, if you were to hunt all species, you could hunt year around. I personally hunt from Sept through the end of Feb.

Pat B · Senior Member

Well, here (Nova Scotia, Canada) Crow season is on.....deer season is on....duck/goose season is on......pheasant is on......partridge is on......the striped bass are still in the Bay of Fundy......lots and lots to hunt.

Pat B

Elkhunter · Senior Member

Killing feral hogs here in Bama! Up to 311 so far now.

8fishermen · Guru

Elkhunter wrote:
Killing feral hogs here in Bama! Up to 311 so far now.

That is a decent start. smile Are you making any headway thinning the heard?

bpshunter · Veteran Member

Where you at, BBB? We can hunt them until mid-February here.

BPShunter

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Finally got some turkey time. Last Sunday, one of our blueberry farmers (quite a few around here) at church told me about marauding turkey rafters in his fields and asked if I could help. "Certainly," I said. Went out this a.m. and sat in some snow showers, looking at the cooling tower clouds from the local nuke power plant in the distance and landed a nice 10.6 pound hen at 52 yards--bit farther than I usually try to do, but she dropped like a stone. Will try again tomorrow morning to lower the gobbler population, as I have one more kill tag. The last photo is from a distance showing the large pines in which they roost. This Friday, it's regular (gun) deer season--a state holiday (almost) in MI.

Eighty days to go until the FEB-MAR MI crow season!

Good Hunting everyone!

Big Honkers · Guru

Atta boy Craig!

Thanks for sharing.

BH

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Well guys, got lucky. Here's the gobbler I was hoping for to round out the season. Went to the same location as yesterday. However, unlike yesterday when I strolled in after sunrise and ended up sitting around almost 4 hours, this morning, I got in there well before sunrise (0645) and did a proper setup before they started moving.Note, unlike yesterday's photos, all the snow was gone. But it was still cold and much more windy. Had to put out the guylines on the doghouse blind.

At 0844, group of four good-sized males peeked out of the woodline; then began to approach my jake decoy. at 0844:30, the one in the tight group whose head was poked up the highest, went down flapping at 21 yards; a 20-pounder. Thanksgiving dinner will now be a feast with lots of turkey, fer' shur'. Got to get him cleaned up.

If these birds, wary as they are, were as smart as crows, we'd all be eating ham instead.... biggrin

Again, best of luck to all of you in your crow and "Any other" hunting,

Craig

-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Wednesday 13th of November 2013 03:05:34 PM

Old Artilleryman · Guru

This is a follow-up posting on my two turkey kills from today and yesterday, that I thought you would find interesting, as the crow diet has been discussed here previously.

The reason I was invited to this property is that the owner wanted me to help lower his turkey population due to his perception that the big tasty birds were damaging his blueberriy bushes by digging them up. How could I argue? I did however, do some research on what wild turkeys were said to be eating. According to a few websites, bugs, roots, and other plant material were among the leading items on their diet. These same sites did not state that turkeys were a major agricultural pest (like crows--heh, heh). In addition, during yesterday's and today's post-mortems on the 10.6 pound hen and 20 pound tom, I documented the contents of each bird's crop so I could show the property owner, my host, what these two representative birds had been eating.

The photos show that the hen was full of muddy pellets that I first thought were gravel--recalling that according to lore, birds often ate gravel to aid in digestion. Wrong. She was full of some form of tiny root along with mud--like miniature radishes, each with a taproot and root hairs. I split one in half and it looked like many other root plants. She had also ingested two grubs (both still living!) and a couple of leaves. Salad, I suppose. If you are acquainted with this plant (the tiny radish-like root) please let me know.

The tom, however, had been busy scarfing up many different types of seeds, including corn, and berries.

So, this is FYI, if you're interested. I found it so. Meanwhile, I'm checking my recipe book out to see what to do this year, with almost 20 pounds of breast and leg meat (including one from earlier during May). Yum!

1st photo is the hen's crop contents. Mostly unwashed and the lower right with washed contents. 2nd photo is the grubs and "salad". Third photo is the split "root."

Photo 4 is the tom's crop and contents. Photo 5 is a close-up of the contents, looking pretty "normal." (Edit: I just noticed the tom had swallowed a ladybug).

I hope you find this interesting. Sure is to me.

-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Thursday 14th of November 2013 12:11:40 AM

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

good job on the turkey killing. its been awhile since i've done much hunting of them. last couple years i've been most likely to fill a fall turkey tag when i'm bow hunting for deer. heck don't think i even saw one this year when bow hunting but this area has very few turkey compared to where you are at. on the other hand we are still over run with deer. the EHD hit all around me but not quite close enough to knock the herd down which would actually be a good thing. ive put the bow up for the moment; maybe i'll pull it back out in december. the daylight savings thing doesn't exactly help with trying to hunt after work and i've already burnt up enough vacation bowhunting. i'm hoping the nasty weather keeps the ducks headed this way thru the weekend and i can have some good duck hunting while the masses are out scaring the deer into a complete nocturnal routine. i saw a good sized flock of blacks on the way into work this morning so i've got my fingers crossed that the birds are a coming this way.

we only got a sprinkling of that snow over here. not sure i'm ready for it yet. i think you can keep it on that side of the state for another month or so.

Old Artilleryman · Guru

BBB:

In this location there seems to be more turkeys than squirrels.

EHD has been noted a ways north of here, but to my knowledge not locally. The doe I shot in SEP was super healthy looking (corroborated by an experienced friend and the processor).

We love our lake effect snow....right. I hear that the honker/duck hunters just love crummy weather. wink

after I get cleaned up, I will make another posting about what I learned from these two turkeys.

8fishermen · Guru

Hey Craig,

In a word... Chufa. Otherwise known as turkey cocaine. If you plant it, they WILL come.

http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/bulletins/bulletin_07.pdf

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Thanks! The owner happened to drive by as I was loading up the ugly truck, and said, "You got another one?!" We were both happy.

Now, in the course of the brief conversation, I mentioned the hen's crop contents. He was uncertain, but thought it was "...nut something..." So, this seems to be the one. He did not plant it, so it must be a natural item around here. However, the tom had none of this in his crop; same location.

Appreciate the link!

Craig

8fishermen · Guru

I think there are some native varieties that are similar.

Old Artilleryman · Guru

8fisherman:

Must be. This stuff is darn similar and the hen(s) seemed to like it. Still curious over why the tom had none in his crop. Perhaps the group he was traveling with had a different food route. Lots to learn.

Thanks again.

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

they are turkeys. there isn't anything they wont eat!!! if they can swallow it thats fair game for them.

Buckshot1822 · Senior Member

I shot this buck on 10-24 with my bow.......other than that, I have been doing a little turkey hunting, and a some rabbit hunting......

-- Edited by Buckshot1822 on Friday 15th of November 2013 02:52:27 AM

Elkhunter · Senior Member

8fishermen wrote:
Hey Craig,

In a word... Chufa. Otherwise known as turkey cocaine. If you plant it, they WILL come.

http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/bulletins/bulletin_07.pdf

So will the hogs if there are any within miles!

Elkhunter · Senior Member

8fishermen wrote:
Elkhunter wrote:
Killing feral hogs here in Bama! Up to 311 so far now.
That is a decent start. Are you making any headway thinning the heard?

We really made a big impact on a couple of farms. Still have a long way to go. LOL

8fishermen · Guru

Elkhunter wrote:
8fishermen wrote:
Elkhunter wrote:
Killing feral hogs here in Bama! Up to 311 so far now.
That is a decent start. Are you making any headway thinning the heard?
We really made a big impact on a couple of farms. Still have a long way to go. LOL

It is incredibly how fast they reproduce and how destructive they are.

ecuchief · Senior Member

This is one of my favorite times of year for hunting. All small game is in full swing and waterfowl open this weekend in SE PA. I've been getting my limit of tree rats; haven't done much crow but I'll call a couple in between morning and afternoon hunts. Looking to get some honkers this weekend if I can get on a farm.

John

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Very nice! Congrats! I hope to get one that nice someday.

Did you have a difficult search? It looks dark in the photo as if you might have had to look for him a while, after dark.

Elkhunter · Senior Member

8fishermen wrote:
Elkhunter wrote:
8fishermen wrote:
Elkhunter wrote:
Killing feral hogs here in Bama! Up to 311 so far now.
That is a decent start. Are you making any headway thinning the heard?
We really made a big impact on a couple of farms. Still have a long way to go. LOL
It is incredibly how fast they reproduce and how destructive they are.

I know of a property that had so much land damage, that they broke 3 tractors spraying their plots and two discing.

Buckshot1822 · Senior Member

Old Artilleryman wrote:
Very nice! Congrats! I hope to get one that nice someday.
Did you have a difficult search? It looks dark in the photo as if you might have had to look for him a while, after dark.

I didn't shoot it until 6 PM, and I gave it a little time before I started looking. then the blood trail was less than stellar, so I backed out for an hour or so before I started tracking it..........We ended up finding it around 730 or so, and then it took a while to drag it out.........

Most of my hunting spots are better evening spots, so I end up with a lot of after dark deer recoveries......

Troy Seal · Senior Member

My caller is fried so I have been shooting pigeons and running my beagles, young silly dogs are getting the hang of it but are hard headed.

Troy Seal · Senior Member

Also got backfrom iowa a couple of weeks ago where I smoked the ducks and killed my first pheasant.

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

i've officially declared my 2013 deer season to be over! i don't want to shoot anymore deer, field dress, skin or cut them up. i'm just burnt out. don't care if i see another deer until next fall. it's time to go chase coyotes for awhile.

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Well BBB, I'd still like to take one more shot at something with antlers--I'm good for one more.....the doe from September is mighty good in chili, "paprikash" (goulash-like recipe), and roast with veges. However, it's been my best year ever--for a rookie--three turkeys and one deer. Can't complain, except not enough crows blasted.

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

I've got multiple deer but I've skinned/helped cut up something like another 6-7 for others. Desire is just plain gone for the year. Saw roughly 30 yesterday evening and at least 5 of those were bucks. One of which i'd been chasing all bow season. really wanted to shoot him with a bow. he would have been my best bow kill but it never worked out; he stayed just a touch out of range on numerous occassions. then i tried to kill him with the pistol but my absolute max range with it is about 100 yards from a good solid rest and he stayed even farther away after the mass of orange entered the woods on the 15th. finally gave up and used the muzzleloader on him yesterday. felt like cheating but i was getting frustrated and couldnt resist any longer

Buckshot1822 · Senior Member

Bear season is winding down here in PA, we killed 3 bear so far........I didn't kill any of them (I have killed one, and have little desire to kill another), but it is a group effort, and the group takes pride in each and every kill..........

The interesting thing about PA is that, you cannot bait them, nor hunt them with hounds.........

So, you have to get a bunch of guys and do organized drives to have much success.........you are on near vertical slopes, crawling through rhododendron for several hours at a time..........I saw an article one time in a hunting magazine that likened it to setting folding chairs up on your roof several tiers high, and crawling through them.....That is a pretty fitting description for sure

-- Edited by Buckshot1822 on Wednesday 27th of November 2013 04:57:18 AM

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

Old Artilleryman---hope you get a chance at a buck yet this year. you are in a good location for some quality bucks. i took a decent 150 class one from your area about 8 years ago.

Buckshot1822----just thinking about hunting in that snow scares me! i've spent enough time on the hills of western PA when it was dry to know that it would be treacherous in that snow.

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Hey out there! Not much going on on the Forum except "missing person" reports. No crows, no other hunts, no Bigfoot sightings...

I'm going to try one or two times before the MI (gun) deer season ends on Sat. sundown, +30.

Hope everybody had a very Happy Thanksgiving today!

Waidsmanns Heil!

+++++Just in case you don't know the German hunting greeting, "Waidmanns Heil!",

here's a song about it that I found on the Internet. I hope this format does not get mangled in transit through the Web.

Zeddicus, help me out if I screwed this up!

+++++


Ich bin in Hitze schon seit Tagen
So werd ich mir ein Kahlwild jagen
Und bis zum Morgen sitz' ich an
Damit ich Blattschuss geben kann	

Auf dem Lande, auf dem Meer,
lauert das Verderben
Die Kreatur muss sterben!
Sterben!	

Ein Schmaltier auf die Läufe kommt
Hat sich im hohen Ried gesonnt
Macht gute Fährte tief im Tann
Der Spiegel glänzt, ich packe an
Der Wedel zuckt wie Fingeraal
Die Flinte springt vom Futteral	

Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil!	

Ich fege mir den Bast vom Horn
Und gebe ein gestrichenes Korn

Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil!
Auf dem Lande, auf dem Meer,
lauert das Verderben
Die Kreatur muss sterben!
Sterben!
Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil!
Sterben!
Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil!

Sie spürt die Mündungsenergie
Feiner Schweiss tropft auf das Knie

Auf dem Lande, auf dem Meer,
lauert das Verderben
Die Kreatur muss sterben!
Sterben!
Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil!
Sterben!

I have been in heat for a few days
So I'll go and hunt a female deer*
And until the morning I will sit there hidden
So that I can give it a shoulder shot

On the land, on the see
Lurks the destruction
The creature must die
Die!

A young female deer** comes to her feet
She had sunbathed in the high reeds
Makes good tracks deep into the forest
The mirror*** gleams and I grab it
The tail twitches like a finger eel
The shotgun jumps from the sheath

Hunters’ salute

I sweep the bast from the horn****
And aim the gun accurately

Hunter’s salute
On the land, on the sea
Lurks the destruction
The creature must die
Die!
Hunters salute
Die!
Hunter’s salute

She feels the muzzle energy
A fine drop of blood***** drips on the knee

On the land, on the sea
Lurks the destruction
The creature must die
Die!
Hunter’s salute
Die!

Translation Notes:

This song is full of German hunters’ jargon, which does not translate well into English.

* Kahlwild, literally bald deer = a deer without antlers, a female one.

** Schmaltier, literally slim animal = a young female one, which has not given birth yet
*** Spiegel, literally mirror, is the white backside of the deer.

****Every year the male deer get new antlers (”Horn”), which are first covered in a thin skin (”Bast”).

They use to rub (”fegen”, literally sweep) their antlers against trees to get rid of this skin.

-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Friday 29th of November 2013 12:57:35 AM

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

Did you get out for a final deer hunt or are you going back out today? I'm in the coyote chasing game for the next 5-6 weeks so there won't be time to hunt anything else.

Old Artilleryman · Guru

BBB:

Did go out a couple of times, but Life got in the way. As such, the 23 DEC-1 JAN antlerless season is also kaput.

Perhaps some small game during JAN-MAR and of course the "early" 1/2 of our two crow seasons fires up on 1 FEB.

I've got a bunch of deer and turkey meat in the freezer, so no reason to complain. Regards,

Craig

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

Life seems to get in the way of hunting all too often. For me it is usually cursed work but kinda hard to live without doing it.

I gather you must not hunt with muzzleloader. If you ever get an opportunity to mess with a modern inline you should give it a go. In many cases I'll carry it over the slug gun.

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Nope. No black powder or arrow launchers either. Although both are pretty cool, esp. archery, which has come a long way since I was in Scouting learning on a "stick and a string."

I also do regular small bore rifle 3&4 position competition, so that takes up the rest of my recreational time left over after church and family duties.

Life's pretty good.

EDIT: I think I'll throw in a photo of me and the old Anschutz:

-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Friday 6th of December 2013 06:48:30 PM

Big Honkers · Guru

Looking good Craig. You should come up to the Fennville R&G and show those boys how its done on the next egg shoot. I think the 2014 egg shoots start in May. The schedule comes out next month.

www.fennvillerodandgunclub.com

Old Artilleryman · Guru

J:

Might have to try Fennville. South Haven also has regular egg shoots but our outdoor range construction (basically new berms), said to be "completed during NOV" has "frozen biggrin " in place and might not permit our egg shoots to commence until late spring. Does Fennville do their 200, 100, and 50 yard shoots all in offhand, as depicted?

(neither do we, just kidding)

To show that choking on a string of shots can be done by even relatively seasoned competitors, I offer a 10-shot string I fired during the match the day that photo was taken. It was at the Capitol City Club's range (Williamston). I had 9 X 10s fired and completely jerked the final shot. Now, a score of 90 on a ten shot string at 50 yards is respectable in some circles, but not done this way. This was laughable! It sure makes one humble. As you can see, the scorer thought at first I had doubled one shot and did not even see the miss at 6 O'clock. Something to remember not to do again. This is why I do not golf--I get plenty of fun shooting smile .

Big Honkers · Guru

C:

Fennville completely reconstructed their rifle range the last couple years. New cement pad (which I helped pour on a 100 degree day 2 or 3 years ago - blaahffp), new birms, new heated area to sit when not shooting. It has been well received by the members.

I have never even fired a shot from the new range. I am pretty much strictly a shotgun guy. There are a few guys that come to Fennville to shoot from South Haven.

-- Edited by Big Honkers on Saturday 7th of December 2013 06:29:26 PM

Buckshot1822 · Senior Member

Old Artilleryman wrote:
J:
Might have to try Fennville. South Haven also has regular egg shoots but our outdoor range construction (basically new berms), said to be "completed during NOV" has "frozen " in place and might not permit our egg shoots to commence until late spring. Does Fennville do their 200, 100, and 50 yard shoots all in offhand, as depicted?
(neither do we, just kidding)
To show that choking on a string of shots can be done by even relatively seasoned competitors, I offer a 10-shot string I fired during the match the day that photo was taken. It was at the Capitol City Club's range (Williamston). I had 9 X 10s fired and completely jerked the final shot. Now, a score of 90 on a ten shot string at 50 yards is respectable in some circles, but not done this way. This was laughable! It sure makes one humble. As you can see, the scorer thought at first I had doubled one shot and did not even see the miss at 6 O'clock. Something to remember not to do again. This is why I do not golf--I get plenty of fun shooting.

The dreaded SNOWBALL lol

I shoot 4P also here in PA as well as a few plinker leagues in the winter.....

Mark · Guru

I shot these from a different house ~two years ago... .22 cal and .177 PCP.... I'm instaling new windows this week and now it will be easy to slide open a sash...and Iwill begin squirrel patrol.. I doubt I will have a 21 tree rat day.. but should have some good numbers and pics to post soon.

M12Shooter · Guru

Coyote I shot while deer hunting. 200 yards broadside with a 25-06.

Ted

ecuchief · Senior Member

One of the four ducks I got last weekend in Delaware. Gotta love the birds with bling!

BigBlackBirds · Senior Member

beautiful bird!!!

Bob · Guru

Nice Black Duck!

Crowkus · Veteran Member

we got one crow and 7 rabbits ...