I read about these awhile ago and though of adding it (or some homemade rig) to my set up. Let us know how it works. I'd be really interested in the handling & set up time in the field.
Ecuchief: Thanks for the link on the assault crow. This is NOT the feathered bird I mentioned in an earlier post that Ure-duck either is selling or used to sell. I have one of them..LOVE it. I also have a couple of these "assault crows"... birds that ride/float on long flexible steel rods and other than having to mess and deploy decoys with 8-10 foot wire rods, I consider them to be relatively effective. But, my guess is they are no more effective than fixed decoys properly displayed or dead crows properly displayed. My 2-cents.
I've used them for 3 years now. Its deadly!!!! I have a 12 foot piece of 1/4 inch conduit and a 10 footer that I use to give mine hieght. I will give you 1 word of advice and I learned this the hard way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You had better dam well flock them wings at least on the top side or you will flair crows for miles!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you will look I recently posted a thread about layout blinds. I have a pic of one deployed, killed 62 over it that morning in a layout blind Dont forget to flock the upper side of them wings, They shine like a diamond in a goats butt and will spook the birds. And flat balack paint wont work either, Trust me....................
It's interesting that some guys use motion decoys....I always been under the opinion that any type of movement with flare crows, but you seem to prove that a "crow in motion" attracts them to come in and feed...Keep up the good results!!
Chip- yea I noticed those things are shiny lol. And thanks for your input. I'm already excited! And I have to say I love motion decoys. I've heard alot of negatives about the Mojo for crows. But I gotta tell you. If u paint it black and take wings from a real crow and put them on the wings of the Mojo dove. They come in so low! The added weight of the real wings not only slows the motion down but if u tape one on ****eyed it works great for crow in distress;)
And about the layouts man I might have to try it! I bought one for geese but never got the chance to use it. Where do u lay the blind occording to ur decoys?
Hi crow down. First of all don't expect a ton of motion out of your assault crow. It basically gives incoming birds the false presentation of birds in flight. I think the higher you can get them the better off you are. Urea duck used to make a crow decoy that had flapping wings. It was also deadly. I think they may have stopped production on them. My main problem with battery operated decoys is that the motors don't last. I have had 4 and none have lasted thru a season. I'm done with em. As far as my spread goes, I like to be upwind of my spread and slightly to one side preferably to the right. 30 to 40 yards is usually good. Later in the season the smarter birds tend to skirt your spread more and being to one side according to the wind direction will pay big dividends. The wires that I use for my assault crows were made by another member on this site that I used to do a lot of trading with. He fabricated them from steel rods. If you have a wind up to 20 mph they work great. I've gotten away with not using a sentry on several occasions by having them deployed. If you observe feeding crows in a huge field they leap frog each other while feeding and a bird is always in the air. Good luck and let me know how the work for you!!!!!
I have learned that you need gimmicks later in the season or if you hit the place too often but eventually even they will not work any more, I once had this hot spot and all i set out was that flapper crow buster decoy and it worked with rather spectacular results but the next time i went i did not use it for obvious reasons much as i would have like to.
i had to vary my set up to get any results. But my good fortune was that there were always new arrivals- man oh man that was a banner year! hey I don't like carrying all those dekes and prefer to carry an extra box of ammo but in my area that doesn't reflect reality. on another note; I used that battery operated English "Jack Pike" crow decoy and it is heavy but it works!(looks like a crow sized flapper decoy for reference only it is flocked not all shiny and mounts on a stake)
as long as it is "virgin" territory for the crows most anything will work; an owl on a post in fairly close proximity-one of those hawk decoys...see i went one place and nothing worked as someone beat me to the punch and the crows avoided me as if they could smell me despite a really nice set up!