Crow Busters Forum

Been trying to respond to a farmer's request to come shoot the crows in his corn field. Rain has cancelled 3 previous attempts but I got out this morning! Farmer called 3 weeks ago, said he had about 30-40 crows using his field. That number is certainly sufficient to get me up in the morning but this morning was not like any other. Fog.

Left home at 0600 it was perfectly clear. I did notice some fog in bottoms driving and wondered if MY ambush site, a bottom to be sure, would be foggy. It was. I parked 150 yds. from where I was going top set up and it was clear there, but looking down at the creek bottom where I planned to hunt, a thick layer of fog covered about half the trees meaning the top half escaped the fog and was mostly in the clear. This is hard to describe...but once I entered the fog I could hardly see in any direction more than 10 or so yards. I was sure I was going to have to wait for it to clear. I placed my single decoy, trimmed the branches around my hide ( a natural bunch of underbrush, etc.) loaded the Max all before 0645. Sunrise was 0714 but no rush as I was deep in fog.

10 minutes after being " at the ready" I heard two crows sort of close by. I said what the heck and tooted them a few times with my Gibson and could hear they were headed towards me but I could not see them...UNTIL they got right overhead! WHAT a nice surprise!!The fog was thick around me, but thin in elevation. I could see the birds beautifully silhouetted against the gray fog once they entered about a 20 yard wide circle directly above me. Never seen anything like this before. Once they entered the "circle" they were easy targets...had to be quick, but shots were "gimmies". I could tell if I connected with the bird but more than half the time, the falling crow fell outside the circle and into the thick fog and out of my sight. BUT.. a dull thud was proof positive: scratch on crow!

I had a killing circular window directly over my head. My neck got sore looking straight up for the 1:15 minutes it took for the fog to lift. All the shots were at or inside 30 yds and get this, I do not think the crows could SEE me either. I think the fog turned the tables on the crow. I could see them maybe before they even had the chance to see me!!! Think about that one!!! A game-changer to be sure.

Fog lifted quickly, sadly and "normal" shooting returned but by then I was aided by the several dozen dead around me: dead crows are good decoys--lots of dead crows are the best decoys!

Action stopped just before 0930...not a crow to be heard. TBC was 67 but that number nor my description remotely describes the remarkable nature of this mornings engagement. Did I mention I love shooting crows?

Skip

PS: I forget to mention this!! There was no wind. I don't mean there was a very light wind, etc.. there was NO wind. I love NO wind as the crows can hear my calling 360 degrees for probably 1/2 mile. I really do not know how far they can hear under ideal conditions but 1/2 mile ain't far off. I mention the no wind because when I would shoot a crow... quite a few seconds later...perhaps even 30 seconds, out of the fog would float black feathers. They would just appear out of the soup... floating gently by and land like a mosquito with sore feet! Black rain is a good thing!