Gmochty: There is a vast amount of knowledge on this website available on the main (home) page and even more if you cough up $5.00(sorry, my mistake, now--still a deal) $10.00 to join CrowBusters, which gets you into the "secret members-only" area.
For free, if you have a few minutes to several days, you can find the accumulated wisdom on decoys (and everything else imaginable that is crow-related), from of dozens of crow slaughterers by using this site's "Search" function. Tip: use quotes if you want to search phrases such as "owl decoy" or "hawk decoy" or "home made decoy." Try it, you'll like it!
Good Hunting!
-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Monday 24th of November 2014 07:29:55 PM
On fresh crows-anything works....my favorite is the less the better but someone on here uses a buster (flapper) and nailed it to an owl and stuck it on a pole-I like that even though I don't use it myself...but it depend son the situation...one tip is if you live in an area where everyone uses the classic set up you don't want to use the same...
Half a dozen is all you really need. The provide a visual to go with the sounds you are making. The most common decoy is made by Flambeau, they can be hard to use when the ground is frozen. If you can find the old style Carry-Lite with detachable feet those are good too but they can blow over in a stiff breeze and the feet can be lost. The foam decoys sold by Featherflex don't hold up in cold weather, the seams split. The new Carry-Lights are too bulky for my tastes. A motion decoy can be helpful, flappers are better than spinners. A halloween flapping bat toy can be quickly converted for crow hunting and is much less expensive than a Buster II.
PS. Dead crows make great decoys, the more of them the better
Also, for cheap, you can buy some of the foam board stuff (has foam in the middle and "waterproof" cardboard on the outside) and cut them into crow shapes using a pocketknife. I've done this and the crows see em from far off and they add motion to your setup. Put wire or something in the bottom and stick it into the ground. I also use the Hardcore-Brands 3-d decoys.
Just watch crows and how they sit on trees and such. Many times less is better IMO. I have never used more than a half dozen deeks but have used dead crows to augment my spread. Too many crow hunters tend to hunt crows like ducks...that is with a blind in front of a bunch of deeks with the traditional landing zone dead centre. I like to get my few decoys up high in a natural manner in which crows sit and interact with each other. See pics of my most common setup.
As for the brand of decoys, I used the Boondocker type. Light and compact with a very natural look to them. Further I must add that dead crows make the best decoys one can get! Cheap, readily available and completely biodegradable. Owl deeks are often overrated, use one in the spring as it will draw the attention away from a hide when crows are really wary and cover is sparse. Put a dead crow below as in a manner that looks as the owl has the crow in its grasp.
Ted
-- Edited by M12Shooter on Wednesday 26th of November 2014 11:04:34 PM
I simply cut down a long spindly sapling about the height of surrounding trees. In the case of the pic, trees are about 20 feet in height. Place my deeks on and stand the sapling up against another tree of appropriate size. Tye the two together with a piece of cord and good to go ...
Ted
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