Never thought I would be happy paying $38 a bag for shot but after paying $50 for the last year this is a change in the right direction. Picked up 20 bags and found primers and wads at a good price, already was stocked on powder so crows won't cost as much next year. Well I had better say pulling the trigger won't cost as much, way we've been shooting lately they could cost more if we have them to shoot at next year (lol)
This past season between my son and I we went thru 20 plus cases, Grandson helped a little to. Got 9 left and probly get maybe 1or 2 hunts in before it warms up. Looking to have 30 ready for fall, it would be nice to catch some on sale but it's not looking good on that.
We do a lot of missing so that's why we need a bunch! (lol)
We don't have that kind of average ( lol). We ended 2014 with 1,300 plus and on the hunts with just me and my son we averaged 79 a shoot. Well pleased with our 2nd full season, hoping to do better next fall. I have made some more contacts on some good looking properties that look promising and all our landowners were pleased with the way we conducted our hunts and want us back next fall. So Good Lord willing and if the crows are there we are going to get after them. Still got a lot to learn on these rascals, but one thing I will work on during the summer is practicing shooting trying to simulate being seated in a blind, I think a lot of our misses were due to not being accustom to this type shooting, maybe not but practice can't hurt. Me and the grandson are going to try a spot tomorrow which may wind it up for us till fall, will post how we do. Anyway congrats on your season and good luck in the Pool tournaments!
Butch, so you went on 16 or 17 hunts so far this season for the 1,300 plus birds? Most guys on this forum would be tickled with that amount. You just hunt mornings, no afternoon hunts?
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Did a search and looks like the change started in the late 70's early 80's from true cases (20) to flats (10) lot of different reasons given for the change but marketing strategy is mine. It worked on me I'm calling flats cases.
My Son and I hunted 15 times from 9/12 till 12/13, missed some good hunting from11/15 till 12/13 when I got sick. Together we killed 1185 and had 3 shooters on 2 hunts and 4 on 1 which I included on our average of us being together, we didnt count birds each had killed so the average is off in our favor a little. I hunted a total of 21 times which if I calculate my average will be lower, had a shoot with only 3,10,31,42,63solo,68 solo that brings my ave down. This was a good year and the scouting paid off, if We could not travel a 20 bird day around home would be exceptional. I know a lot of the Hunters on here can't travel due to responsibilities at home and work, I honestly wish they could. I know that under the same circumstances they would have killed way more than us!
We only hunted mornings, plan to try some afternoon hunts this fall.
I was buying 20 box cases of AA trap loads in the late 80's and very early 90's. Although easier to handle, costs were increasing and they were selling fewer cases because people would buy just what they needed for the day or weekend and that was usually a flat. The vast majority of ATA trap shooters would shoot 200 targets at a Sunday shoot, singles and handicap. Only a small number of shooters would end the day with a round of doubles for a 300 shell day. A flat gives the average guy two practice rounds and 8 boxes for the shoot. Shoot offs were rare unless it was a state championship, people just flipped a coin to break a tie.
-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Saturday 28th of February 2015 12:14:21 AM
Bob,
That was one of the reasons I read about, said retail stores were cutting cases in half a lot was how the idea got started, plus with the rising cost of ammo it was easier to sell a flat for say $60 than $120 for a case. I like the flats for the reason you stated. You know there have been a lot of changes in hunting related things over the years such as this and that might be a good post in the slow times on here.
That puts cases into the 90's, they may still put some out. I couldn't find anything out that they still do but for me the flats work better, I did very little wing shooting from 1980 till we started after crows a few years back, probably didn't shoot a case of shells during that time, Deer hunting was the culprit. I'm just glad I ran across you guys on this forum, any sucess we have can be directly attributed to you hunters sharing your knowledge and for that Thanks!
Speaking of reloading.. I started a few weeks ago with my rifle ammo for the upcoming prairie dog shoot in May.. all I have left is the 223 ammo..(the easy stuff)
That picture is only one box of polished 223 brass.. I have many more.. I shoot a 40 gr Vmax with 25.5 of H322....~ 3475 fps... really teaches those dogs to fly...
-- Edited by Mark on Thursday 5th of March 2015 03:26:58 PM
-- Edited by Mark on Saturday 7th of March 2015 10:06:45 PM
At some point, you gotta try CFE.. in your .223!! Wonderful stuff... and prairie dogs everywhere are lobbying against it.. trying to get it taken off the market!!
You say you cannot switch to another powder until you exhaust the 16 pounds you currently have of H322?? What you really meant to say.. you cannot switch until the THIRD barrel from now is installed on your gun!!!
The Remington 700 SS varmint.. has the original barrel.. not quite as many down the tube as your PDAV has miles.. I guessing this trip to WY she will finally give up, but who knows.. Last year my shooting partner was just hammering a heavily populated dog town at 323 yds.. he was shooting a 6BR..his barrel got hot and I pulled out the Rem 700 in 223 and the 40 gr Vmax's were just nasty to those dogs.. with a 10-15 cross wind..
Well Bob you shot 3,600 crows well what is funny about that is by this fall multiply that by about 3,600 times three and that will be the crows returning to the general areas you shot in...so across all the areas collectively there will be about 10,800 birds to replace them..how do I figure? Well there's no need to explain it to you but for anyone else who might not know, the numbers of crows being seen in the plains suggests to me a good many rookeries are up north. This what we might call a breeding crow roost, at least that is how it used to work around here. If it is true of Sasquatchewan, then the only way a young crow might die is to fall out of a tree and some predator grabs it. This is a theory but years ago here I couldn't explain why in August on through fall initially there'd be a 150 crows lolly gagging about...despite of course all the other advantages crow shave in the northern areas of the US and Canada where the sheer numbers add to their success in breeding...other areas of course would see far far more of course...and i am not certain this local bunch stuck around all winter or not and subsequently the numbers increased astronomically so long as food and a lack of hunting pressure held out....again, a rookery practically guarantees a successful breeding season. A wandering hawk or raven hasn't a prayer of raiding any rookery successfully period...
The crows that raise there young in Saskatchewan come through the central part of the country during the fall migration; states such as South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
The crows that are raised in Ontario come through such states as Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama.
The crows that I used to hunt during the fall in northern New York State (back in the mid 1960's) were raised in Quebec, Canada. Now there were a fair number of local crows as well in that part of the world. In western New York State they get crows from Quebec and Ontario because it is still very rural with plenty of farms raising corn and soybeans.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
WOW! The western New Yorkers are still talking about the thousands out that way...btw; how many did you use to get then? In the 60s?
For what it is worth, I still cannot believe the reports of the crow activity here passing through the state in October!
If I knew then what I know now I would have done far better in the 1960's !
In those days I was a rookie so if I shot a couple of dozen crows that was a good hunt for me in those days. This would have been in the early 60's, by the late 60's I was venturing from New York to Kansas to hunt. Between 1968 to 1973 a good hunt would be anywhere from 80 to 125 birds in a day.
When I started to hunt with Boyd Robeson it opened my eyes in regard to doing much better in the field. Boyd took me out of the dark ages and showed me the ropes, I was very lucky to have had a mentor like him.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
