I was on our farm hunting rabbit with my little brother the day before Christmas and I have found a treasure trove!!! In the 30 minutes we where on that part we saw around 200 crow fly along our creek bottom. I have been out there a lot and never seen that many flying the same path so I assume it was a flyway. Any tips for hunting this setup? I already have a blind made a couple hundred yards away at the top of the hill. Should we stick with that spot or move the blind down to the creek bottom?
Unless its wide open (a larger dry creek bottom), it might be really hard to get them to commit to coming through the trees and down close enough for you to get a shot. Also, if you are a couple hundred yards away, you can call them to you a few at a time so that you are not disturbing the flyway. Might mean more shooting overall and less educated birds. Hopefully someone here has more experience with this specific situation and can give you some better pointers.
The creek bottom is a about 200 yards wide. It's all open until you get to the creek and the creek is just inside the tree line. On the other side of the creek is an extremely steep hill covered in woods. It is hard to even climb up.
The creek bottom is a about 200 yards wide. It's all open until you get to the creek and the creek is just inside the tree line. On the other side of the creek is an extremely steep hill covered in woods. It is hard to even climb up.
Photos of the area might help someone speculate better; yours and/or Google Earth (without any obvious location such as lat/long, etc.). Might be interesting.
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As a crow hunter any good number of birds moving in a set direction/pattern or generally loitering at any location should be investigated. 200 crows in my theatre of operation would not be a lot but this could be just a fraction of the crows moving along the drainage. I have had some good shoots just from some person telling me they saw a bunch of crows crossing a highway. Investigate further!
Ted
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Here is the google image of the spot we are hunting. The red line is the flight path they are all taking following the creek. The green spot is where i already have a blind built and is ready to hunt, its a nice setup already. I have 2 pieces of pig fence on the tree line that are brushed in and have some pretty good cover from the pine trees on the sides and to the back. I was thinking about moving that down to the yellow circle in the creek bottom. Its about 150-200 yards from the creek. I dont know if that will be to close or not. I am starting to worry about it being to close and forcing them off of that flyway. The red cirlce that is already setup would be about 500 or more yards from the red line. What do you all think?
I would not worry about trying to "save" a flyway. IMO, only roosts are to be "saved." I'd set up real close and try to get a good shoot out of it then let it rest.
The best advise you'll get is to wait for the right wind.
Try to keep the wind at your back and in the birds face.
In the map you provided, are the birds flying "at the camera?" If so, then I'd wait for a N or NW wind.
It has been my experience that when birds are all moving in the same direction, they play nicer with a breeze in their face.
In the picture shown they are flying away from the camera and the wind will usually be blowing in towards it. It does switch from time to time but it would usually be in their face.
If you move to the yellow circle with the trees to your back, it looks like it will put you facing southeast. If so, and you are hunting in the morning, this will put you in the sun.
It is best to have your blind in the shade during most of your hunt. I like to put my back to trees and face north or west, if possible.
Move that yellow circle due south to that first bunch of trees jutting out into the field and you should be in the shade with the wind at your back...perfect location!
Good luck,
Demi
-- Edited by Island Shooter on Wednesday 30th of December 2015 06:11:55 PM
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Move that yellow circle due south to that first bunch of trees jutting out into the field and you should be in the shade with the wind at your back...perfect location!
Agreed, that field looks good and wouldn't be too far from the flight path. You definitely don't want to be staring into the sun all morning.
It depends on the time of day these birds are gathering. if it is in the late afternoon it would pay to follow them to the roost and find out exactly where they are roosting. Make sure you are at least 1/4 mile from the roost. If they are gathering in this spot in the morning then they could possibly be one shot johnny's. Finding the roost is crucial. Then you can start feeding off the birds from several directions on different hunts in the evening. the flight patterns coming in to roost will vary according to the food sources they find. Its all about scouting and figuring out their habits. One day of scouting can yield several premium shoots. if you burn them where they are staging too close to the roost it will be the end of the fun, they will disperse and re-establish elsewhere.
