No excuses. Went out on 1 FEB opening day and got skunked. Saw two but they were wearing O2 masks. Have been unable to get out till this morning. Yesterday afternoon, a hunter friend from church whose home is on 40 acres nearby let me cut white pine boughs for my blind so I could make one just like my SW MI Crow Hunting Idol, The One-And-Only Big Honkers. Last year, I had to borrow his pine bough collection when we did a hunt together (The Batman Mask Caper) . I dropped the branches off at the setup site last evening and partially assembled the blind. This morning I found that deer had munched on a couple; no big deal.
So, today, 33 days into the season, was “5.11 Day.” Yes, I was wearing my 5.11 OD field pants with two thermal layers beneath because it was 11 Degrees F this a.m. when I arrived. No big deal, as I was also wearing my Army “fishtail” fur-hooded parka. Best of all, I was able to gain sweet revenge on 5 uneducated townies! Hence, “5.11 Day.” A good morning for me. Oh yes, I probably missed five others…
This was a new, previously un-hunted location, owned by a friend from church who also owns the RV park where the carnage took place. Strictly a summer place and there was a good six inches of white stuff on the ground. It’s a whole 1.65 miles from home (as the crow flies—sorry, couldn’t resist). So these guys were definitely the most annoying birds of all; sassy “townies.” The owner also has two quarter sections 20 miles to the east that have never been crow hunted. I’m hoping weather conditions will permit a trip to these two locations before the March season ends.
The park sits on the edge of Lake MI. The safety zone is marked by the N-S and E-W lines, as there is a row of semi-mobile homes on the photo’s bottom edge and across the street. I’m sure a few 7.5s bounced off the gazebo’s roof.
Photo 1 is the blind, “Owl Pole with Spitfire (AKA the “Hooter” pole), and sentinel tree; Photo 2 is a close up of the blind--my best ever, based on the proven Big Honkers™ design. Photo 3 is one that I hit overhead—don’t you love it when they almost land in the blind! Photo 4 is a crude version of the Bob Aronsohn “Sun Ball”™ that worked just great! Some refinements are necessary as I threw it together last night. It will always accompany me on sunny days. Photo 5 is one bandit that made a “snow (crow) angel” with his final bit of energy. Very nice. Photo 6 is one of my decoys guarding the carnage. The final photo is the set-up from above. I gotta get out again, quick!
OA, in photo # 4 I see you made a sun stick! Dick & I invented them years ago and you are the first one on here to put one to use, bravo, good for you OA. They sure save the day when you have a northwest breeze and the sun is coming up in the southeast!
OA, in photo # 4 I see you made a sun stick! Dick & I invented them years ago and you are the first one on here to put one to use, bravo, good for you OA. They sure save the day when you have a northwest breeze and the sun is coming up in the southeast!
I love it! Great addition to a sunny day's shooting. I only need to fix it up and make it a bit larger. I only wadded up a piece of leftover camouflage netting for today and tied it to a garden stick with twine. Continuous improvement!
Thanks.
Craig
__________________
"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
The park sits on the edge of Lake MI. The safety zone is marked by the N-S and E-W lines, as there is a row of semi-mobile homes on the photo’s bottom edge and across the street. I’m sure a few 7.5s bounced off the gazebo’s roof
Would not surprise me, they do the same thing on crows at 40 yards
The park sits on the edge of Lake MI. The safety zone is marked by the N-S and E-W lines, as there is a row of semi-mobile homes on the photo’s bottom edge and across the street. I’m sure a few 7.5s bounced off the gazebo’s roof
Would not surprise me, they do the same thing on crows at 40 yards
Hey! They're Wal-Mart's finest...I actually meant on the way down.
__________________
"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
Sounds like you had a blast "pun intended" great set up, blind well done and the pics and storyline were great! Good to see you puttin them in the snow. Congrats on a good hunt.
Great post with wonderful pictures. Here are some things I liked:
New property to hunt is always a treat.
Revenge on the "townies." I think Sassy is a great term for them.
Your blind looks great. Your use of "TM" was funny too.
Look at that blue sky. What a great day to be outdoors in MI.
Here are some things that make me question your sanity:
Big Honkers = Idol.
"Hooter Pole." Do you need to bring a fist full of $1 bills to hunt? I could whip up some photographic evidence if you are unsure of what I mean.
Thanks for sharing. Next week looks pretty soggy but its close to the time of year where the birds really start moving north thru our area. Keep after 'em!
Great post with wonderful pictures. Here are some things I liked:
New property to hunt is always a treat.
Revenge on the "townies." I think Sassy is a great term for them.
Your blind looks great. Your use of "TM" was funny too.
Look at that blue sky. What a great day to be outdoors in MI.
Here are some things that make me question your sanity:
Big Honkers = Idol.
"Hooter Pole." Do you need to bring a fist full of $1 bills to hunt? I could whip up some photographic evidence if you are unsure of what I mean.
Thanks for sharing. Next week looks pretty soggy but its close to the time of year where the birds really start moving north thru our area. Keep after 'em!
BH
BH:
You're right, I think we'll be lucky if we can scout/recon without getting stuck next week with all of the forecast rain. Speaking of "rain" I'll take a rain check on the Hooters photos. You got into enough trouble last year with the distant crow in "Margarita Ville" with the suntanned object in the foreground.
All of the photos were staged except the "snow crow angel." that was the crow's last piece of performance art.
OA
__________________
"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
Dick just came back from a Mexican duck hunt in February where he shot Pintails and Redheads with a trap load of 7 1/2's and 8's over decoys but also some pass shooting at the 40 yard mark. You can shoot lead in Mexico and South America on waterfowl. He had a lot of dead waterfowl with those loads so tell us again how the shot bounces off of crows at 40 yards?
Years ago I used to go on combo hunts to Mexico where you shot ducks in the morning and doves in the afternoon. One great place was in the state of Sonaloa near Mazatlán. I shot more than my share of them with the dove loads that I saved from the prior afternoon dove hunt. All I used was 7 1/2's and I shot bluebills, pintails, tree ducks, widgeon and blue winged teal.
Here is a photo of one or two of those duck hunts.
Bob delivers while the old antiquated heavy loads and rust and antique doubles nursing home shotguns are awaiting to be hung over the fire place awaiting a new blue job and memories of the days of the extinct Passenger pigeon and days of the few hits and the even more hits by the hordes of crows dropping their calling cards like rain getting bored at the lack of double barreled action in the blinds below....
__________________
Top Cat Statutes never replaced or rewrote the constitution!
I sent Motion Decoy a DVD of this goose hunt in Argentina a year ago.
I was using an express load (3 3/4 - 1 1/4 - 4's) in lead on Magellan geese in a model 870 Remington Wing Master in 12 gauge. The camera man captured a quintuplicate (5 dead geese in the air at once) with that pump gun. The Magellan geese weigh between 9 and 10 pounds per bird.
If you look close in photo # 3 you can see the feathers flying just to the right of my green alpine hat. Faster than you can blink your eyes, look at how far that dead dove traveled in mid air!
Photo # 4 is a photo of waterfowl that you never see in the USA, they are white cheeked pintails. In photo # 5 is a photo of a drake Argentine widgeon. In photo # 6 is a drake rosey billed pochard, I got a quintuplicate on those one morning and a guy from Wisconsin who was in another blind told me he never saw that done in his whole life. In photo # 7 is a drake Brazillian teal. In photo # 8 is a drake white faced tree duck, you only see them in Africa and Argentina. In photo # 9 is a great photo of my crow hunting mentor and I hunting Magellan geese and Ashy Headed geese.
OA you are very observant spotting that Navy Chief insignia.
My barber who was a Navy Chief gave that to me years ago. I was in the Navy back in the late 1960's, spent some time south of the DMZ in and around Danang, Viet Nam.
OA you are very observant spotting that Navy Chief insignia.
My barber who was a Navy Chief gave that to me years ago. I was in the Navy back in the late 1960's, spent some time south of the DMZ in and around Danang, Viet Nam.
A-ha! (I won't tell you what that was for ) I'm certain there are stories.
Thanks.
__________________
"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
. Have been unable to get out till this morning. Yesterday afternoon, a hunter friend from church whose home is on 40 acres nearby let me cut white pine boughs for my blind so I could make one just like my SW MI Crow Hunting Idol, 
. I dropped the branches off at the setup site last evening and partially assembled the blind. This morning I found that deer had munched on a couple; no big deal.
). So these guys were definitely the most annoying birds of all; sassy “townies.” The owner also has two quarter sections 20 miles to the east that have 
