Friend of mine got wind of an annual crow shoot held by a wildlife association in a rural area a couple hours west of my home. He is not an accomplished crow shooter and I'm not an overly competitive person but he easily talked me into entering.
Morning of the big day, yesterday, proved to be less than ideal for crow shooting, cool, windy and light rain/drizzle. I was disappointed but all shooters in the crow shoot were dealing with the same miserable conditions.
We started the morning at first light by shooting from one of my blinds and managed a dozen bandits and a magpie. Then we moved west and stopped a few times to call from likely locations. Roads were wet and muddy limiting access to prime locations.
Worked hard for a handful of crows. Conditions worsened as wind was up to 25 MPH and lack of green vegetation made it easy for crows to spot us. The only really productive stop was a creek bed where down wind a couple hundred crows fed on last years waste crop. Crows came in droves as a cut bank provided great hide. We shot many but sadly the wind carried most to the far side or into the raging creek as they were quickly swept away and thus unrecoverable.
Made the 4:30 cutoff at the rally point being a barn on one members farm. We ended with 19 crows and a magpie, took the first prize of 210 dollars from a total of 13 two man teams. Our bag was more than all the other teams combined. Answered a lot of questions and gave lots of tips. Most were duffers at crow hunting and had only killed a handful during their entire lives.
Was a great day albeit weather conditions couldn't have been much worse. Suggested next spring that the shoot be held once trees green up a bit and cover was more adequate as most complained that the crows would "not come near them".
Pics of myself with the only double I shot this day and of my friend and Harv with the winning bag.
Ted
-- Edited by M12Shooter on Sunday 24th of April 2016 07:10:28 PM
M12: FINE report, sir not to mention dominating the field!! Just goes to show how some "know-how" goes a long way. Congrats!! Carry the Crow Buster banner high!!!!
That sounds like a TON of fun. I wish we had something like that here. Where was this shoot at? I would almost be willing to make an annual trip for that, depending on distance.
Yes, I see your M12... What type of choke/compensator is that on your gun? My M12 Skeet has a Cutts. I don't really like it, but I couldn't have afforded an unmolested one in 20 gauge.
