Crow Busters Forum

M12Shooter · Guru

My Monday Morning

boba · Guru

Nice photos Ted.

I always have my gun case facing muzzle down so no crap gets in to the zipper.

You have an artistic flair presenting the dead crows in that manner.

Butch · Guru

I understand "crawling" out of bed, takes me a minute to find my "want to go" (lol). Great hunt and report and haven't heard "for s...s and giggles" in a while. Got a good laugh, thanks. Keep the reports coming as I enjoy your hunts and pics.

Butch

M12Shooter · Guru

Butch wrote:

I understand "crawling" out of bed, takes me a minute to find my "want to go" (lol). Great hunt and report and haven't heard "for s...s and giggles" in a while. Got a good laugh, thanks. Keep the reports coming as I enjoy your hunts and pics.

Butch

Both of us being in the Fire Service...myself still active...we both know the meaning of dragging ones self off the rack!

Ted

Gadget Bob · Guru

Hey Ted,

Another great post and set of pictures. You are the man! I really enjoyed the pussy willow photo. I remember those from growing up on McNeil Island in the south Puget Sound. Not so many in western Indiana or north Texas.

Regards,

Top Cat · Senior Member

Butch wrote:

I understand "crawling" out of bed, takes me a minute to find my "want to go" (lol). Great hunt and report and haven't heard "for s...s and giggles" in a while. Got a good laugh, thanks. Keep the reports coming as I enjoy your hunts and pics.

Butch

With me it's the cold and a 2 1/2 hour one way for too little crows.......not the key to ambition! Not even for twenty crows at that distance!

nhcrowshooter · Guru

Top Cat wrote:
Butch wrote:

I understand "crawling" out of bed, takes me a minute to find my "want to go" (lol). Great hunt and report and haven't heard "for s...s and giggles" in a while. Got a good laugh, thanks. Keep the reports coming as I enjoy your hunts and pics.

Butch
With me it's the cold and a 2 1/2 hour one way for too little crows.......not the key to ambition! Not even for twenty crows at that distance!

There are places and crows to shoot a lot closer than 2 1/2 hours from where you live. Ambition, could it be that is the issue?

Top Cat · Senior Member

NH CRowshooter: You cracked me up about the "ambition" thing. If they paid me to do it I'd be on welfare!

NHCrowshooter; your point is well taken but the "Concord Corridor" hasn't been the hotspot it was in the early eighties. Not in my view. The bottom line is I like the numbers; the Bert Popowskis' New England numbers of "15 birds". That is what he said in his book a copy worth keeping no matter the age. Now take a deep breath and relax, please. Everyone knows you have two pretty decent days in your part of the state;now to me that is a record. Bert obviously didn't do NH much apparently. His jaw would likely drop at that day you and 10Ga. did 155 was it? That is remarkable for this state.

None the less I won't reveal the area I like which is generally good except last year. But new intelligence (I know, I know what you are thinking:What intelligence?) has strongly suggested to drop that area altogether and try a couple miles south of it. I was amazed at the discovery.

Anyways a very hard lesson learned is do not attempt a shared area as the numbers won't be there. The only reason I got any when I did was a strictly afternoon shoot. Go in the morning and get hardly any. Go in the afternoon and keep your ammo ready.

As always any info pro or con is always welcomed.

A certain area north of me about half an hour away dried up slowly over the last several years. The food needed to anchor that 300-500 seasonal crow roost is no longer there. Only nuisance crows abound in very small numbers now. Not worth it for me.

Top Cat · Senior Member

Generally the crows blow on by the "Concord Corridor" plus they fly over the city . I've never seen any in the areas before the city in any numbers or even adjacent to rte.93 north by that huge factory near exit#15(?) either an unshootable area anyways...

You know it far better than me; I won't argue the point. I know there are neighboring towns where it has someones' interest but even so I haven't read much of anything worth while besides some one is already there. So therefore-once again-looks like 2 1/2 hours is the norm for me in fall of late October...

boba · Guru

TC,

Things change over time, some things for the good and some things for the not so good in regard to crow hunting. Bert Popowski's experience in New England might have been in one local area of one state at that time. This area was not that good an area but that was his experience with New England. Not all of New England was like that as you have seen by others who hunt in New England today.

I remember one of Bert Popowski's direct quotes in "The Varmint Hunters Bible" of 1960 where he was talking about 500 plus bird crow hunts. In Bert's experience he had two in his crow hunting career and that was strictly using a hand call long before e-callers came on the market. This is my point when I said that good places come and go over time, Bert said that (in regard to big shoots of 500 plus) "such days will never come again" end of quote!

Now Bert was hunting crows before I was even born but he did not live in a really crow rich area being in South Dakota. This is why he visited his pal Red Watt in Omaha, Nebraska as much as he could get away from South Dakota. There was a big roost right on the Missouri River very close to Omaha in the late 40's and in to the late 1950's. So to get back to my point about things changing, that roost has long been gone on the Missouri River and Bert figured no big shoots would ever come again......Wrong! Crows are where you find them, during the past 43 seasons I either alone or with a partner have experienced 20 plus shoots in the 500 or above range that Bert would think not possible when he wrote the article way back (56 years ago) in 1960.

Top Cat · Senior Member

boba wrote:
TC,

Things change over time, some things for the good and some things for the not so good in regard to crow hunting. Bert Popowski's experience in New England might have been in one local area of one state at that time. This area was not that good an area but that was his experience with New England. Not all of New England was like that as you have seen by others who hunt in New England today.

I remember one of Bert Popowski's direct quotes in "The Varmint Hunters Bible" of 1960 where he was talking about 500 plus bird crow hunts. In Bert's experience he had two in his crow hunting career and that was strictly using a hand call long before e-callers came on the market. This is my point when I said that good places come and go over time, Bert said that (in regard to big shoots of 500 plus) "such days will never come again" end of quote!

Now Bert was hunting crows before I was even born but he did not live in a really crow rich area being in South Dakota. This is why he visited his pal Red Watt in Omaha, Nebraska as much as he could get away from South Dakota. There was a big roost right on the Missouri River very close to Omaha in the late 40's and in to the late 1950's. So to get back to my point about things changing, that roost has long been gone on the Missouri River and Bert figured no big shoots would ever come again......Wrong! Crows are where you find them, during the past 43 seasons I either alone or with a partner have experienced 20 plus shoots in the 500 or above range that Bert would think not possible when he wrote the article way back (56 years ago) in 1960.

The solution is obvious but not without a risk or two; someone could see you walking across a field in a neighboring state and call the cops. Unlike here the cops wont just drive by and pass a glance and keep rolling on; the neighboring state cops just might arrest you! There was a case of a car cutting someone off in a parking lot with an NRA sticker in his window and the irritated driver called the cops which got Mr. NRA arrested upon the claim he waved a fire arm at the irritated driver. $50,000.00 later the NRA guy was found innocent (they reviewed the video parking lot cam)

I guess I am just paranoid.....

boba · Guru

TC,

The only risk is that you will have no shooting unless you are willing to take a risk. What is the worst that can happen if you scout out a new area and there are not enough crows? Nothing, because you are no worse off except for your time and gas. Same thing with being turned down when asking permission, if they say "no" then you are still no worse off. Just keep knocking and some will say yes. Anyway that is my view on this matter.

Top Cat · Senior Member

boba wrote:
TC,

The only risk is that you will have no shooting unless you are willing to take a risk. What is the worst that can happen if you scout out a new area and there are not enough crows? Nothing, because you are no worse off except for your time and gas. Same thing with being turned down when asking permission, if they say "no" then you are still no worse off. Just keep knocking and some will say yes. Anyway that is my view on this matter.

I got turned down once the farmer would have let me but the wife wears the pants. I was very disappointed but rolled down the highway about 40(?) minutes when I began seeing shootable crows. I asked permission and got the rules (no shooting near the barn; no parking in the field or driving in it-typical stuff) and the next couple of years except the last was pretty productive. So I have experienced your words of wisdom Bob!

boba · Guru

TC,

Scouting out new territory is an unthankful job but is one that must be done if you want to stay ahead of the curve. When a good crow hunting area stops being productive it is sad but if you are ahead of the curve and have several good areas in which to hunt then it doesn't hurt near as much because you still have other areas!

People who say crow hunting is a cheap sport are only referring to the local hunter who hunts within an hours drive from his house. If you hunt far enough away from home it is far from cheap when you pay for motels, gas, food, ammo and out of state hunting licenses. It just depends on how hungry you are for good shooting and how much you can afford with your budget.

Top Cat · Senior Member

Happy Easter!

I will do that,BobA......so how many crows you get in your season? I say "your" because you've said you quit before the season or seasons officially end due to too many educated crows by this time? Or the time you quit?

And what is the best gun oil?

Those vast wide open areas blow my mind. I see you need to drive or it would take 3 months to get where you need to be.

boba · Guru

TC,

It varies from season to season on the numbers, some years are better than others. My average per season for the past 42 seasons is over 3,800 crows each season. Now last season I shot a little over 3,600 crows, some seasons it can be four or five thousand but with all the ups and downs the average is 3,800 odd crows.

Birchwood Casey in Eden Prairie Minnesota makes good lubricant that will not freeze in below zero weather. I use it on my semi autos.

Top Cat · Senior Member

way to go Bob!!

nhcrowshooter · Guru

boba wrote:
TC,

It varies from season to season on the numbers, some years are better than others. My average per season for the past 42 seasons is over 3,800 crows each season. Now last season I shot a little over 3,600 crows, some seasons it can be four or five thousand but with all the ups and downs the average is 3,800 odd crows.

Birchwood Casey in Eden Prairie Minnesota makes good lubricant that will not freeze in below zero weather. I use it on my semi autos.

Bob I don't think that gives the full picture of your success, time in the blind tells a bit more, on average how many days are spent in the blind each year to achieve these numbers, and how many times out of that were you alone?

boba · Guru

Hello Pete,

On average I spend 30 to 35 days in the blind during the crow season. Since Dick Kilbane and I got together in 2002 I spend more time with him in the blind. On average I have about 5 to 7 solo crow hunts a season.

On solo hunts last season I shot 1,236 crows on 8 crow hunts. Here are those solo hunts 108, 213, 221, 327, 97, 148, 87, 35.

Here is another factor, out of the 30 to 35 days I hunt you can add roughly 5 to 6 days scouting time where I will drive 80 to 100 miles a day just scouting the area.

A friend who has taken all my hunts on video tape and DVD format and converted it to MP4 format to put on youtube.com is coming over tonight to put more crow hunts on the internet. One of the titles (you will love this title Pete) is called "Hunting the Greatest Avian Marauder; the Crow!"

Gadget Bob · Guru

Excellent title, Bob!