Two of us went out this morning for some pre-season crow control in a pecan orchard in nearby Hollywood, SC. Had one earlier hunt in the summer to chase off some local crows out of a melon patch, but this morning's hunt was real... Real (migratory) birds, real numbers and REAL fun! The crows worked in to our blind well and very few were call shy. Also, our blind was in shade and well brushed, so we had very few birds flare on us.
It was a warm and humid day, so I brought my portable fan, which was a big help. It may not be for everyone, but consider it if you have hot day hunts. It uses the same rechargeable battery as their other 18V tools.
The morning started out with small groups coming in almost one behind the other. We had time to reload, but no time to check emails or do anything but play crow hunt. At about 10:30 things quickly slowed down, but we were close to a milestone... our count was at 96, so we decided to stick it out to see if we could make the century club on our first hunt. About 15 minutes later a group of about 6 birds showed up and, after the first round of "crow shoot," we were able to work them back around so that we ended up with 4 dead! Exactly 100 down!
As we broke up the blind and brought our vehicles in, three new groups flew over. We were able to pull down another 7 for a TBC of 107! All were common crows except for about 5 fish crows. Note that we lost a lot (15 or so) of dead ones in the thick brush that you can see behind our blind.
Now if I can only keep the numbers at this level for the rest of the season...
Crows coming in ones and twos are the secret to big kills. Exciting to have big groups arrive but usual outcome is a handfull of dead crows and dozens educated...
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
Crows coming in ones and twos are the secret to big kills. Exciting to have big groups arrive but usual outcome is a handfull of dead crows and dozens educated...
Ted
What you've described is pretty typical for around here. We get a large (10 or so) burst of activity initially and then ones and twos for the next hour and a half till about 0830 then that's it.
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"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
Crows coming in ones and twos are the secret to big kills. Exciting to have big groups arrive but usual outcome is a handfull of dead crows and dozens educated...
Ted
The secret to big kills is to hunt where there are a lot of crows moving, for us it is during the fall migration where crows in numbers large and small are coming out of the north all day long. A conveyor belt of new and uneducated crows for our shooting pleasure.
Crows coming in ones and twos are the secret to big kills. Exciting to have big groups arrive but usual outcome is a handfull of dead crows and dozens educated...
Ted
The secret to big kills is to hunt where there are a lot of crows moving, for us it is during the fall migration where crows in numbers large and small are coming out of the north all day long. A conveyor belt of new and uneducated crows for our shooting pleasure.
(Big sigh) Our Dept. of Natural Resources, in its wisdom, made the seasons in MI such that the small amount of actual "migration" we see is during OCT-early NOV--and it isn't much. Of course, our season ends on 30 SEP. I've whined about this previously. Now, Big Honkers frequently gets big numbers into the double digits--for this, he is worshipped held in highest regard by all local crow hunters (all one of us). However, he's been scouting/scouring the area for years and years and deserves every "thump" from a bandit hitting the earth that he feels. I'm going back to a favorite location this Sat for the first time in a couple of years. Hoping to find the dumb ones; this year's new crop.
-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Thursday 21st of September 2017 10:01:45 PM
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"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
You may have answered this in the past, but have you researched crop depredation crows in Michigan?
MI hunting regs state:
Crows may be taken outside the open season during hunting hours in compliance with federal regulations, if these birds are causing a nuisance or creating a health hazard.
It would seem to me that crop damaglung birds would be considered a nuisance and could be hunted over (or to & from) crops. That is how it works here.
Have you asked farmers or your DNR people about this? I have not read the federal regs on this either.
Just trying to help. The birds mentioned in my post above were taken (legally) outside of our hunting season.
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Crows coming in ones and twos are the secret to big kills. Exciting to have big groups arrive but usual outcome is a handfull of dead crows and dozens educated...
Ted
The secret to big kills is to hunt where there are a lot of crows moving, for us it is during the fall migration where crows in numbers large and small are coming out of the north all day long. A conveyor belt of new and uneducated crows for our shooting pleasure.
One would be lucky to experience this on a continuous basis for an extended time frame here. Spring shooting in my theatre of operation consists of pairs and small groups moving northward for the first part of the day. Fall shooting on the other hand consists of finding large feeding concentrations. These seem to move about in a rather casual manner but as one big group. Seeing 3, 4 or many more thousands here is not at all uncommon during the fall and is quite the sight. Depending on wind and other factors combined with a bit of old fashioned luck one can get along a morning or evening flight path and shoot good numbers...again birds are not in small groups but more like a continuous stream that can be miles long. I find these big groups to get wise to calling as kills diminish after a few good scores. NH, you are a lucky man to have birds moving past all day long...a crow hunters Nirvana
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
You may have answered this in the past, but have you researched crop depredation crows in Michigan?
MI hunting regs state:
Crows may be taken outside the open season during hunting hours in compliance with federal regulations, if these birds are causing a nuisance or creating a health hazard.
It would seem to me that crop damaglung birds would be considered a nuisance and could be hunted over (or to & from) crops. That is how it works here.
Have you asked farmers or your DNR people about this? I have not read the federal regs on this either.
Just trying to help. The birds mentioned in my post above were taken (legally) outside of our hunting season.
Demi
Demi:
Actually, I asked the DNR about three years ago. The Migratory Bird Act (MBA) has that verbiage in it and all states may, it seems, do with it what they will. Our DNR interprets it (at least the station bureaucrat I spoke with) as you must "...catch them in the act of becoming a nuisance, health hazard, or crop destroyer. This means one may not place decoys or use a caller (MI seasons are FEB-MAR, AUG-SEP). UNLESS, you apply by filling out the forms, etc. and being approved that "Farmer X" wants you to bop crows because they are doing all those horrible things to his crops. Not likely to happen. It's like trying to get the City in which I live to do something about the deer that eat everything that sprouts here. Still working on that one as well--I'm particularly ticked off at the deer because there are almost as many of them as crows and one also totaled my car last FEB, in the middle of town!!! It ran into me on the City of South Haven's main Street!!!
Personally, I admire Alabama's interpretation of the MBA which I've seen Butch (Help me out, Butch...) refer to on this site as, "We don't care in AL, we blast them year round." Now, here in MI, I have only seen a Conservation Officer once, years ago during an indoor demonstration at a youngster's Hunter Safety Course. There just aren't that many of them. However, If I put decoys out in June, sure enough, I would end up seeing a CO--"Murphy's Law," and getting busted. I have been known to nail a bandit other than those months, but under some pretty unique circumstances.
This discussion is also part of the Crowbuster.com website somewhere on the main site.
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"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
Technically we do have a "season" to adhere to MBA but we are allowed to use the days allotted at our discretion year round till we use up our days. So with that said most of us here never use up the days allowed and we are not required to keep records of hunts (hope they don't read that statement ) plus crows here rate with hogs and getting predation permits would be a simple step if needed. Hope none of this changes. It is nice to know if you want to hunt crows whatever time of year here you can.
"It is nice to know if you want to hunt crows whatever time of year here you can."
Here in NH if you get a permit you can. I know someone who does. The other way was to call our F&G headquarters and tell them where we will be active. is the bottom line. So have I? No. Are the crows a nuisance? Certainly are. But see one or two crows don't interest me much. I feel for the farmer who is suffering however. Maybe that new cornfield he had recently cut will interest me but there hasn't been any crows in any numbers in years now in this area. They don't hang much around here. And they didn't just suddenly all die off either. They pulled stakes and went elsewhere. Where exactly is the big question?
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Top Cat Statutes never replaced or rewrote the constitution!
