Here are a few photos and stories from my first season of deliberately going after crows. Started with some decoys and an owl. Spread around in an old sheltered farmstead like this. A sentry was placed up on the canopy of the old trusty 4020 tractor. Time of day was roughly 3:30 or maybe 4:00pm.
The blind was comfortable. Open to the west where my camo chair faced. Sheltered behind camo burlap to the south. Had a Browning Auto 5 and a box of shells.
For calls. I had a green locator call from turkey hunting many years ago. Plus a new specialized crow call. Set down in the chair in my blind and started blowing. Caw, Caw, Caw, .... come, here, crow...., caw, caw, caw, ... come, here, crow...
No birds showed up for the party.
Sometimes we can learn more from our failures, and there were plenty of mistakes made in this first crow hunt.
"Hammerin' crow call" one of my favorites (if you blow it right) and know nothing of the other type...the Hammerin' is a sleeper and I thought upon receiving it another big name sounding call but I was most pleasantly surprised. I know this is a working call that'll do what you ask of it! I loved the decoys too and for the reord-I noted that is one of those swivil air driven owls with the moving head ...I used one before-they work! Only thing is the swivel head will jam up but that didn't matter at all...
I have no idea how many hours I've spent on that old 4020. Plowing, discing, field cultivating, planting, mowing, moving hay, making hay stacks, moving dirt here and there. It's a good old work horse and the one I know the best. I'm sure there are lighter weight and more portable ways to hold up a sentry crow decoy.
In my second crow season (2017-2018) I used a slingshot, a fish weight and fish line to hoist a decoy high up into dead trees. That seemed to work fairly well.
Next season, I think a long pole of some kind that I can leave near favorite spots might be fast and easy. Especially if I build some permanent blinds.
What's the # 1 best tractor ever built Granite Jaw?
Dad is usually right ! I will admit though Granite jaw, I was a little shocked that a man from Iowa would say that a red tractor was the best. We're red and green on my place , John Deere and Massey
I just remember a survey taken by a farm magazine some time back that had them ranked 1 and 2. Both the M and 4020 were innovative for their era with many still in service today. I'm thinking the M was introduced in '39 and the 4020 about '64.
There's plenty of "red" and "green" around here. My place is red and I've got an old '48 M that I could walk out and start right now. My neighbor has a 4020 he still uses. I ran it a few times and loved the power shift.
I've seen a 4020 do a lot of work, but never used as a decoy mount. Nice.
Randy
-- Edited by Granite Jaw on Monday 14th of May 2018 04:10:08 AM
We didn't have a Farmall M, but we did have a well worn Farmall H that came with one field we bought back in the 1970's. Still have that tractor, but it has not been used too much since then. My Dad bought the 4020 powershift model in 1967. Later in life I remember the story was that the decision at the time came down to new carpet for the living room or a tractor. The new carpet came later.
#1 - I underestimated the actual difficulty of calling crows.
#2 - Hunted where I had not regularly seen crows in the area.
The very first experience I had calling crows took place in 2014. It took place after a lengthy session quietly getting into position and calling for mountain lions. My FoxPro Krakatoa 2 was hidden in a bush the size of a Volkswagen down in a draw. I was fifty yards away, up hill with my head, neck and back protected by a tree. Full ghillie suit camo and brushed in around me. It was a memorable hunt, but when I was almost ready to pack up and leave my position … playfully and impulsively I switched the call to something called "Crow Party" and hit send. I had not seen or heard any crows that afternoon. Within ten minutes lots of crows had arrived and were circling and cawing above the bush with my caller. Hmmm, imagine that?
So in the Spring of 2017, when I ventured out to attempt to hunt crows on purpose for the very first time, I carried a hand call and started calling almost immediately after getting into position. The crows were not impressed and did not respond the way they did back on that day in 2014. After the first season I purchased Bob Aronsohn's instructional CD and then spent some time becoming familiar with the language of crowdom. That was my initial response to lesson #1 from season #1. A later response included adding more crow sounds to electronic calls and even using both of the FoxPro units I already had on hand.
Lesson #2 involved hunting where there are crows. In hindsight, I set up both of my Spring 2017 hunts in places where I have not actually seen crows. I did not think this was so important because of my very first calling experience.
Your report on cooking crow meat reminds me of a great hunt in a pristine dove field a few years back. Because of the very clean field planted with plenty of corn and sunflowers, after nearly 15 years of hunting them, I quietly decided to pull a couple aside and try one of the many recipes I’d seen.
The landowner was in the blind with us and the crows kept coming in. I commented to the owner about the large numbers of new crows headed our way. He turned to me while pointing to where they were coming from and said, “Demi, we have a never-ending supply of crows...the County Landfill is only a half-mile in that direction!”
Needless to say, those two crows were thrown into the pile of other dead ones, headed back to that same dump for recycling. Haven’t even thought about eating one since then!
Demi
__________________
The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Why I don't eat what I shoot - at least in this case...
Recall the 1972 song, "Dead Skunk in the middle of the road" by Loudon Wainwright III.
Photo: Skunk dinner being enjoyed by one of our targets. (Not my photo, but I saw the exact same scene a few years ago, complete with the lyric, "...roll up your window and hold your nose!" just 50 yards from my driveway.
Fergit that!
For those of you who might have missed this piece of classic music, enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaN7xuAIjXI
-- Edited by Old Artilleryman on Wednesday 23rd of May 2018 01:18:56 AM
earlier this season i came home to see 3 feeding on a road kill rabbit in front of my place. just then the mail lady drove by & they scattered. i grabbed the bunny & hid it in the bed of my truck. next morning before daylight i threw it back in the road & tucked into a cedar tree for cover. within 20 minutes here they come ! that was one more to the KIA count. i'm in the country on a dirt road so it wasn't an issue shooting by the road. they do love those rabbits !
thank's Demi, i only used alternative techniques around here because i had trained them so well that a call & decoys are useless. the remainders still yell at me every time i walk out the door. i probably wont even hunt my locals next season, nothing like fresh untrained crow's to hunt . makes life so much easier. yes, before i became a member here i went out back every day with the caller & educated them well. just didn't know better. that's why i became a member here to see what was going wrong. i think it'll take a few years for these to forget about me & how i killed some of their friends & relatives ! LOL. wont ever make the common mistake of overhunting & leaving the dead behind to be seen. probably one of the most common mistakes made by new crow hunters judging by the post's. i'd rather have 6 or 7 run & gun area;s to hit in a day if i cant find a flyway to hunt.
I use a very articulated set up generally speaking-from a distance it looks like REAL crows out there! In my situation I don't have to really call all that much! Nobody wants to spend too much money except on ammunition and I am no different but every one uses the same old set up and too many competitors educates the crow really really well!
