Good News: Got a call about crop-damaging crows destroying sunflowers in a dove field.
Bad News: It’s still July in South Carolina. Hot and muggy!
The Rest of the Story:
The farmer tending a dove field at a large property called about crows eating his crops. It’s 2 hours from me, so I previewed the layout via Google Earth, then showed up early the next morning with the gear and David, a friend who had never hunted crows.
The site was tight, with only about 20 feet in front of the blind to lay out decoys. I usually place them at least 15-20 yards out to avoid drawing attention to the blind. On this hunt, however, we had a secret weapon...my new FlightLine FF5 motorized pigeon/crow flapper decoy.
After an initial delay, small groups of crows started coming in, but not at the high altitudes where they normally stay while crossing a large field. As soon as the incomers saw that flapper decoy, they swooped down to 10-20 feet off the deck...all the way in without taking their eyes off of it! Simply Amazing! One flew so low over the blind that you could have caught it with a crab dip net!
Being July, the crow population is not yet high, but I had another secret...David is a sporting clays instructor and a great shot. Very few of the crows that flew in to that field left alive. Doubles, triples, and quads were the norm.
We finished at 10:00 with a total of 41 crows. An excellent showing for July. And speaking of numbers, we also lucked out with the temperatures due to an early fog and overcast that morning. It was only 80 degrees when we left the field and 90 when I arrived home.
The icing on the cake came when the farmer checked on us as we were finishing up. He said he has some other farmer friends with crow problems. He also has my telephone number. Great day!
Photo 1: Arial, showing our blind location.
Photo 2: Looking out from the blind.
Photo 3: FlightLine FF5 flapper decoy.
Photo 4: The ones we collected without braving snakes, chiggers & ticks.
Thanks Demi, for the report and photos. It's the reason I check in here from time to time in the off season. Hope you keep getting calls and keep after 'em.
Great work Demi ! glad to know that others get to enjoy the ticks & chiggers also . LOL. do you think a mojo flying decoy would have good results also ?
Thanks guys. For a July hunt, this was a big hit for me. It also calmed my crow hunt withdrawal symptoms maybe for the next week.
Paul, I've never used a Mojo Crow, but the few reports that I have seen are mixed at best. This flapper decoy which uses a dead bird is the real deal! Skip Woody is who put me on to it and he swears by it. After only one use I, too, do not plan on hunting without it again...it's that good.
There are a few problems in buying them: They are only sold in England, most are made for pigeons vs. crows, so the flapping speed is higher, and they are expensive. The FlightLine company is not taking orders until August and then they are adding another 3 week delay in shipping. Still, theirs looks to be the best for many reasons (well-made, adjustable speed and a great Bluetooth-operated app that adjusts speed, flap time and delays). I had problems in getting mine here, but it was worth the hassle and wait.
Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any questions.
Demi
__________________
The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Well done! I've had a few passing thoughts about going but a very short coyote hunt a few days ago convinced me to keep fishing. Thanks for the info on the flapper, yours and Skips reports have me very interested.
I've never used a motion decoy or flapper. I was aware of the Flightline product and looked into it further. (There's nothing like a positive field report from a seasoned shooter). Found the Flightline website but am still unsure of the exact model you have. Keep us informed as to how you think the the FF5 is producing.
Looks to me like they need a US distributor. The Crow Mart could take special orders!
I bought what I believe to be the best "Flapping decoy" out there but it is so hot all I will say is just try some other stuff out there-it all works-I've used most of them and if there are any crows it works. No experience with the MOJO crow to be fair but they got something that makes it more realistic with the flapping however I am not certain if it slows down the wing beats to more realistic speed or does that 3 seconds on-3 off idea...if it does and they have them there is absolutely no reason to doubt the mojo crow at that rate...but why do the Mojo crow when the crow buster has never let me down? I've even used it alone and had a very successful hunt...you don't need England when you got crow buster!
Another item: if you need lots of gimmicks you probably need to find a new area to hunt in? Sooner or later even tons of gimmicks will have the locals well educated!
I agree with you on a US distributor, especially if it is the Crow Mart!
The model that I use is the FF5 B-Tooth, which I can control from the blind via Bluetooth through my smart phone. The app cost me an additional 2 or 3 dollars.
Skip's model I think, may be the FF5 "Rapid DC" dual control one, as he tell me he has the knobs at the base. I don't know if this will control the flapping speed however, so maybe he can clarify this point when he checks the site.
Hope this helps,
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Thanks for the model information Demi. Blue tooth, green tooth, yellow tooth, apps, they all do the same thing to me. Make my head spin.
Watched some video of the FF5 in action with a pigeon attached and it certainly looks realistic. It'd be key to be able to control flapping speed. One of my biggest concerns would be durability. Use the heck out of it and keep us informed.
Lefty, when I visited the FlightLine web site prices were listed at about 100 euros. Don't know what the exchange rate is. Shipping won't be cheap. They have a number to call for overseas sales.
I think today it takes about $1.15 to buy one Euro. The moneychanger will usually want something between 1% and 3% to handle the transaction - more or less depending on who changes the money. So I'd roughly guess a 100 Euro FF5 would cost $116 to $119 USD. Overseas shipping is usually more expensive than domestic and the moneychangers are involved in that transaction too.
As I remember, with the unit, exchange and the shipping it ended up to be about $ 185.00, but it was my birthday gift to myself!!
I had to call the credit card company to get them to release the funds for an overseas purchase and it was "Old Technology" to get the card information to Nick, the owner. In spite of the hurdles and delay, I'm glad I did it!
Demi
__________________
The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
I personally had no idea there was any kind of crow activity like that in South Carolina how ever I believed it of North Carolina oddly enough thanks to Skips' postings....the only crow I was aware of in South Carolina was that crazy Fish crow that hung out on Myrtle Beach but in no significant numbers in summer not that there was any where to shoot them!
All the same that many crows in summer has to be the tale of legends!!
