Folks, had I not been in the blind on this hunt, I never would have believed a word of what happened! Every bit of this is true, I promise!
With my son visiting from the Denver area, I arranged a hunt at a nearby farm with some pecan trees around the house. The blind was set up and getting there on time, the crows started sifting in nicely so everything looked great. About an hour later we had clicked up 20 crows on the counter and that is when we heard the noise...
Coming down the road were two vehicles towing trailers. One truck had a crew of five and was towing a large trailer of pine straw mulch. The other vehicle was towing a commercial mower...It was landscaping day at Point of Pines and we knew this would spell the end of our hunt that day. DANG! We got out of the blind, left our guns behind and walked over to talk with the foreman. He told us they were going to clean up, put down mulch and mow the area around the house (100 yards away!). The crew pulled out weed-eaters, leaf blowers and banged down the trailer hatch to get out the mulch. As we were talking, I noticed a crow that flew over out blind and landed in a tree... even with all the noise and motion. Five minutes later, we returned to the blind to find the crow still in the tree. We step into the blind, scaring the bird off, then called him back around and killed him! Maybe the hunt was not over??
Apparently the FF5 flapping away calmed the birds down to the point they still came in to our setup! An amazing situation!! With leaf blowing, weed eating, mowing and all the associated noise, the only difference in our hunt was the birds had changed the direction of their approach and avoided flying over the landscaping work. For the next two hours or so we continued hunting and brought down a total of 79 crows!
The mowing was within 75 yards of our blind! The leaf blowing and weed-eating was around 100 yards away! All the crows could see was that FF5 crow just flapping away, not worrying about the adjacent activity or noise.
Yes, I will remember this hunt for a long time and not only because of the fun time I had in the blind with my son. I'm thinking of adopting my FF5 now!
Demi
Here are the photos:
Picture 1: An areal showing our blind (in red) and the landscaping work area (hatched area)
Picture 2: Our blind
Picture 3: Landscaping vehicles & trailers
Picture 4: Mowing as the hunt continues
Picture 5: The final take of a most memorable hunt
Demi, I would not expect any less from you. You always do so well, A great day with your son & The FF5 / FF6 keeps earning points. I will also add that you build the best blinds i have ever seen ! Those palmetto leaves probably help for some quick coverage but they always look good.
Demi, great report and another tick in the belt of the now infamous FF5. As Paul mentioned, the palmetto leaves make for great blinds and I am a bit envious of the cover you guys got. You guys put the whoop on the black bandits.
Got a question for you on the placement of the crow on the FF5
1). How do you hook the wings
2). What speed of flapping have you found to be the best.
The reason I ask is today I took my FF5 down, yes I took it down! I can’t be positive but I think the birds where flaring from it. I just slapped a crow on there and ran back to the blind. In the FF5s defense I didn’t do a good job on getting the crow on the flapper. This is only my second time using it and it will be in action again in the morning.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
Here is my take on your questions and your flaring problem:
1) After breaking the wing bones near the body, pin each wing near the mid-joint (where the wing folds back). Hold the wing in front of the pin, piercing all the way through the wing, then pulling/pivoting the wing back and down into place.
2) With my phone app, I am happy with a flap speed of about 32-35% and ON for about 6-10 seconds, then OFF for 4-5 seconds. This is not scientifically gathered info, but just what I have been using lately. It probably doesn’t matter much unless you go to the highest flap speeds, which look unnatural.
Now here is my opinion on why you had birds flaring on you. Not the FF5 or the flap speed. Not your blind, as it looks great. And hopefully not movement when they are approaching.
Reading your report, I believe your fatal flaw was putting out your blind, decoys and your sentry birds in broad daylight...in full view of the enemy.
I try to put up my blind prior to hunt day. I’ll generally set it up late in the afternoon after the crows have left for their roost. Sometimes it will be set up 3 or 4 days prior to hunt, but usually the afternoon beforehand or very early on hunt day. The decoys and century birds are put out the morning of the hunt with the aid of headlights and flashlight. My goal is to be ready in the blind before the first crow starts calling.
IMO, those flaring birds were the ones that sat there and watched you set up. They had you and your equipment figured out!
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.
I have also been fairly surprised at how tolerant crows are to general noise in the area. Your noise sources, however, were closer than any I have had the opportunity to endure. I’m glad the crows kept coming to visit with your son. :)
Dale,
About the flaring...like Demi mentioned, of course things like your blind & movement are the first things I think about when dealing with flaring birds. If those issues are not a concern then the next thing I do is adjust the location of the ecaller. There have been plenty of hunts where I have had the caller too close to the blind and birds would approach the set and flare near the kill zone. Try moving the caller at least 20 (sometimes more) yards upwind. That has saved some hunts for me.
