Colt and I headed out Thursday evening for a weekend hunt. It would be my third trip to this area and I felt confident I had the crows figured out and the best ambush cites located.
Friday morning:The plan was to scout out a new area I had gotten a line on and then be back at the hunting cite by noon to get set up and let the shooting begin. We where in for a treat Friday morning as we watched as the crows flew out of their roost towards their feeding areas. We drove around and got permission to hunt a couple pecan farms and it being so late in the year, we told the farmers we would be back in the fall to do some serious pecan crop protection.
Friday evening hunt: We where set up and calling by 1:30, in a spot I was certain would yield a high kill. As 5 o'clock approached I was now certain I had badly overestimated how many crows where gonna die at our hands. I had set up a good 3/4's of a mile to far south of the common crow flyway and had set up more near the fish crow flyway. I watched in horror as the common's passed in a steady stream to our north and the damn fish crows came by and skirted our spread at a safe distances many yards out of range. I noticed many of the crows that came by showed some serious signs of PTSD and this also lead to the horrible hunt. We packed it in early with only 10 KIA's. We hurried up and tried to exactly pinned down where the common crows where flying but by the time we got everything packed up it was to late.
Saturday evening hunt: So, I was pretty frustrated by this point and wanted to salvage the weekend. I made my best guess as to where the common's where passing from the previous evening and we got set up. We where about 2 miles west of the previous days hunt. Where I thought the crows where passing in close proximity. As the day drug on I was again, off the mark by another 3/4's of a mile. But we where able to pull a few of the crows off the flyway and ended the day with 41 KIA's. We shot a mix bag of common and fish crows, Colt counted for 14 of the 41 and pulled off a record shot for him, killing a fish crow at a distance of somewhere around the 60 yard mark. He looked at me and said "See, I can shoot them way out there too" haha. On one occasion it was his turn to shoot and we had about 10 fish crows come in really low, which is rare! It was his turn to shoot but as the crows approached he couldn't get his gun off safety. I pulled up and let the A-400 sing them a song and got my first triple on fish crows. Colt wasn't to happy about it LOL.
We got out smarted this weekend but we learned a little more and had fun doing it.
pic #1Crows coming our of the roost.
pic #2 Friday evening setup and Colt setting up the last of the decoys. Not much else to see on this hunt.
pic #3 Saturday set up, blind is in the lower left corner of pic.
A flyway doesn't have to shift very far to mess things up. No amount of recon can overcome an overnight change. Neither can one easily defeat a faulty weather forecast. We try to have a back-up plan, but even then things don't always work out. A high volume electronic call gives a guy some leeway if he misses the flyway.
Several weeks ago we set up on a flyway into a feeding area only to have the majority of crows stop a mile short of us to feed. They'd shown no indication of this the morning before. I wouldn't call the hunt a bust, but we did our share of growling.
Nice adjustment on Saturday. Even though you didn't think it was perfect, a bit of satisfaction was had.
Randy, it sure can be a frustrating thing trying to get the right spot. I know what can happen if the correct blind location is picked and unfortunately I learned what happens if it is not. It sure doesn’t take very much of a miscalculation to leave yourself in a crow desert, so to speak.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
Nice report. And, because I don’t hunt flyways, here’s a question: Why don’t you hunt the morning flights when the crows are hungry?
Just curious if that would help your numbers.
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
I am an up and comer flyway hunter myself, and thought the same thing myself. But, a wise man said that you are better off to wait till the evening. In the morning they come in all at once in great big wads and you end up educating all of the crows except for the couple you kill.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
I am an up and comer flyway hunter myself, and thought the same thing myself. But, a wise man said that you are better off to wait till the evening. In the morning they come in all at once in great big wads and you end up educating all of the crows except for the couple you kill.
Dale,
We like to catch the early flight into the feeding area, then call them off it all morning. Seems like the closer we get to the flight the bigger the groups that check us out. We try to remedy that by how we call. There are times they don't decoy well off the flyway as their first priority is feed, other days they do. They usually do off the feeding area. When things slow down around noon a decision has to be made on whether to relocate for the afternoon. When things go right they trickle in all day.
I don't know your situation or the numbers you're dealing with and I know what you're saying about educating big groups. (We've had it happen), but I wouldn't discount a morning shoot.
Another variable is how concentrated they are when feeding. Up until ten days ago we had no snow cover and were paying hell to find concentrated numbers to hunt. The flights out seemed to disperse in all directions. We are thinking there is less than half the crows around as there was last winter. If you've got them all spread out like that until they head back, the afternoon hunts would probably be better. We've got a foot on the ground now so we'll see if our assessment on numbers change.
By the way, I can't get this set of pictures to open. Never had that problem before. If anyone has a hint I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
Hunting them in the morning, and throughout the day in a feeding area is how I have had some good hunts this year. This past weekend I wanted to hunt them on their way home, on a bonafide flyway. It is something I wanna do and am hell bent on getting it done.
I am very sorry to hear about all the snow, it sounds miserable.
As far as the pictures I am not sure why you can't see them and am not one to be giving advice in the area of computer problems.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
By the way, I can't get this set of pictures to open. Never had that problem before. If anyone has a hint I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
Randy
Randy,
Had the same problem using my iPhone. After rebooting the phone all was good again. Could that be it on yours?
Demi
Same problem here with a computer using Windows 7 and Firefox.
Demi,
I'm not smart enough to attempt anything but basics with a phone. Call. Answer. Take a picture. (Usually mess that up). I'm also learning that texting thing. Though I'm told I can, there's no way I'd attempt to access a website with it.
NH,
My attempt at opening those pictures were from my computer using Windows 7 as well.
Hunting them in the morning, and throughout the day in a feeding area is how I have had some good hunts this year. This past weekend I wanted to hunt them on their way home, on a bonafide flyway. It is something I wanna do and am hell bent on getting it done.
I am very sorry to hear about all the snow, it sounds miserable.
As far as the pictures I am not sure why you can't see them and am not one to be giving advice in the area of computer problems.
Dale,
I'd gathered from previous reports you were having success in the AM and misunderstood your intent in your earlier reply to Demi. Thought you might be abandoning morning hunts entirely.
No worry's about the snow. A foot on the ground is normal this time of year. Hopefully it bunches up the crows in the best feeding areas. The cold will limit watering spots too. Keep after 'em.
