Went out this morning with a friend who has been dabbling with crow hunting for awhile. He set up a good blind on a deer lease he has near the County Landfill. While deer hunting earlier, my friend had seen some streams of crows headed toward the dump and thought it would be good enough to hunt. After discussing it with him, I agreed to go because you just never can tell when it is going to be good.
The problem we faced this morning was that almost all of the passing birds were the dreaded Fish Crows. Shortly after sunup, the first group ... of 200... came over way high and well above the tall trees we were near. Even the FF5 had little effect on them. We pulled down 5 or 6, but educated the rest. The rest of the hunt was similar in that we got 6 or 8 groups of Fish Crows in and were only able to bring down a handful from each. When we connected with them, they often sailed off a couple hundred yards away before hitting the ground.
The hunt was over by 9:30 and we ended up with a total of 25 crows on the clicker. All things considered, it was worth going out and enjoying the outdoors, great weather and good fellowship.
I have no idea how to attack those dreaded fish crows, but it sounds like tough longer shots. Do you think going to a 1 1/4oz load of #6's @ 1330fps would increase the odds? Thanks for the report.
I have no idea how to attack those dreaded fish crows, but it sounds like tough longer shots. Do you think going to a 1 1/4oz load of #6's @ 1330fps would increase the odds? Thanks for the report.
Randy
Randy,
Short answer: No. With fish crows, I may even be a little too heavy with # 6's and might be better off with 7½'s. After all, they have a glass jaw and can be pulled down pretty well when you hit them. The same applies for speed.
Just thinking about 1 1/4 @ 1330 fps brings tears to my eyes!! Another reason is that most of my shots on fish crows are directly overhead. For the first time in years, I got a shoulder bruise yesterday from shooting straight up at so many of them from that awkward position.
Get the extra pellets from # 7½ vs. 1 1/4! For me, 1⅛ is the heaviest load I will shoot.
YMMV
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 report Demi. The Fish Crow, or I like to call them, aggravating (insert explictive of your choice) there just isn’t much you can do with the little suckers, outside of taking a anti aircraft cannon with you to the blind. It is amazing the difference between them and there counterparts the Common Crow. I think this coming season I will steer clear of them as much as possible and help my blood pressure in the process.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
Another reason is that most of my shots on fish crows are directly overhead. For the first time in years, I got a shoulder bruise yesterday from shooting straight up at so many of them from that awkward position.