One of you said that the Johnny Stewart crow call's are the gold standard and i agree. I find it ironic that sound's from the 60's or 70's are not outdone with today's technology. Doing a little digging i found a video where Johnny's son was talking of how when he was young his dad would drive Texas back roads at night and they would catch rabbit's with a fish net from the front bumper of a moving vehicle then record their distress sounds. Other than that i cant find much info about Johnny Stewart himself.
It may be safe to say that JS is responsible for the death's of more crows than even Bob A. ! I would imagine that in the early days of electronic call's & records JS crow sounds were probably the only ones around. Bob, I'm willing to bet that you probably knew the man personally. I'd like to know how he made his crow recordings ? Hang a mic up in a tree with an owl tied up there also ? If any of you know anything about the man please post it.
I attached a pic i found searching the web of Johnny in 1977 blowing a wooden whistle as it says. !! ( mouth call ) and an article from 1965 advertising his call sounds. It say's you'll have crow's circling a few feet above your head.
I always like the stuff from the good old day's. Johnny was a real pioneer in the predator calling. And no, I'm not climbing up a tree with a recorder ! But the older i get, the more i like thing's the old way.
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I never met Johnny Stewart or spoke with him personally. However my old crow hunting mentor Boyd Robeson knew him. Dick Kilbane my partner of 17 years now spoke over the phone many times with Johnny Stewart when he was just starting out.
I never met Johnny Stewart or spoke with him personally. However my old crow hunting mentor Boyd Robeson knew him. Dick Kilbane my partner of 17 years now spoke over the phone many times with Johnny Stewart when he was just starting out.
Well, you got me on that one Bob. I would have bet all my chip's that you had known him. Did you ever hunt using the 45 record's & record player ?
Boyd Robeson and I both used the 45 RPM records up until the model 600 Johnny Stewart tape player came out in the early 1970's. The model 600 is just to the left of the Call of the Wild in the photos I posted. Here are some more photos of the museum.
Here is a better photo of two custom units I had made up in the late 1970's that were powered with a 12 volt marine battery. The lighter colored unit I had my largest shoot with that unit in 2010 where I shot 834 crows from one spot all day long. I used 46 boxes of 12 gauge trap loads that day with 7 1/2's and 8's.
Camo, from 1974 to 1990 the vast majority of those crows were shot within anywhere from a 15 minute drive to an hour drive from my home in Hutchinson. The dip in the graph was the last year I hunted them because all the crows left due to there roost getting bulldozed for houses! From 1991 on I have just hunted out of state.
Bob, my first thought is, that must have been one heck of a roost in Hutchinson to get that many crows every year and not wipe it out ! And as i thought you've put your time in with the JS callers by the looks of your collection.
Perhaps one day i could pay a visit to your museum. I'd love to hear the experiences you had using the different equipment over the years. I still can't get over the thought of toting a record player out in the field and putting the needle on that 45 while trying not to bump it or have it exposed to the elements. That had to be an experience compared to today's equipment. I also like your piebald collection. I'd like to bring my Blondie up there for you to take a look at. Paul.
Bob, I see you used the louder amps on most of your 512 callers? (Big plus)
I do look a JS sounds as the gold standard. JS crow sounds are the best. I've used Denise kirk, circle, Burnham brothers foxpro. Keep coming back to JS sounds. Not only crow sounds, I really like his fox and coyote sounds too.
I'm amazed by the vintage 45 record sounds available. Smiths, ps olt, call of the wild and of course JS.
I'm trying to bring to life a old JS 45 player recently!!!
Wish I knew more about electronics.
I think I was the first in NH to own one. The only problem was that the wind would blow the arm across the record at inoppurtune moments. Plus my cousin used it without my knowledge and I forgot to look at the record. Incoming crows were surprised to hear "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by ACDC...as was I!!
The beauty was it opened a brand new door. It was incredible. Today you can hear occasionally someone else with out now using some kind of a caller in this crow "starved" state. Well that is exaggeration but if you like to shoot crows this area is drying up between the posted properties and people building homes or businesses moving in.
I used to keep either a screw driver or a dowel rod inside the JS units with the 45 RPM records so I could use it to prop up the lid on the caller when it was playing. I don't ever recall those D cell batteries lasting a whole day in the field in cold weather.
The needle got bumped a lot and as a result the sound quality was only so-so but it still called crows.
The model 600 JS unit sure chewed up a lot of my JS tapes that I started to make my own copies so I would not go broke buying the factory JS tapes. I bought Maxell cassette tapes that would play for 50 minutes on each side which helped very much.
