Today was an educated hunt. Being new to the sport, and solo hunting there are many mistakes made. I’m perusing this sport like I do with everything. When I started I purchased a FoxPro. I was not impressed, so I pulled out my Johnny Stewart Pray Master. I cranked it up and had Crows flocking by the 100s. That was a mistake. Then I added the two callers together. That was a mistake. I joined Crowbusters and gained knowledge of the sport. It was hard not to shoot regardless of the distance or directions of my game. This went on for 30 hunts. Mistake after mistake. Then I began to just listen to the Crows communication. Then I held back and didn’t shoot. I just watched them, like a bird watcher I guess? But that gave me an edge. I’m a very poor shot. I practice on clays but that didn’t help. I changed chockes that didn’t help. I research distance. Decoys set up. Shell velocity. Shell pattern . There it was. It all came together. No calling, or light calling has produced more . Less birds coming. 1-3 at a time. Tree sentry decoy placement. Not moving until the bird is in my kill zone. Camo head to toe. Blind placement. proper blind building. Backing of tree line. Wind direction. Crow activity. Scouting the day before the hunt. I spend more time gaining permission to hunt then any of the above. I go out of my way to accommodate the farmers. I still need to learn to speak Crow. That is my weakness. I need a better shotgun. I need to place Sentry decoys high in the trees. I’m working on it all To be the best I can be. Thanks to everyone who has put their 2 cents into making me better. It’s gone a long way. I put a bird down at 10 foot from the blind today! None movement is key . I’ll post my hunt on Scouting tomorrow when I’m finished.
A guy continues to learn every time out. There's experienced crow shooters who share information in this forum and also those with less experience. I pay attention to them all. Keep sharing yours.
The February 23rd hunt was none productive, I didn’t pay attention to the weather forecaste. Birds were flying to the several feeding areas as rain and high winds are due Sunday the 24th. My blind was 1/4 mile from the flyway. So the flyway moves? I did not know this! When birds did approach they flew high and circling behind the fields edge. I did here the Ratchet sound so they knew a human was around. I saved 100 shells for my next hunt....