About a month ago we hunted in a flooded rice field nearby and had a decent hunt. The owners wanted to hunt again as the fish crows were still active. Since the last hunt, the fields have been drained and that brought in more crows.
When I arrived at 4:30 PM to set up the blind, there was a group of about 250 fish crows circling in a nearby field getting ready to roost. As I was unloading they landed, so I was safe from prying eyes...WHEW! Don't want to be busted or move the roost. The blind was in a new location, tucked under a tree near the mainland. It was a little muddy from being flooded, but that was a small price to pay.
This time my wife was not hunting as she was out of town, so it was only three of us. As expected, on first call a gang of crows came off the roost and headed for our call and decoys... a cloud of about half the crows came over. Being fish crows they were extremely high, so the hunting was hard. Only a handful were pulled down from this initial flush.
During the rest of the hunt we were visited by several small groups coming down the river, but all of them were the high-flying fish crows. By around 10:00, a fog rolled in and stopped the river flights, but we could still hear the educated crows feeding on the corn in the roost area. We ended up with a total of 33 fish crows with no common crows.
One highlight was the post-hunt breakfast that the couple provided. The feast included crab cake Benedict, and it was really good! The perfect way to review the hunt and tell other stories with good friends.
Demi
Photo 1: A) Blind location B) Last hunt's blind R) Roost area
