Late last season Paul found a big pecan orchard and gained permission to hunt it for this years season. I was just lucky enough to get the call to hunt it with him. The orchard owner, Carol was even nice enough to leave his cannons silent in an attempt to get us more birds and also turns out his dogs don't care much for the cannons. This is all good for Paul and I and this morning we cashed in.
The morning started off great, we had set up a few hundred yards from where the birds where really congregating. We were able to pull singles and doubles for a pretty continuous stream of shooting. There where several times Paul and I both found it difficult to get enough time to get shells in the gun. This as you all are well aware of is a GREAT problem to be having. If there was any problems with the hunt it would be that the birds where coming in to damn close, these virgins had no commitment issues. They where dropping on the deck into between the rows of trees like kamikaze pilots. Paul and I gave them a good old Oklahoma welcome.
By 11:30 it was pretty much over with and we ended the hunt. After doing some math the TPC came to 124.This was Paul's for time to break the century mark and was happy to be the one who got to help him with it. He also got to write with a (Crow pencil) and the picture below will illustrate his penmanship.
Yes, it was by far my best crow hunt to date ! What Dale failed to mention is that he dropped 81 of those birds & i was responsible for the other 43. So how did he get almost twice the number i did while being no more than 50 to 75 feet from me the whole time ??
A small part is that he had the sweet spot for a while. He was dropping birds before i even saw them. The BIG part is that Dale is Damn good AND FAST with a shotgun !! I lost track of how many doubles he got to my singles. He felt bad after a while & offered to swap places with me. I declined. I kinda liked watching him in action. When the shooting heated up he was killing crows in front of him, above him, below him & behind him ! Yes, below him. Some real low flyers came in about 2 feet off the ground. I'll add that when i picked up the birds that most of the ones in Dale's kill zone were turned inside out. Direct hit's.
I'm glad he came with and made it a memorable hunt. I'm a right handed shooter with a dominant left eye so i'm a little slower on the draw than Dale. His fast shooting made a HUGE difference. I've been wanting to get my pic with crow's stacked in a number for quite some time & today was the day ! It felt real good to pile up that 124 !!!!
Dale & Paul: You have entered the rarified atmosphere of the CCC.. Crow Century Club!!! I suggest you have this sewed into your caps/shirts/crow business cards/etc. I have no real idea of this, but I suspect only a very very few crow hunters EVER enter the vaunted CCC! Congratulations!!!
Dale if you stay at it and hunt in areas where there is no competition and plenty of birds the day will come when you won't even want to take your gun out of it's case for a hundred birds! My old mentor from the early to mid 1970's said to me "the crow hunting will ruin you for anything else" and it has done just that!
Looks like the 2 of you had a great day. Dale Im glad to hear the good report on the calls I sent Hope you and Paul use them to your advantage to knock down more of them crows
Sounds like a very memorable hunt. Is that blind something you created or purchased? Were you using hand calls and if so what ones...that is if you don't mind sharing.
We used a blend of E-caller and hand calls. I use a hand call more to give the incoming birds confidence that the set up is the real deal and to turn birds around for a second shot. This works really well if the birds are green, have, say four come in and you shoot 2 of them, then quickly get on the hand call and give them a mourning call and you stand a good chance at turning the leftover crows around for another shot. The hand call I used during that hunt was made by Daryal Gosey he makes great calls. He is on the site and you pick one up from him. His handle on the side is NCbowjunkie.
__________________
"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
Bob,
We are heading out in another week. Between deer hunters, work and holidays I have been temporarily Sidelined from hunting. I did get lose long enough to make a scouting run and it was worth every mile.
__________________
"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
Singles and doubles all morning will most certainly net a high body count. As for Bob A's comment where crow shooting will ruin one for all other types of bird hunting holds a lot of truth. One can sit in a duck blind in the cold a rain all morning for 5 mallards or shoot 30 crows on a pleasant spring morning. Not too difficult to guess which one would be more fun!
Ted
__________________
Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
I have no real idea of this, but I suspect only a very very few crow hunters EVER enter the vaunted CCC! Congratulations!!! 