Just curious if anyone is noticing a decline in the number of birds? I have hunted 3 times this season at locations that Jerry Tomlin would take my group. We would routinely shoot well over 50 birds and usually see many many more. This season I have not seen nearly the number of birds we have seen in the past. Granted I am not near the caller Jerry was but on many of my hunts with him I was allowed to call and we were very successful. As you can see by my avatar, 3 of us shot 182 a few years ago. Just curious.
In areas in which I hunt there is surely no decline in the number of crows.
When you say you don't see the numbers of birds you used to in the past at this spot it could be that other old customers of Jerry hunt there as well? Have you asked the owner or land tenant if anyone else has hunted there this season? As I'm sure your well aware, the more pressure they get they can pull right out of an area and then you have to scout around and try to find out where they are now feeding. A very good example of this was a morning hunt I had early this season where my partner and I shot 314 crows in 2 1/2 hours and 140 of those 314 crows were killed in the first 40 minutes! Since that hunt not a single crow has returned to that spot for the rest of the season! So even though they moved we found other good areas to keep us going throughout the season. That was a wild shoot from 7:00 a.m. to 7:40 a.m. where we both had 8 quadruples in that time period. We quit at 9:30 a.m. that morning because the crows had had enough with us.
Thanks for your response. I see in your photos you seem to be near feed troughs, etc. I just received permission to hunt a dairy farm that has crows and pigeons. Will keep the group posted on our success.
As someone else who hunted with Jerry for quite a few years in South Carolina and Georgia, I’m in the same boat! Since Jerry’s death, I’ve tried to replicate what he does and have had varying results. I’ve had one hunt that beat the best Jerry ever showed us, but many others have been just So-So.
Why the drop? In my case, several of the orchards we hunted with Jerry have been taken over by local pecan farmers who also hunt. The main reason, however, is due to what Jerry did behind the scene that we never saw...he worked his butt off! Over several decades Jerry developed a network of farmers and landowners and they kept in touch! He knew where the crows were active! He also put thousands of miles on his “crowmobile” each season inspecting crop damage and looking for crows. If his hunters had call shy birds, he usually had two or more nearby orchards that he could quickly move to, saving that day’s hunt.
In my opinion, it is less about crow numbers or calling ability. It’s mostly about knowing where the birds are (or are not). Keep doing the legwork of talking to farmers and scouting out new places. We can’t all be a Jerry Tomlin, but hard work will help get us headed in the right direction!
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Demi, what you stated about "knowing where the birds are, or are not" sums it up in a nut shell!
It is as important to know where they are not as to where they are so you are not spinning your wheels.
In some areas in which I hunt the birds don't always use the same areas every season. So you have to scout in order to know what is going on. It is not unusual for me to put 75 miles on my pickup just scouting out several different areas that same day.
To be really successful you have to have plenty of time on your hands. The three ingredients to being successful is 1. Having the time. 2. Having the money to do it. 3. Having the know how.
When you paid Jerry for his guiding services that is precisely what you were paying for. It's not physically taxing because all you do is drive and watch while out scouting out your territory. But it is very time consuming especially if you have to get in touch with land owners whom you've never met before.
When you paid Jerry for his guiding services that is precisely what you were paying for. It's not physically taxing because all you do is drive and watch while out scouting out your territory. But it is very time consuming especially if you have to get in touch with land owners whom you've never met before.
Bob A.
Right on, Bob. And boy, do I miss Jerry! We had a good thing going with several people doing lots of other things besides crow hunting (sporting clays, nice restaurants, cooking, fishing, fellowship, etc.), but it was all centered around crows. He is still missed around here.
