First time out was Aug 1 which is the opener here in MI. Buddy I shoot with pretty regular now used to run&gun in a yearly crow shoot here years ago. took me down where he would go before and we did maybe 8 sets by lunch time. Think "we" downed 6 or 7. I was having a bad day shooting, he shot all the crows. I did hit one pretty solid, 7.5s at about 40 yards and it rolled and kept on a truckin. We only used decoys twice, it was mostly small openings in forest, hard to get them visible and they were not much help for what we were doing, just e-calling and shooting what came in the first few minutes. For my second act I purchased some 6s :)
Since almost a month ago life has gotten pretty busy with work, kids (1 off to college) etc. 3 days ago my daughter came down with a low grade fever and sore throat, uh oh. Well she's better now and no worse for the wear but it got me 2 days off work! So last night on the way home from shooting sporting clays at my local club I threw together a brush blind at a spot I'd picked out. Set 2 sentries as high as I could, maybe 18ish feet. My stick work needs some fine tuning, and 2 decoys on the ground, hit the ecall and within 15 seconds 1 shot, 1 crow down! I was thrilled. I'm total newb at this and learning as I go and as I read here. That was maybe 7am, stayed til 915am and put a total of 6 down. My shooting wasn't anything to brag about. If I had been on my game or my buddy had been with it would have been double that or more. I would call for a few minutes and then let it rest. Couple times I saw a crow flying and was able to lure him in by getting on the call. As expected, every time I used the ecall it was like the law of diminishing returns til I finally quit about 915. Need to get a mouth call and learn to use that.
There are a LOT of ravens in my area as well. Sometimes hard to tell the difference on the wing. Been trying to watch birds over the summer to distinguish between the two. But doing so while eating lunch in town is easier than with adrenaline pumping thru my veins and a gun in hand, LoL.
Have another spot picked out behind my house which is only about 3/4 mile from this morning's spot "as the crow flies", but unfortunately with mostly private land and mostly forest around me getting on a good spot can be challenging. I will try that tonight. Little more open on the ground in this spot so I'll be using my new panel blind which I just brushed up.
-- Edited by gt69 on Thursday 27th of August 2020 07:03:47 PM
Once you know the raven it is second nature to tell them apart from a crow having lived around them most of my life; they are regulars in this area....they are exceptionally clever too. One raven comes in low over this back yard farm and the crows attack and chase him off but they didn't see the high over two or there ravens watching from above so the crows (one or two) violently try chase the raven down the road and his partners swoop in and feed....I have seen crows do that with red winged black birds too...the adults chase one crow and the other two in this case raid the nest....
Good report, GT, and it's great to see an early post about this year's hunting season! We can all use some good news these days! Sounds like you did everything right.
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Got out for about hour and a half last evening. Took down 4, missed a couple more. Had a blast! The action was faster once it got going (slow start). And then my call amplifier battery died. I think I could have scratched out 2 or 3 more before dark if the battery hadn't run short. Looking into a foxpro, but I have zero dollars invested so far in the call so putting out 4 or more Ben Franklins might be hard to sneak by the kitchen committee.
-- Edited by gt69 on Wednesday 2nd of September 2020 03:43:01 PM
Ok, next question...wind. Are there any rules of thumb for setting up regarding wind? Been duck hunting for a few years now and wind is 1. A good thing to have and 2. You'd better account for the direction in your setup or your shooting will not be fun.
Yesterday I did not have much wind at all. And crows came from every direction. Not ideal. I got busted a few times when they saw me before I saw them. If there is wind do they tend to approach upwind? Crosswind? I assume not downwind since easier for them to control their altitude with some wind that's not at their back.
In our area, wind has never been a major factor. The birds come in from different directions and I have never be able to tell that wind made a difference in how they approach a blind. They often will follow tree lines, regardless of the wind direction.
On the other hand, wind will make a big difference in how call sound (hand or electronic) carries. The higher the wind, the fewer the birds will respond to your calling.
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Just got a call back from a farmer acquaintance an hour from here. Going to try shooting some off his corn field (still standing). Not sure how tall it is. I'll have to see that and what the hedge rows look like, factor in wind if any and hopefully improve on my 10 yesterday. Yeehaw! And goose season opens next week. If I can put a dent in the crow population my farmer friend might give me priority on the stubble fields for geese in a couple weeks. I need to retire! LoL
Just got a call back from a farmer acquaintance an hour from here. Going to try shooting some off his corn field (still standing). Not sure how tall it is. I'll have to see that and what the hedge rows look like, factor in wind if any and hopefully improve on my 10 yesterday. Yeehaw! And goose season opens next week. If I can put a dent in the crow population my farmer friend might give me priority on the stubble fields for geese in a couple weeks. I need to retire! LoL
GT, through the years I have made some good contacts with landowners while hunting crows and calling coyotes.
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
Hunted twice yesterday. In the morning near home, got 5. Had a decent set up, didn't see big numbers but I capitalized on most of my opportunities. Whiffed on 2 or 3. This is within quarter mile of the 2 spots I hunted Thursday. I had expected these local birds to be burned out and have their PhD by now but not yet.
For the afternoon/evening I brought a buddy over to the farm I had been in touch with. Corn was way too tall to hunt in. We set up at a 3 way intersection of fields in the hedgerow under some medium size trees in the shadows. Set up my decoys and hit the call. Nothing. There was some wind about 10-12mph so I watched mostly downwind for birds although my buddy had upwind covered as well. After going thru all the crow calls I have (only a few) I went to my ace in the hole the death of crow Johnny Stewart. That brought a handful out of surrounding wooded areas to look but couldn't get most any closer than 200-300 yards. It was early, 430-5 so we gave it a rest. Back at it about 6 til almost 8. I took a pot shot at one 50 yards out but didn't connect. That was all there was. Frankly I was perplexed.
After thinking about it for a while I decided the farm has to have crows around but might take more work than just showing up and doing it. Scouting, etc. Or the other possibility is someone around that farm is hunting them and they have heard it/seen it before. It's about an hour drive one way from home so scouting it extensively will be time consuming.
Furthermore, I've now done 3 sets in 4 days near my home and still have birds responding to the call. I'm going to let it rest for a while now, a week or more. However, one thing I neglected to mention in previous posts is that the city dump is 1.5 miles from my house. This is likely not only holding birds close despite my hunting but also maybe drawing new birds to the area continuously, possibly explaining what I'm seeing. Next order of business is a new call. Talked with foxpro today, will be ordering soon. My current set up is an amplifier and speaker and I'm using my phone for the sound. Works well, but I have to have cell service to get YouTube app to work and that's where I'm getting a couple Johnny Stewarts. They flat out work!
-- Edited by gt69 on Monday 31st of August 2020 08:14:52 PM
Thanks for the reports. Always good to hear about guys having fun shooting crows.
Wind is critical for us when deciding where to set up. Get up wind of them, let the call do its job and they'll do what Bob said. They can see, hear and fly, but they can't smell. Use the wind to your advantage, similar to duck hunting. Or you'll pay the price. I know I have.
Like Demi said, the higher the wind the narrower call coverage.
Keep an eye on that dump, especially when they start to migrate through. You might have fresh crows every day. If many winter in the area, it might produce some good hunting. Keep after 'em.
Depends on the dump, most dumps these days have transfer stations where the birds can't get at the garbage. Other operations cover the garbage with dirt with a bulldozer so the trash does not blow all over the place. It's getting harder to find a dump AKA landfill that operates like the ones of yesteryear of say 30 to 40 years ago.
Our landfill is pretty active. Decent sized town of approx 10k and they accept garbage from several surrounding areas. It hold tons of birds of every kind. Mainly seagulls, crows, ravens, eagles- golden and bald, occasional hawk.
One time while scouting some water near the landfill for ducks I bumped about 20 eagles out of a large pine tree. What a sight! Again, mix of goldens and bald. Amazing how large a golden eagle is, they make bald eagles look small.
Ordered my foxpro this morning. Sprung for the signature boba crow package. Looking forward to putting it to use!
One area I use occasionally had this huge Golden eagle pass through during migration apparently moving as food sources dried up and kept the crows at the end of the field harassing it...and man oh man did they ever! This s state only has a few probably summering near the Canadian border. That day as I was rolling down the highway it came above the highway apparently highway hunting and I was totally amazed even though they were a common sight in the mountain states...when I was out there....it was low and looked as big as a low flying B-52!! It was apparently an immature Eagle as initially at a distance resembled a red tailed hawk....
