Not your typical crow hunting outings, but I have been bitten really hard by the long-range shotgun crow hunting/shooting. It definitely cuts back on the overall limit of birds killed, but when you intentionally and purposefully set up to kill crows out to 80 yards with a shotgun, at least for me, I get a great deal of satisfaction from it.
I got the idea of long-range crow shooting from the guys over in the UK, and I figured if they could do it, there was no reason why I couldn't.
I am picking up what you are putting down, Assassin. It is awesome to knock one down way out there and even better when you do it with regularity. But, I am unwilling to give up exploding one at close range also.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
Nice work and I share your passion on the Long Birds! This is another reason I enjoy crow hunting. I don't take extreme shots on other game birds (except doves), but if you take a long shot and wound a crow, being a pest, you are still helping the farmers and there is no remorse in loosing a bird.
Also great seeing that your wife has an interest in shooting and hunting. With 300+ yards kills, you need to keep on her good side!!
Demi
-- Edited by Island Shooter on Friday 16th of October 2020 05:23:38 PM
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Thank you Demi, but even if it is just a "crow", I am one who cannot just watch something hobble of fly off to die a slow lingering death, so, even for a crow, I make sure they are graveyard dead before leaving them in the fields for coyote food.
This was my wife's first time to ever shoot this rifle, and in fact, we were headed to the local rifle range when we started spotting crows in plowed up or corn stubble fields. Needless to say, I was highly impressed with her shooting ability.
Assassin, best medicine in my opinion for high crows is a good trap gun choked full. Further, high overhead passing shots are what you want. Good 1 1/4 ounce load of 6 or 7 1/2 shot will kill birds clean to quite impressive ranges. Most often they fold and take a while to hit terraferma, fly a bit and drop or spin Down like a cartwheel with wings locked.
Good luck with your long range endeavour 😉
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
My 34" Hastings Wadlock barrel does very well with my 1 1/8 oz. high velocity loads, so I believe I am going to stick with them.
No pictures from messed up camera on phone, but after the last kills posted above, I have killed 12 more crows, with the closest one being 79 yards and the furthest one laser ranged at 92 yards. 2 of the crows I had to run down and finish them off, the rest were dead when they hit the ground or died when they actually did hit the ground.
Got these 3 this weekend on the back of my property, about 2 to 3 hours apart from each other. We would hear them carrying on from the house, grab our guns, shells and range finder, and take off every time we heard them. After the third crow, it was dead quiet for the rest of the day.
I shot one out of the top of a pine tree at a ranged 89 yards. Another one out of a dead tree at a ranged 92 yards, and the third one at about 25 yards that just came out of no where and from behind where my wife and I were set up.
On rare occasions yes.
More often than not though, the crows pass between these trees, like a flight line, which is how I know how far away they are. That, and the fact I measured the distance with both a surveyors tape and my range finders.
So, if the crows are sitting in the tip top of these trees and won't come in when we call, I will shoot them out of the top of their look out post.
You have some persistent crows that keep coming back, unaware of the shotgun’s true range... I love it! You may even want to consider changing your profile name from Assassin to Crow Sniper 😉. Keep after them.
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
the bad part is that I can only get one crow at a time, and I guess the only good part is that I have learned a lot more about shotgun ballistics, with what can and cannot be done.
With new crows that migrate through, I might be able to call in a couple at a time, then it's over until those crows migrate out, and new crows come in for a little while before moving on.
So... since more often than not, I get only one shot, I have a specific load that allows me to be able to drop a crow out to around 90 yards, as long as I pay attention to the wind and hold over.
Kind of a specialized long range sport for crows - with a SHOTGUN, but shooting here around the house, I cannot and will not take a chance of shooting a high powered rifle, and have to worry about a high velocity bullet coming down no telling where, so for safety reasons, I use a shotgun with specialized loads that allow me to be able to kill crows at extended ranges, whether they are flying or sitting in the tip top of an old tree.
Needless to say, I am VERY jealous of the guys over here that can go out and shoot a couple hundred crows a day, even on a bad day!
I don't like being over choked for close birds so I use a improve modified most of the time. I carry a light mod too. Depends on the lay of the land. I would like to get more long-range practice.
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A SUPER 90 and a crow in range, life is good. A good sandwich and bag of M&Ms doesnt hurt either.
The choke tubes that I use, depend on my anticipated shooting distance.
With the guns and loads loads that I use for shooting crows at long range, out of the tops of pine trees, this is how I determine what my maximum shooting distance will be.
I will take a piece of 2X4 lumber, and cut it to a length of 9 inches.
I'll then take that piece of 2X4, and spray paint it black.
Then I'll drill a 3/8" hole centered in one end of the board about 3" deep, and insert a wood dowel into that hole. The dowel itself will be around 3 to 4 feet long.
I'll stick the dowel into the ground with the painted 2X4 on it, and put a piece of white poster paper behind it, so I can see the 2X4, which is relatively the size of an average crow around here.
My goal is to be able to consistently put 4 or more pellets in that 2X4 at varying distances.
At 60 yards, I average 15 to 20 pellets in my "crow target".
At 70 yards, I average 12 to 15 pellets in the target.
At 80 yards, I average 3 to 5 pellets in the target.
So, if I can get a good solid rest, and see the crows full body in the top of a tree, I can kill one a good 90% of the time at 80 to 85 yards, but I have to pay real close attention to the wind and allow for a proper hold over at that kind of distance. Otherwise, I'm just tinkling in the wind and further educating those crows.
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