Here are a few photos of an outstanding field hunt a few days ago with my partner.
We figured this spot was good for a few hundred but were surprised to almost double that amount.
We were shooting all day long in that spot and Dick has not killed two crows with one shot in several years and on this shoot he got not one but three scotch doubles (two with one shot) that day!
My partner is trying out a new A-300 Beretta and has fired over 1,200 rounds through it so far with out cleaning it. My model 391 Urika's can go 2,000 rounds before you experience some malfunctions.
A guy tends to remember the good shoots over the beatings he takes over any given season.
Hi Bob, when you get a lot of dead birds on the ground around you do you ever gather any up while still shooting ? I ask because sometimes Dale & I seem to have birds flare off when we have a lot of birds on the ground, I occasionally get out of my blind and go gather some up, especially the ones that fall way out there. Did you and Dick keep shooting with the 500 plus on the ground ? Paul.
If there is a lull I will pick up the long falls down wind from our blind and move them in closer to the setup. I never gather any up while birds are still active and on the move.
Any group of crows that came through that section (a section is one mile by one mile) made it their business to investigate what was going on with all those dead crows on the ground.
All is good up here in Michigan. I wish it would get cold or it will hinder my crow travels.
I like the hunts where the dead birds can be easily seen on the ground. It makes a good photo opportunity.
You said you were going to be on safari for the next week but you have continued to post, did something go sideways on your trip? Hope not. Keep after the birds.
I agree with Bob. In general I leave the birds where they fall but I will pick up some longer downwind birds and toss them close to the blind or upwind.
I know it’s time to gather up some downwind birds when I notice birds are starting to slide off to the side farther out from the blind than they were earlier in the shoot.
Jason, I got on the internet at the motel I was staying at to check in and that is why you saw that post. I used their computer at the front desk. Dick cleaned his A-300 Beretta, I still have not cleaned my model 391 Beretta yet, just keep adding solvent to it and it works like an AK-47 ! Dick and I got back today from a very fine wild goose chase checking out a new territory that did not pan out.
You're season starts after deer season in NC which is January 1st?
You don't get many hunts like the one I posted about, everything has to be right; right location, birds strung out and not coming in big flocks, right weather conditions in regard to wind direction and velocity plus the crows cooperating.
Bob, I just got back from a day and a half scouting mission that was a total bust. You would call it a goose chase. I put over 800 miles on the truck & saw more hawk's than crows, until I followed up on that Hubbard road tip you mentioned two years back. Saw about 100 there but not worth pursuing.
teeny350, It's not so much the call as it is the location. The ( crows ) call from foxpro did us well in our orchard shoot. Foxpro has a crow rabbit sound that's in the coyote calls that some aren't aware of and can work on call shy crows. Johnny Stewart calls are considered the best but don't come on your 24c. Paul.
Bob, it was a two pronged attack. Paul went to spot A which we had decent enough intel on and I went to spot B which we also had decent intel on. Spot be was 640 miles round trip including the 100 or so miles I drove looking, begging to see a big number of crows. Pretty sure I seen more deer than crows, bad intel evidently.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
Bob, it was roughly 370 miles one way to my destination. Got there at 11.30 am and drove till 3.30 & called it quits. Got a motel & headed back home the next morning. I drove into 4 different states counting Oklahoma. Paul.
I have a question for you. I have been shooting crows for 50 years, and I have seen "2" albino crows in my life time. I mean they were solid white with pink eyes like what a tame white rabbit has. Have you ever killed an albino crow before, or know of anyone who has?
Assassin, I never saw or killed a pure albino crow but have killed roughly 30 odd Piebald crows over the decades of hunting them. I don't know of anyone who has killed a pure albino with pink eyes.
Randy, years ago when all my crow hunting was local a good shoot (anywhere from 175 to 250 crows) would hold me over for 3 or 4 days before I felt like going again. In those days I could pick the best days to hunt whereas I don't have that luxury now as all my hunting is out of state. I watch the extended forecast for where ever I'm headed and pick the best conditions before I go but it's still a crap shoot.
So how did you're season go? Average, above average or below average?
I used to get some shooting southeast of Newton Iowa back in the 1980's. Keokuk IA and Hamilton Illinois were my stomping grounds back in those days as well. Had much better shooting over in eastern Illinois back then. My old crow hunting mentor Boyd Robeson was from Sioux City Iowa originally.
The weather is always a crap shoot. That's one reason I'd say our season was a little above average. We had good conditions to hunt in most of the season.
From the number of crows I saw last fall I'd have guessed the shooting would have been better, but they seemed pretty educated from the get go. Our last hunt was likely last Monday, and it was as soft of shooting as we'd had all season. Go figure.
We'd hoped the migration north would be delayed a bit, but it warmed up and less than a week later they were gone.
