During the Fall migration 10ga and I will keep callers running for 6 to 9 hours a day, this goes on for more than a week. This is possible because new crows in large groups will headed north to south almost all day. What digital e-callers are up to this task?
I can tell you what I went with and hopefully give you something to go off of.
(Deep breath) I have the Foxpro Krakatoa II with the external speaker and can raise the dead with it. The Krakatoa runs on a 24V system and comes with 2 12V, AA battery packs, which will run just the Krakatoa for a couple hours non stop on max volume. But with the external speaker attached your run time goes to an hour. So, I got a couple adapters made up with a couple feet of chord. I then bought a couple 12V batteries (not sure of the amp hour) but half the size of a 4 wheeler battery. With this get up I can call 8 hours and have another set of batteries for back up.
There is another set up Foxpro offers which is the Snow Crow Pro and it is made for doing what you are wanting to do, set and call all day in one spot. It actually comes with two speakers. The reason I didn't go with it is because I also run and gun and when I R&G I just leave the external speaker and run on the smaller battery packs.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
I can tell you what I went with and hopefully give you something to go off of.
(Deep breath) I have the Foxpro Krakatoa II with the external speaker and can raise the dead with it. The Krakatoa runs on a 24V system and comes with 2 12V, AA battery packs, which will run just the Krakatoa for a couple hours non stop on max volume. But with the external speaker attached your run time goes to an hour. So, I got a couple adapters made up with a couple feet of chord. I then bought a couple 12V batteries (not sure of the amp hour) but half the size of a 4 wheeler battery. With this get up I can call 8 hours and have another set of batteries for back up.
There is another set up Foxpro offers which is the Snow Crow Pro and it is made for doing what you are wanting to do, set and call all day in one spot. It actually comes with two speakers. The reason I didn't go with it is because I also run and gun and when I R&G I just leave the external speaker and run on the smaller battery packs.
Thanks Dale, I was looking on the Foxpro page later and saw they sell a cable that allows some models to be powered by an external 12 volt battery. I think you are talking about a 12V 4A or 5A alarm/emergency light battery and I don't doubt it would go 8 hours, thanks.
During the Fall migration 10ga and I will keep callers running for 6 to 9 hours a day, this goes on for more than a week. This is possible because new crows in large groups will headed north to south almost all day. What digital e-callers are up to this task?
NH,
I have experience with two Foxpro's. I have a Firestorm that runs on eight AA batteries. Running one on board speaker, it will last all day unless high volume is needed for most of the day. It's no big deal to replace the batteries.
I also have a SSCP. It runs on two 12v batteries. We ran them down once at the very end of on an all day hunt. We were fighting a stiff cross wind and were near maximum volume for a lot of the day. We run two speakers but it has the capability to run four. That would suck the life out of the batteries quicker.
Bottom line is both calls would be up to the task and the SSCP would be bringing them from a long ways.
Where significant numbers of birds are in the area ( both flyway and feeding ) what calls are you using from FOXPRO?
It takes a good 30 minutes + to walk in 1500 yds (no truck access) , setup the blind and decoys and begin calling.
Do I want to avoid fighting and distress calls?
I'm concerned with getting mobbed and "made" shutting down the set up for the rest of the day.
thanks in advance for any guidance!
Dave in Delaware
Hi Dave,
When a guy drags his stuff that far he certainly doesn't want the whole bunch to come in at once.
Up wind of feeding grounds we use Crows and Crows 2. Also Crow Gathering and Party. Hand call as well. Don't know if your call has the feature but I have Foxbang set to Dying Crow. The preset volume on Foxbang doesn't need to be very loud.
If I was working on one bunch of say, a hundred or so crows, an aggressive or fighting call would surely bring them all at once. Mad as heck and high. I'd get a couple shots and it'd be over. I have to resist ramping up the volume too quick. Usually, the day is going well if I don't get much over half volume until after noon .
I use more aggressive calls in the afternoon. If hunting an afternoon flyway, Foxbang gets disabled and fighting and distress sounds are used almost exclusively.
Without knowing your details, I'd start passive and end aggressive.
If there's thousands of crows moving through the area, disregard above and do something different.
Good hunting and keep us posted on how you come out.
I have a Foxpro Shockwave and do not recommend the AA batteries. Get the rechargeable battery. Maybe even two rechargeable batteries for a really long hunt. I do carry some AAs and the AA packs that came with the caller but try to avoid using them because they just don't last very long.
From what I've heard Mr. Tomlin was good at what he did, so you undoubtedly had some good hunts with him. Good enough to want to keep hunting the black devils. Heck, just find a bunch of crows and do what he did.
Jerry Tomlin was the crow version of "Dr. Doolittle"
I was always amazed at the "conversations" he had with treed up birds that he was able to seduce into the decoy spread.
E callers were akin to eating quiche in the world according to Tomlin!
My exposure to Jerry was as a member of a multi year crow hunting party assembled by a physician friend who had hunted with Jerry 25+ consecutive years throughout the South Georgia pecan plantations.
Jerry's scouting and pre-hunt preparations bordered on the obsessive. He spent hours the day prior to every hunt setting up a totally camouflaged blind and insisted on head to toe camo; including gloves and face masks.
If you didn't have them he carried extras.
We have hunted the south Georgia pecan groves the last several years post Tomlin's passing with Ben Houston; Ben knows how to "show a girl a good time" and put 50+ birds on the ground!
Shockwave and an older FX3. Couple sets of NiMH rechargeable batteries for each. Good for most of the day. Shockwave Tx 1000 remote Gord through batteries like crazy. Design flaw IMO
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
I have the FoxPro Shockwave with the Lithium rechargeable battery pack and it will easily last you an entire day or more of calling at full volume. To ensure I always have power I carry a spare rechargeable and even a package of AAs just in case.
