We got some more hunts in during mid- Jan. On the 14th we had a favorable WNW wind that started out light and increased to 10-12 mph. Temperature was slightly above freezing most of the day. Shortly after we got started we had light rain that turned to ice pellets and finally to a wet snow. They came in one, two and three at a time providing us as soft of shots as we’d had in some time. Wouldn’t call them green, but they were close. Although I thought the numbers we worked on were the same, it was slow compared to a shoot here last Nov. We called it a day with 54 down.
One thing we learned. If you set up under power lines in the rain, the drops that fall from them are very large. The wet snow that hits them melts quickly, those drops are large as well. It took me three days to get stuff dried out.
On 20 Jan. we hoped to ambush an inbound bunch near their staging area. The wind was forecast to be from the right direction, but the weather man kept increasing the speed. We nearly pulled the plug that morning when it was howling out of the SW at 25-30 with gusts to 40. Temperature was mid 30’s. We determined we could get out of the wind, behind a stand of timber, and the incoming crows would stay down as well. We’d have no problem with the flight from the NE, but if the main staging area shifted west we’d have trouble getting the NW flight to hear us. Another deciding factor we thought of was accessibility. We’d be a half mile from the road. One snowstorm and driving to this spot would be out of the question.
The first crow came in and hit the ground at 2:13 and we had steady shooting the rest of the day. Crows from the north and east stayed low out of the wind, crows from the west streaked by, then banked in out of the wind and fluffed in. They were mostly in twos and threes until late, when we’d get groups of 20-30+. For the most part it was soft shooting, but every now and then we’d get one that’d stay up a bit and grab some wind with a tip of the wing. Number 90 hit the ground at about 5:00 and they were gone.
23 Jan. started out a couple degrees below zero with a light ESE breeze that increased to 10-15. It was clear, but turned overcast and the temperature rose to the mid-teens. We had all the makings of a good hunt. Favorable wind, a good number of crows and a good place to get at them. However, the crows decided differently. Most of them were wary or just plain indifferent. The ones that did come in provided us with nice shots, but it was painfully slow. Especially in comparison with the numbers that were present. It had started to snow when we packed up and headed for home with 33 tallied.
I’d of bet money these crows hadn’t been hunted in at least two months. Maybe they were part of the bunch that had been ambushed three days earlier?
We’ve had a relatively mild winter thus far and although we have snow cover, they seem awfully spread out. It’ll be interesting to see what the rest of the winter brings.
Here’s some pictures from before we started the second hunt.
