So, got a call from a land owner who has a nice stand of pecans and also does a little farming. He plants about a 1,000 acres and his place I have named the Oasis. It sits down in the hills and is a major attraction due to the food source there. I did not get to hunt it last year due to deer hunters not wanting to be disturbed but this year is a different story. As I mention he called me on Tuesday and asked why I haven't been out to shoot some of these "damn crows". I had already been stalking his place watching and wishing and with his invitation Colt and myself promptly obliged him and hit them this morning.
As with almost anything there where some restrictions on where we could and couldn’t hunt and as you can guess, we couldn’t get the the perfect spot. Even though we couldn't get the "spot" we still had a pretty good shoot with 110 hitting the dirt. Colt had 55 on his clicker and I had 55 on mine. I clipped the first 26 of mine with my browning 28 gauge (picture below) and then had to transition to the 12 as the birds wised up. Colt had 3 doubles with one of them almost being a triple.
I did get some footage of this hunt but haven't even had a chance to look through it to see if i can make a video, kinda doubt it since i didn't pay much attention to the filming this go around.
Also, I just nearly got my first Scotch double winging the second bird and having to follow up with another shot. Does that count?
Bob, the new blind worked pretty well and worked exceptionally well for someone Colt's height. I even had it doctored up with the signature cedar tree limps patented by yourself.
I bet it will be like riding a bike with the 20 gauge and I know the gun knows exactly what to do. As long as they are soft I can have a pretty good time with the 28.
Colt does shoot lefty which works out pretty well with me being right handed, we got it all covered. He turns 14 on the 10th of this month.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
When I start the season that gun will kill my 170,000th crow in 48 crow seasons. That is the same gun I shot my 100,000th crow with in 2000 or 2001.
I shot my 50,000th crow in Kansas, my 75,000th crow in Iowa, my 100,000th crow in Oklahoma, my 125,000th crow in Indiana and my 150,000th crow in Illinois.
Boyd Robeson my crow hunting mentor was the one who showed me about the cedar bows for concealment.
Good job guys. I'm guessing these are locals this early? I know 28ga. shells aren't cheap, but how's the availability? What's the story on the primer-less shell?
Thanks for the report and nice photos. Always nice to hear of a fun shoot this early. Keep after 'em.
You'd be guessing right Randy, all locals from 30/40 mile radius I would guess and that is the reason I have named it the Oasis.
On the 28ga. no they are not cheap, about $10.50 a box at Wal-Mart and I have Mr. Walton to thank for that as he shot quail with a 28 and hence the reason all Wal-Mart's carry 28ga shells. I bought that thing midseason last year and let anyone know that might be getting me a gift for the holidays, that I would prefer 28ga shells. This lead to a pretty good hoard of them plus the ones I have picked up over the year.
The shell with no primer; the primary reason it is noteworthy is because it cost Colt his 50th crow at a time in the hunt where it was beginning to look like he would not get to 50. This very lucky crow comes gliding in, straight on and at 20 yards colt levels off on him and CLICK! no BOOM? After a few seconds of me laughing at Colt and how damn lucky that crow was I began investigating and found a shell with no primer.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
Back in 1989 a friend of mine from Hernando Mississippi and I had a shoot where he used a 28 gauge and I used a 20 gauge on a flyway shoot. When I picked the spot he had some reservations about my judgment. We shot 460 odd crows that afternoon, even the county Sheriff parked his curser to watch the show ! When we were picking up Bob Cook said to me "I will never question you again" true story. I met Bob Cook in a goose pit in Argentina two years prior and he asked me over the phone "is your offer still good ?" I said sure is come on a head my friend.
On another hunt we bombed out in the morning but had a good shoot that afternoon about 3 blocks from our motel! He said we drive all over the countryside only to have a good shoot almost from our motel room ! I will never forget that.
Looks like your new blind is already paying dividends! And as for your comment of 110 crows hitting the dirt, IMO there is no better sound than the THUD a crow makes when he hits the ground!!
Although no primer-less shells, I have found more shell problems in the past year than since I started competitive shooting almost 20 years ago. Deformed hulls, bad primers, bent brass, primers set too low, bad crimps, etc. Guess they are symptoms of ammo factories running full blast since the shortage.
Keep up the posts...love to see success stories!
Demi
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Demi, I have had bad lots of ammo in past years where the primers were seated to low in the hull, sometimes as many as 3 to 4 miss fires per box. My bad experience came from mainly the Remington Gun Club loads. Once in a great while with Federal but not for the same reason. The firing pin hits the primer and the shell will not go off. Hard primers I suspect.
Demi, the new blind is a definitely working out good so far. Also I have to agree with you on the THUD.
Colt had a couple more misfires but I am not sure if it is the gun or the shells. We have had some problems with his Winchester since we bought it, sometimes the bolt doesn't close all the way and sometimes it closes and fires but doesn't set the primer off. I got to take it apart and check it out.
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"If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be wise enough to be crows." Thoreau.
