We had a difficult fall and it led to a slow start on the crows. We managed to get out once at the end of Oct. and battled wary crows. The wind was right but they wouldn't decoy and the shooting was tough. We called it quits with 30, but it was good to be after 'em again. A couple weeks later we got out again for the morning and tallied 40. The biggest share were wary as heck, but the ones that came in, did so nicely. Much easier shooting and we were getting the rust knocked off. We hunted several more times at the end of Nov. and I'll post those reports soon. Good hunting to all.
Randy
I've included some pictures I took looking around.
Dang Randy! Just looking at those pictures got my juices flowing! I've been stuck working extra hours due to selling my business, so crow hunts have been put on the back burner for awhile. Keep the reports coming so I can at least get a little satisfaction from the efforts of others!
Demi
__________________
The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
Two days before Thanksgiving we set up for an afternoon shoot, up-wind of a staging area, hoping these crows hadn't been shot. Temperature was near 60, one of the warmest days we've ever shot crows. Wind was S 15-25 and it was mostly clear. Forecast had said SE, so we had less room for error.
We started calling at 1:30 and the 96th and last crow in, hit the ground at 4:30. We had flurries of fast and furious action, with barely enough time to keep loaded. We each had two guns and it was a good thing. A few minutes pause was welcome so a guy could catch his breath.
An hour or so in we figured out the staging area and main flight had shifted a quarter to half mile west. With the strong wind we had to put the Snow Pro Crow to work. Although things weren't perfect, these crows acted like they'd never heard a call or been shot at. Very few difficult shots. A reprieve from earlier hunts and one we'd have three days later. Eight in the first hour, got one more and was home working before noon.
Randy
Here's a couple photos looking north, where a lot of them came from.
Randy, having a welcomed break to catch your breath ?? I don't know what that's like. At least not this season. LoL. Sounds like a good time. Did you use the 360 blind ? Any modifications ? Paul.
Randy, having a welcomed break to catch your breath ?? I don't know what that's like. At least not this season. LoL. Sounds like a good time. Did you use the 360 blind ? Any modifications ? Paul.
Paul,
We were out of the wind and as warm as it was I was in shirtsleeves. Still started working up a sweat.
We didn't use the 360's that day. We have several mats of switchgrass that are about 6ft. tall. They roll up nice for transport and we just wrap them around the 360's for extra height.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving we headed out on a little trip. The plan was to scout Sunday and hunt Monday and at least Tuesday morning. We located our Mon. AM hunt and did some looking around for our Tue. hunt. Mid-afternoon it was time to check out a known staging area for Monday PM. To our surprise and disappointment, no crows. Plans would have to change. About a mile south of us a good stream was headed SE. The staging area was now about four miles south, within a 1/2 mile of where we had already set up for our morning shoot. If the wind forecast held, we'd be there all day.
We decided we would give up an hour or so of shooting Monday morning to scout and get a better handle on where we needed to be Tuesday.
The morning flight was slowing to a trickle by the time we were ready to go at a little after eight. They came in nicely and we had 29 at a little before eleven. We then took a break and trekked north about a dozen miles and built blinds for Tuesday's hunt. We were back and ready to go again by 1:00.
Our shooting resumed at about the same pace, but was picking up by 2:30. The wind was to start switching from SW to NW by early afternoon, which would have been ideal for us. It never really got to NW so some of our shots were more difficult than they needed to be. By 3:00 we were experiencing flurries of frenzied shooting. It was over at 4:35 and we had 123 down.
As we were packing up coyotes lit up the timber to the SW. We toyed with the idea of trying to call one in, but decided to let them enjoy crow for supper.
Late in the hunt related in the previous post, I locked onto a crow attempting to escape through the trees where our sentry decoy was located. I swung through him and squeezed the trigger. All I heard was the whack of plastic hitting limbs, as the sentry was sent spiraling in a high arc into the brush and pucky weeds. My first thought was of the call speaker and my next was if I'd be able to find my modified sentry. (I'd cut off his stake and notched the hole so he fit perfectly on the extension pole. Unable to come off unless turned just right).
Targets were escaping as I cussed under my breath, but my partner was laughing hysterically. The action was pretty frantic at the time, so it was a few minutes before I got a chance to search for him in the waning light. Luckily I found him, full of holes and cracked, but serviceable. Whew.
There were several pellet holes in the top extension of the pole and the speaker was unscathed.
Tuesday promised to be a nice day, partly cloudy with the air out of the WNW at 5. Temperature rising into the 50's from a predawn low of 30. Although we'd built or blinds the day before, we had a 1/4 mile hike in front of us and needed to be ready to shoot as soon as we could see.
At 6:40 we heard crows. The first several groups stayed high, gave us a circle and moved on, pretty typical. What gave us concern was when they started heading in on a string, then pulled up at about 100 yds. and swung around us. It was after 7:00 and we only had one down.
Slowly but surely they started to cooperate and by a little after eight we were getting steady shooting. Crows were coming from several directions now, providing a variety of shots. My partner had shot really well the day before and continued his fine shooting on this day. We don't keep close track of percentages, but we had 34 down and he hadn't missed. We take turns and I'd missed several, so he had to have gotten roughly 20 in a row.
Number 100 hit the ground just shy of noon and shortly after that things slowed considerably. By 2:00 the action picked up with groups filtering back into the area. By 3:00 we started to get high flyers from the west as well. Many of them stayed up, but a good number plummeted in. This continued til nearly 4:30 and we called it a day with 154 on the clicker.
Got some pictures of a beautiful day in God's country.
Randy
-- Edited by Granite Jaw on Friday 10th of December 2021 03:41:14 AM
The action was pretty frantic at the time, so it was a few minutes before I got a chance to search for him in the waning light. Luckily I found him, full of holes and cracked, but serviceable. Whew.
There were several pellet holes in the top extension of the pole and the speaker was unscathed.
Randy
Randy,
It just happens that way, sometimes! Similar to your story, years ago we were hunting a pecan orchard for the first time and the blind was set up in front of a utility pole powering a water well station. After a big hunt (158 crows, if memory serves), we noticed that someone had centered a pattern onto the electrical transformer on that pole! Still don't know who did it, but the shot did not penetrate the casing, although the transformer had to be replaced not too long after the hunt.
Demi
__________________
The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
