Our first outing was on Tue. 8 Nov. A warm windy day that was predicted to be cloudy, but ended up mostly sunny. We ended up with 52, and were quite pleased with that number. It was good to be out again, shaking off the rust, making sure the tools worked properly and re-familiarizing myself with the call remote.
We were amused by several red tails that raided the kill zone, especially one, who while in the process of dispatching a hopper about a hundred yards out, had to fend of a crow who landed beside him to defend his winged buddy.
We did a distance check on the Super Snow Crow Pro during a lull. Over a low hill and through a small town, with the aid of a twenty mph wind, I could hear her at 1.85 miles. I measured the distance on the map that night. We had a speaker aimed directly down wind about twenty feet up, on maximum volume.
Before I got a picture the guy who works the ground made a pass through the kill zone with an anhydrous applicator. He stopped, but we waved him on through. If I'd have been thinking I would've got one as he entered it.
We're looking forward to enjoyable crow hunting. Randy
Yes, the first outing is always a systems / equipment check. Our first outing Dale forgot his battery for his caller so good thing I brought mine with also for a backup. 1.85 miles is a long ways off, but the wind does carry the sound. We've got a sporting clay facility a few miles north of me & you can only hear guns firing when we have a brisk north wind. The hawk's are a joy to watch, I've seen a few crow & decoy attacks by the hawks. We were on an evening flyway shoot a couple weeks ago and had a hoot owl join in and it landed in a huge tree & gave out occasional hoots to help with the calling. Glad to hear you had a good first outing. Paul.
Here's some hunt results for the last couple weeks.
The day before Thanksgiving we got 62 on an afternoon hunt in nice weather. A light breeze and cooperating crows made for some soft shooting.
29 November: With the temperature rising to near 50 and a 15-20mph WNW wind we downed 125. For the most part they came right in.
30 November: Warm again, but the wind was forecast to be 20 plus out of the south with gusts over 30mph. A front was to come through around 8PM, with the wind switching WNW with gusts over 40mph. Well after dark. The forecast was wrong. Just a stiff breeze out of the SSW to start the day. Highlight of the morning was I got two with one shot, a first for me. We re-located for the afternoon, the wind was holding, so we set up accordingly. The shooting picked up as the crows started filtering into the staging area. At about 3:30 the wind began to pick up and by 4:00 the front came through. About 4 hours earlier than forecast. NNW now and 40mph gusts may have been an understatement. We spent as much time holding our blind down as shooting. The crows had a tailwind now and those that hooked back in needed only a tip of a wing to be gone. Made for some difficult shooting. 111 hard earned kills and two surly hunters after that day.
6 December: 50 plus degrees and nearly calm on this fine day. Too bad we didn't have a little more wind. 76 was the final tally.
Pearl Harbor Day: Carbon copy of the day before. Ran into the wariest crows of the season, but still had some good shooting. I got thumped pretty good on the shoulder with one and returned the favor a bit later. That was fodder for a good laugh. Shot till dark and ended with 85.
Some pictures below. The fifth is of one of our blind set ups. Dark spot is a sun shade.
I have heard the call down wind while scouting and my partner is in the blind. I heard it one mile away but the question remains......... do the crows want to go out of their way "that far" to come to you ?
No shortage of cover where you're shooting randy. Glad you're getting some good shooting. I've never been hit by a falling bandit but I could have caught a few. Paul.
I have heard the call down wind while scouting and my partner is in the blind. I heard it one mile away but the question remains......... do the crows want to go out of their way "that far" to come to you ?
Bob,
I'd guess a lot depends if they're on a mission. We've watched them turn and come in on a string from that far, but I'd hate to bank on it.
Just me, but if we can't get upwind and inside a half mile we wait until we can.
No shortage of cover where you're shooting randy. Glad you're getting some good shooting. I've never been hit by a falling bandit but I could have caught a few. Paul.
Paul,
Most of our latest hunts have been on river bottoms. We walked into one spot that two years ago was covered with water. Lots of willows, scrub brush, weeds and grass. Not, however, conducive to kill zone photos.
76 was the final tally.
