We got a couple hunts in last week. Our first was 10 Jan. A nice day with the wind light and variable. Temps slightly below freezing in the morning, but they rose to near 50. They came in nicely, despite the lack of wind and we ended the day with 143. We had hoped to hunt the next afternoon, but the conditions dictated otherwise. We did hunt for a couple hours the next morning and got 14 before heading home.
It wasn't as pleasant on 14 Jan. Temperature wasn't bad, upper teens to near 30, but we fought a raw SSE breeze at 15-20 with higher gusts. The wind kept a lot of them on the deck, but we had some challenging shots as well. We quit mid-afternoon with 123.
Got a couple of pictures of the last hunt. We were using the Tanglefree solo blinds on a nearly bare fence row. We wrapped them with grass mats to get the height needed for good concealment. The blind is in the second photo.
Randy
-- Edited by Granite Jaw on Thursday 19th of January 2023 01:20:24 AM
Mr. Randy, that’s some pretty work knocking out triple digits. I see how the grasses makes your hide disappear even against an open fence row. What was the attraction that first brought the crows in, was it calling? Did they want into the stubble? No decoys? I’ll admit I’m envious. A good day for me in my area would be a body count in the teens and still I'm hooked in a big way. Waterfowl bag limits allow for a couple of shots and I can carry enough shot shells in my pocket. For crow hunting I'll carry a couple or three boxes of shells. I'm amazed knowing that some of you good crow hunters carry cases of shot shells. My buddies have said they believe I'd rather hunt crows than ducks or geese. Thats probably because there's more shooting. I get excited whether a crow helicopters down with a death moan or lawn darts with a thud. I'd need a sedative if I shot anywhere close to a hundred crows in one outing. I'd have a smile so tight I couldn't blink. Keep up the good work. This morning I'm headed off for a goose hunt. Light rain, set out a hundred decoys, do some calling, here they come, one shot, one kill and pick up and go home. Not the same as having 4 or 5 angry crows circling overhead and waiting for one of them to come just a little closer.
Those crows were coming out to feed. We shot them on the way out, then called them off the feeding grounds about a half mile away. The stiff breeze kept the call pretty directional, but we did get surprised from behind now and then.
This was a setup where a few decoys on the ground may have helped early, but I had a sentry on an extension pole up wind of us, (not in the picture). We were pretty sure there'd be decoys on the ground soon enough.
I like hearing the thud as well and was especially tickled when thy bounced about a foot off that frozen ground.
Triple digits aren't the norm for us. As has been said numerous times on this forum, the number of crows in the area dictates how many you can get. There's nothing wrong with a handful of hard-earned crows. (I'm paraphrasing an experienced hunter who frequents this forum. Goes by Big Honkers). Keep after 'em.
22 Jan. was foggy, temps in the mid 20's and nearly calm in the AM. We had soft shooting as the fog kept even the early ones low. As the fog lifted, we'd get still surprised by some, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Mostly groups of less than five and we wreaked havoc on them. We ended with 81.
Got a couple of pictures of God's country when the visibility improved.
2 Feb. was a nice day to be after 'em. 20's in the morning and 30's after noon. Breeze went from SW to NW during the day, which worked well for us. The crows were wary, and the shooting varied from tough to gravy. We ended up with 112.
We were looking forward to an afternoon shoot the next day. We'd scouted it two days prior and had an excellent ambush planned on the flyway. The wind was perfect and although the temp was to go from zero to twenty, a guy doesn't notice the chill if the action is good. The crows never showed up and we packed up with 23.
I took some pictures on the 2 Feb. hunt. 6-8 are of a well placed "decoy", with the blind in the foreground. The last is one I took while scouting for our next hunt.
10 Feb. the conditions were right for the golf course hunt. The day dawned clear and chilly at 11 degrees, with a WNW breeze at 10-12 mph. By noon the temperature was in the mid-20's but felt nice on the south side of a tree line, in the sun. Sunshades were a necessity.
The first one down was for you Paul .
We had good action for more than an hour and shooting was pretty steady until around noon. Things picked up around 3:30. The main afternoon flight was further to the east than ideal, but with the wind in our favor, us now in the shade and the crows coming into the sun, we had some nice shooting. There were several waves that came over high from the SW. A good number folded their wings back, diving and shrieking in out of the stratosphere.
For the most part, they cooperated quit well all day, with only a few warily skirting us. Our final tally was 130.
Mid- February weather didn't allow us many opportunities for good hunts. We still hoped to get a couple good shoots in before they started to thin out, but it never happened. We spent the last week of Feb. and into March hunting half days, battling wary crows and dwindling numbers.
Overall, the crows were much more cooperative than they'd been last season. Less pressure? I don't know. I do know they tried to make up for it in the last couple of weeks. Ignore was the word of the day.
