Not many crows for a couple of shoots, but a lot of fun nonetheless.
GUN: Remington 870 / 36 oz. trigger / 34" Hastings Wadlock barrel / 6" extended choke tube - .675 / Tru Glo Red Dot sight
LOAD: 12 ga. / 1 1/8 oz. / magnum #2 lead / buffered / exactly 100 pellets per load / 1,500 fps.
Gun and load are specialized specifically for shooting crows at Long-Range!
We don't have a lot of crows around my place, and it's getting to where places to hunt or shoot are few and far between! I might get a crow a week, or two if I'm really lucky...
High powered rifles, .22's or handguns are not allowed around here, and so far, shotguns are still legal.
So, I set out several years ago to find a gun and load that would allow me to be able to stretch it to near maximum shooting distance, and I am quite pleased with the results.
My shooting stations for crows allow for shots be taken from 90 to 100 yards, give or take 3 yards. My gun is sighted in at 95 yards, and like the crows pictured here, they average 3 hits each with those magnum lead #2 pellets, and of course hits are complete pass through, and a wounded bird is very rare.
All shooting is from a camouflaged blind, shooting off of a table with sandbags.
I usually put out a loaf of bread or a bucket of corn to lure them in and hold them where I want, and then I just have to be able to slip to and in my blind and get set up for a shot without them seeing me...
91 yard kill
92 yard kill
95 yard kill
96 yard kill
96 yard kill / 98 yard kill
94 yard kill
62 yard kill
All kills are measured from the guns muzzle to to the crow, so distance is exact!
Post was edited to show exact kill range of each crow shot...
-- Edited by Assassin on Wednesday 6th of September 2023 05:02:14 PM
When I was shooting a bead, I had to aim 3 feet over the top of them for a kill.
When shooting my crow "target" at 100 yards, I sighted the red dot in at that distance, so I no longer have to guess at the hold over.
I have yet to kill 2 at a time at long range, but I will be trying a little harder this year, IF I can ever get two that are close enough together for a good kill shot.
You have me hooked when posting about long range shotgunning! As a competitive sporting clays (and FITASC) shooter, I love the long shots...but mostly on moving clay targets. Shooting at a big event in Turkey this past July, there were several targets that were 85-100+ yards away. It is a real rush to shoot, then see the target break after a considerable pause.
The longest shot i've made on a flying crow was a laser-measured 95 yards (with 2 witnesses!). That was with 1 1/8 0z. # 6's. But admittedly it was a fluke and on my 3rd shot.
You are right that you need to be holding well above the target, lobbing the lead in as the do with mortars!
Keep the killing and posts coming!
Demi
__________________
The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
I use to shoot Sporting Clays back in mid 80's to mid 90's and loved every minute of it!
Shooting crows at long range is a lot of fun, and I had to go through a LOT of guns, barrels and chokes to find the right combination that would shoot my loads, to even make it possible to kill a crow at long range, and be able to do it on a consistent basis...
I'll definitely be posting my kills this Fall / Winter when our crow season opens.
Thank you for your interest in this.
And congratulations on your 95 yard kill! Excellent shooting. 👍
there are exactly 100 pellets in a 1 1/8 oz. load of #2 magnum lead shot, and you are right, it is a pretty sparse load!
I had gone through over 50 guns, well over 100 different barrels and hundreds of choke tubes before a found the right combination that would throw consistent patterns out to 80+ yards...
My crow "target" was a 10" long piece of 2X4 painted black, and if I could consistently put 3-5 pellets in it at 90 yards, I knew that I had a gun and load that would do exactly what I wanted it to do at long range on crows.
My crow "target" -
4 #2 magnum lead pellets @ 90 yards!
Being able to this on a fairly regular basis is why I am able to consistently kill crows out to around 90 yards.
My average greatly increased once I installed the red dot sight, and was able to keep the most pellets in a smaller area.
Put a little Bondo in the holes, repaint it, and my target is ready for another shot...
Keep after 'em.
