GreenDrake

To go or not to go in the morning.....its going to be quite chilly....but the crows will be hungry!!!

I have called them in. They are pretty easily distinguishable, especially if vocal. There are very few ravens in my main area. Where I hunt deer in the NZ there is a large family of Ravens. They drive us nuts. The noises they make range from eerie to comical.

They are a pitiful group. It is sad to see what our country's politics has come to. We are the laughing stock of the world right now. And you wonder why some countries do not want a “democracy”?

Got out late this morning. Too much snow for usual areas. Sat in a corn bunker. Killed 15 crows using mouth calls and no decoys. Got 23 pigeons. Could have shot more pigeons but I was working crows and didn’t want to scare them off.

Beautiful morning. Hunted solo. Killed 18. Not a lot of birds flying this morning but many that came in did so nice and low. Even managed a couple doubles. I love when 2-3 come in and not a whole bunch at once.

I own several vintage Lord Elgin, Hamilton, Benrus snd similar watches. Can get some beauties for under $300. They are usually 21 jewel wind up watches but keep incredible time.

I just got back from a quick crow hunt by a corn bunker. Killed 6 and 5 pigeons. Ill take half as many good dekes as crappy ones. flocked made a difference to me. But you have to have a good number of birds in the area to make it worthwhile. Otherwise you will shoot a couple residents and its all over.

5. Try to set up where there is not high trees. You want them in range when they come in. I try to find brushy stuff aside a pasture or crop field. 6. I use the Bob Arohnson crow call pack from FoxPro on my Shockwave. I also had a friend convert the Johnny Stewart Crow calls to MP3 for my FoxPro. 7. Use softest come here calls in the morning. Once the birds are less numerous, I switch to distress calls. 8. I use 1 1/8 oz. 1300+ FPS loads. they make a big difference. 9. Try to find 3 or 4 different feeding flocks so you can rotate week to week. I currently have 6 areas. I NEVER hunt the same place less than 3 weeks apart. 10. If you find their evening flight paths, you can set up and get a good stream of birds for a couple hours if you are lucky. WARNING: It is ADDICTIVE. I find myself waiting for deer season to end so I can hunt crows. CONCEALMENT CONCEALMENT CONCEALMENT A good shoot for me is 25-30 birds on a solo hunt. I am usually done by 8:30 as the birds are then disbursed and no more coming in.

I am by no means an expert but I have been seriously hunting crows for about 10 years now. I have learned by trial and error and by reading every article, book and watching as many videos as possible. Those by Bob Arohnson are the best. What I have learned is as follows: 1. FInd the birds. I spent hundreds of hours driving the county looking for big numbers of birds. Do it at first light and see where they are feeding. I am fortunate enough to live near a major roost and flyway. The best shooting is at first light when they are heading our to feed. 2. I set up where I expect the birds to be flying over on their way to feed, even if it is not in the particular field they may choose that morning. 3. I use a dozen flocked decoys on the ground, and no less than 6 in the trees around me. I put one on an extension pole as high as I can get it. MAKE SURE the decoys are visible. I use the scrawniest trees so they stand out. 4. CONCEALMENT. Blend is as best you can. They WILL see you. 5

Nephew was late this morning so we started setting up as most of the birds had flocked. 30 minutes make a huge difference. We managed 18 crows. Unfortunately the first group all all came to the call at once. It was fun to see and hear but horrible for hunting. Went for pigeons before the snow hit snd killed a dozen.

Chilly morning. Heading out now with my nephew for the first hunt in a couple weeks. Found a field where they have been injecting manure this week and there was probably 1000 crows in it last evening. Hopefully they head back out there this morning before the snow starts.

Love those old Federal 16s. Im a 16 gauge freak. I have 5 sweet 16s...1 standard 16...1 sxs....1 Stevens pump...2grade VII Citoris..1 savage 720. My dad was a 16 gauge nut so Its in my blood. I have several boxes of shells from the 40s in brand new condition. Beautiful boxes back then

I do best in mornings. However I found 2 big afternoon flyways and afternoon gathering areas where they go before their final flight to the roost some 5 miles away. We are going to try those 2 areas this weekend in the afternoon. If you get into those areas you can have a couple hours of constant shooting as not all the birds are coming at once. I stay about a half mile from the actual flyway to try not yo disturb it too much.

I do not eat them. It is purely pest control and sport. They do considerable crop damage this time of year especially on the sprouting wheat fields without snow cover. The farmers welcome me to shoot as many as I can. Though we can never kill enough to prevent damage, shooting them over growing crop fields usually means they will not feed over that same field for weeks. They will then usually feed in cut corn where they are not damaging anything.

Much of it depends on the mannequins used. There is a company put of Ohio that makes incredible ones. I requested them on the last 3 mounts. They are INCREDIBLE. The definition in the neck muscles and face is amazing. I may get an older mount re-mounted on that mannequin. If I can get the name of them I will post it.