GreenDrake

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.

Found the mother load. 2 of my usuals had a couple thousand birds feeding this morning. Will hunt them with nephew this weekend. Hunted a spot this morning that has not been getting very many numbers passing through. Managed 10 in an hour. Hoping the weekend plays out well

An eCollar gps. She points so stiff I cannot hear her bell at all when she points in thick cover. She HATES it on her neck.

Happy birthday Wolc. See...we all love you here

Wife and I made this18 years ago from copper pipe and wire.

Having my uncle tell me the week before deer season that instead of selling me the property I have hunted and managed for 25 years and which he promised me every year...that he is putting a solar farm on the property.

None of the newer guns are worth anything. I bought 3 of the new Browning A5s last year...the Deluxe...Wicked Wings....and Stalker. I own over 25 of the original Auto 5s. All 3 are going back to Browning because they jam on every other shot. One now jams every shot. I ran every load through them with the same results. Extremely frustrating.

And same to you. I hope everyone takes this next few days, no matter your faith, and enjoy the peace of heart only this season brings. The music is all around you....all you have to do is listen!!

Usually just put them in a pile out of the way. Coyotes and other critters eat them up pretty quickly

Killed 12 crows this morning. Only saw about 20. Was not in the morning flyway. The new flapping decoys worked well.

First hunt. Killed 12. Very few birds in the area I hunted. Can’t find where the big flocks are going out to feed in the mornings. They have been bouncing around. Ive been scouting the mornings before work and just can’t find them. They will hopefully start hitting the usual areas. Off with nephew to shoot some pigeons.

Now that deer hunting is closed anyone going to get out and target the black bandits? I have been scouting my usual areas and it looks good. Thousands of birds have been staging behind my office every night before going to roost. Going to hit them hard in the mornings and then get on the pigeons after they stop flying. We are just shy of 800 pigeons since July and want to break 1000 before the end of the tear. We can probably get out 3 or 4 times before then. Our crow goal is 350 this winter. We shall see.

Holy DoeZilla……. Biggest I killed weighed 168 dressed. She was a horse. Of course it fell down a deep ravine of extremely thick stuff. I had to use my leather belt to drag her and it broke on me. Several stops for the dry heaves....and eating snow to quench my thirst....I finally got her out.

The Benoits hunt(ed) Ontario annually and shot some pretty big deer. I have considered it myself. I kind of like looking for the "sleeper" areas myself and hopefully you will be rewarded.

First winter pigeon shoot. Nephew and I killed 44 pigeons and 3 crows. Will fire up the foxpro as soon as deer is closed and get on the crows big time!!!

Ohhh....and my smartass wife offered to make him neck "gauges" from the ends of the brass of some of my spent casings. He got a good laugh out of that.