Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to Hunter World. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Crow shooting USA; By T R Hendrick
Topic Started: 16th September 2006 - 11:55 PM (158 Views)
photopro
Member Avatar

Admin
This is an article I found on a US site, which is quite interesting.

Counting Crows

These 'Bandits of the Sky" Are The Perfect Tune-Up For The Wingshooter

By T R Hendrick

The electronic caller came to life with the sound of a great horned owl hooting, a sound that was quickly drowned out by the recorded voices of some very irate crows. In a matter of seconds, three black bandits were dive bombing my owl decoy. Jim Miller bounced up from his seat in the blind and folded the closest bird while I proceeded to blow my 25-yard shot, following it with an instant replay on the other escaping crow. Tom Frew directed Luke to fetch, and the well-trained yellow Lab made the retrieve on the dead crow easily, giving me a dirty look as she trotted past with her prize.
Crows can be a fantastic off-season tune-up for man and dog alike, especially considering the liberal seasons and lack of a bag limit in most states. Crow hunting does a great job of simulating waterfowling for your dog. In many ways, it can be much tougher; unlike a duck blind, a crow blind is usually built in much thicker cover, so a dog has to learn to be steady and to mark extremely well.
Hunting crows is almost as easy as buying a crow call, but to get good at it you have to pay attention to many details. Crows will respond well to hand calls, but you will have to blow yourself dizzy to achieve consistent success. If you want to shoot crows in any numbers, bite the bullet and buy an electronic call, which are legal in many states; consult your regulations. There are many good ones on the market; you can find electronic callers in almost all outdoor supply catalogs.
I like to use about a dozen crow decoys when I'm setting up in a permanent location. I have some of the old Styrofoam types and some Flambeau plastics. Both types have a loop in the middle of the back, where I tie about 50 feet of light baling twine. I wrap the twine around the body of the decoy, similar to wrapping a duck decoy. When I'm ready to place the decoy in the trees, I just unravel the twine onto the ground and grasp the untied end. I then throw the decoy over the highest branch in the tree I can.
I pull the decoy tight to that branch and tie the loose end at the base of the tree. To remove the decoy, simply untie the twine and lower it down. Trust me, this technique is much easier to do than it is to explain. The twine doesn't spook the crows because it blends in with the other branches. If there is a open area, I will scatter a few decoys on the ground. I also use an actual stuffed owl (mine's more than 30 years old; they're illegal to possess if they were obtained after 1972). There are plenty of plastic owls on the market, and they work just as well. One veteran crow hunter I know glues some turkey feathers to his plastic owl to give it some extra realism.
There are three main methods of crow hunting. First is the run and gun strategy. Find several fields or woodlots that crows are using consistently, then make quick setups in each. Let the caller do the work for you here; decoys are not required when hunting in this fashion, but you need to position yourself in such a way that incoming crows can't spot you until it's too late. Full camo is necessary, including face mask and gloves.
Be ready to shoot as soon as you turn on the caller. If there are crows around, they'll be on you in a few minutes. You'd better make the most of it because those first crows will probably be the only ones you'll get a chance at. They wise up quickly, and the birds you don't kill will land in distant trees and warn any new arrivals of the danger. After the first flurry, move to the next spot you've scouted and set up again. One tip when using an electronic caller: Crows will spook from overpowering volume at close range, especially on quiet days, so it's a good idea to lower the volume as the birds close in on your position.
The second method is to locate a roost area and set up in a flyway as they leave their roost trees in the morning or, better yet, as they return in the afternoon. Decoys are important in this method, as is full camo. Blinds are also a good option.
Crows typically follow the same flight paths into and out of their roost, and they usually use the same roost every night. These roosts are easy to locate by driving about the countryside around sunset. Huge numbers of crows will be flocking near their roost at this time, and it's simply a matter of watching where they go and what route they use to get there. Then simply set up your blind along one of these paths, then place some crow decoys and an owl decoy within range of the blind or other concealment.
Crows are federally regulated because they migrate. Like birds of prey, many crows fly north to Canada in the spring, arriving on the south shores of the Great Lakes in early March. And in areas such as these, it's possible to hunt the migrations just as you do for waterfowl. Crows will not fly over large expanses of water, so when they hit the shores of large bodies of water such as the Great Lakes, they follow the shoreline 'til they eventually skirt the entire lake. By setting up along such migration routes, you can get in on some fast shooting.
Just last year, we were hunting the south shore of Lake Ontario, a major migration path for crows. Two dark spots approached high over the lakeshore and sailed past our dozen crow decoys. They looked us over but didn't drop down to give us a shot. Crows are one of the smartest birds that fly, and if they don't like the looks of your setup, they're gone. Their eyesight is as good as any duck's, and they can detect movement from great distances.
The next crow that showed up was also high and seemed suspicious of our spread; I was beginning to think there might be another group of hunters ahead of us on the migration path. The crow flew warily over our spread at 40 yards. I whispered to Tom to take him, knowing that it was a tough shot. Tom shouldered his pump and took his time tracking the high bird. He made a beautiful shot *Benelli*
I watched Tom's Lab trace the bird's fall. He had a good mark on the crow, and when Tom gave him the "Back" command, he was out of the blind on a straight line to the bird. This was a easy retrieve for him, and he was back in two shakes of a Lab's tail.
If you're going to use a dog to retrieve downed birds, keep in mind that a wounded crow will peck a dog (or a human, for that matter). Be sure the crow you've dropped is dead before sending your retriever to make the fetch. A young dog can have a setback if nipped by a wounded crow, making the dog bird shy. And even a veteran dog may even get a little timid if he gets nailed a couple times.
The wait for the next crow was a short one. The far-off "caw, caw, caw" came from the lakeshore again, and before long I watched another solitary crow approach. The bird came steadily, and when he hit the 30-yard mark, I rose in the blind and touched the trigger of the 11-87. He flared at the sound of the shot but kept going, untouched by the pattern, and I swung the heavy auto as the bird scrambled for altitude. My second shot knocked him down and broke my long streak of misses on crows that year.
If you are looking for an off-season tune-up for your wingshooting, and perhaps a good workout for your retriever, crows are the ticket. Landowners are quick to give permission to rid their fields of these varmints, and it might be a great way to get in their good graces--possibly opening doors to new property for other hunting seasons.

*crow*

(With thanks to Petersen’s Hunting Magazine USA)

photopro
Posted Image

Shotgun Certificate & Firearms Certificate Section 1, DSC1 & DSC2 also DCS Registered. Forestry Commission Deer Management Licence Holder

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Shotguns · Next Topic »
Add Reply