Chasing the Black Bandit

It is hard to strike up any serious conversation amongst other hunters when you ask them to try crow hunting….just not something many people take seriously.  They are not the sexiest bird out there and no one dreams of dogs pointing them or their set wings over open water.  Add to that the mystique about crows in general and it is easy to see why this fascinating and exciting bird is overlooked as a game bird by so many.

Crow hunting should really appeal to all waterfowl hunters.  You get to wear the cool big kid camo head to toe, you get to use decoys (big kid toys), you use calls to lure them in (a technical element that gives us something to brag about) and the action can be fast and heavy nearly every outing (something most of us waterfowl hunters can only dream about). 

Hunting the mysterious black bandit is a late season paradise for those of us who literally need the aid of support groups to make it to the spring turkey season.  They are likely the most intelligent bird in North America (my apologies to the Starling) and will try the skills and patience of the most veteran hunter.  Yet anyone can pursue these critters and have instant success with very little output in terms of equipment.  For die hard varmint hunters like me…crows were a natural progression. 

Crows live in tight family units of usually a handful of birds or more.  These family units tend to bond with other crow families forming large groups (known as a murder of crows).  They are most easily found in the morning on their roosting sights where as many as several hundred or more may roost in trees in perfect safety from predators.  As morning comes, they begin to leave the roost in smaller groups heading to feeding grounds along a consistent flight path.  Feeding grounds may be anything from a picked corn field to a freshly hayed meadow.  Crows will eat just about anything. 

I like to find areas either near a roost site or along the boundaries of a flight path (zone between feeding and roosting areas).   In this area, once I have obtained landowner permission, I generally will find an open field with loafing trees (trees crows will roost in while loafing throughout the day) and will set up my decoy spread of 6-8 crows.   Being smart critters, crows can read a spread like a book.  If your decoys are not agreeing with your calling, you will see crows flare as they get closer to your spread and leave.  If your calls are of a crow-owl fight then have an owl in your decoys.  I usually like to have them in trees or on fences with the crows always higher than the owl.   On the other hand, if trying to simulate a crow party, then I like to have decoys spread out on the ground in a feeding pattern with one or two sentry decoys in a nearby tree keeping watch.  The sentry is very important as no self respecting murder of crows would have a party without a bouncer nearby!

Hand calls work well if you know what and what not to say.  Crow hunting is a lot like your first date.   Say one thing wrong and the party is over.  The infamous “caw”, when noted in the correct sequence, means a great deal to the crow.  For example, give a blast of three caaaw, caaaw, caaaws in a row and the hunt is over as this is the warning cry that will send these birds packing.

A great call to know is the four caaaaw, caaaw, caaaw, caaaw sequence blown enthusiastically that should bring crows your direction.  It alerts them that something is going on and they need to come to you.  Once they turn your way, let them come.  A host of crow calls can be easily made using the current round of e-callers on the market that can give you the realism of a crow fight, crow and owl fight, dying or injured crow, etc.  These can all be used to bring more birds into your set up.  You can start with high volume but these birds can hear very well so back the volume down as they come in or you are likely to spook them.  Once you have called some crows in and the gunfire begins, keep calling as they will often roost in a tree for a moment and come right back.  Once they leave the area, you can often times wait out a few more birds and call another group or two in…just be careful you don’t over stay your welcome if you want to use this location again.  Crows learn fast. 

Any pheasant gun you currently own works perfect for crows.  They are tough birds but any 12 or 20 gauge with a light to moderate load of #6-#8 shot will work well with #71/2 shot being perfect using modified choke.  They are a big bird but not as fast as doves so leading them just past the beak will generally result in a folded bird every time. 

The old crow has been villainized for centuries.  Hated by most yet respectfully pursued by only a small few.  The hunt they provide can be more fun than a day at Disney World and they offer a spectacular opportunity to expand your hunting during what many hunters consider the “off season.”  Their numbers are plentiful and they are more of a challenge than any game bird you are likely to meet.  They also can make a mean stir fry for those with distinctive culinary senses!

Get Em’ Out There

Rawly

My brother-in-law, Dave Flanagan of Adams, NE with a pair from our third stand a few days ago.

Sometimes I will throw an owl into a ground spread but this is most effective when mounting decoys in trees or on fences wiht the owl slightly below the crows.

Camo is as important for crow hunting as it is for waterfowl. Find a nice shady spot to disappear in and start calling!

What it’s all About

Master Chefs add the final touches

Part of a big family

Each year, after the end of deer season, the metro-area archery mentors and their young hunters gather for an evening of celebrating the past season and feasting on the fruits of the program.  This year’s event may have been the best yet – plenty of good eats and memories to last until the post-season scouting trips and off-season prep work begins.  Check out this video, put together by the Mentors, to see what makes this group a family

hershy

Last Minute Success

This year I learned that every bow hunter will have a year where it seems that nothing goes the way they want it too. Well this year was my turn. I went the first part of the season without any shots at all, then I had a few shots and either lost the deer or missed the deer entirely. I practiced with my heavy clothes on, I practiced out of treestands, and I would shoot 3 times every week but nothing I did would change my luck! As you can imagine I was frustrated by late season, but I kept practicing and doing anything to give me an edge.

On the last Saturday of the January antlerless season, my mentor, Neil, and I went down to a spot that we were confident about, but the stand was already taken down. So instead I went 70 yards down the 2-track road to a 12 foot tall ladder stand with no brush around it to break up my outline. It was about 5:00 in the afternoon and I hadn’t seen a single thing yet. I look back over my left shoulder and down in the valley behind me there is a big doe coming up out of the bottom. I stand up and grab my bow but I think that there is no way that this big ole doe will get anywhere close to me. She comes up to the road and looks like she is going to go north (to where the other stand was) but instead she walked down the road that is 12 yards in front of me. Now she’s coming straight down the road right to me and I’ve never been so nervous! She stops at 15 yards and looks right up at me but doesn’t pay any attention to me and keeps on going. She walks right in front of me like nothing is wrong. Once she passed the tree branch in front of me I shift my weight to try to get a better shot and the stand creaks and there is no wind to cover the noise. But she doesn’t look my way so I draw my bow back and stopped her with my mouth. She stopped 13 yards away, quartering away so I hold my pin 2 inches behind the shoulder crease and let the string go. The arrow entered right where I wanted it to and came out right in the middle of the shoulder and the blood-coated arrow stuck in the ground on the other side. The monster doe bounded 40 yards away and looked back at the point of impact like nothing had even happened. She was mine! I finally tagged a big doe on the last weekend of the season!

Hoytboy with Mentor Neil and the first doe of his season.

I still had 1 more tag so Neil and I went to a different spot on Monday since I didn’t have school. We hadn’t seen anything till the last 5 minutes of legal shooting light when a few does came off the hay field. The first one was 35 yards away and got downwind of me, but didn’t know where I was. She went back and circled back north where she had come from. Then a few bucks came from the north on a trail that led 11 yards from my tree but they were not legal to shoot. Then a few does came off the hay field and walked right in front of me. I draw back, shoot and the doe bounded off to Neil and stands right in front of him. He shoots at her but barely missed. We got down a few minutes later and looked at the arrow that was coated in blood and started tracking. We found her bedded down about 120 yards away, but she wasn’t dead yet, I took another shoot that put her down quickly and cleanly.

Right when I was about to give up for the year, I end up tagging 2 deer on the last weekend of the season! Now I’m gearing up and practicing for turkey season. See y’all out there!

Hoytboy with his second doe of the season.

Real Pheasant Hunters

I don’t think you should be able to call yourself a true pheasant hunter until you are carefully taking possession of a long-tailed, pointy-spurred, January ringneck from your trusty four-legged spaniel.  This rooster was not the result of an accidental encounter in an easy-to-walk, short-grassed field that a group of hunters happens to be in discussing football and cussing black labs.  That type of bird was baked alongside some potatoes weeks ago.  This end-of-the-season rooster is the culmination of something even more meaningful – something special enough to be called late-season pheasant hunting.

This type of pheasant hunting takes a dedicated individual that is willing to walk some of the season’s gnarliest cover in search of one of the most elusive critters to wear feathers.  But to these men and women in orange, the chance to be close to a colorful, cackling bird as it takes to the air is worth the pains of the pursuit.

Knowing these educated roosters will be employing their best survival tactics, late-season hunters will be doing the same, and strategy is employed prior to the first field of the day.  It begins in the selection of the hunting party.  Four is pretty much the maximum; two is ideal for many situations.  Usually chosen are hunting buddies that share the same vision.  Absent are the boisterous and those that cannot close a truck door quietly.

Even more important is the selection of canines, a must for proper bird hunting of any kind.  My suggestion is one per person, with a maximum of three that can work well in such a group.  The four-legged hunters must be driven to find birds on their own accord with little interference from the two-legged ones.  The kind that sniffs boot heels of the walking hunter, best be left to the couch.

Habitat is the mantra of the pheasant hunter and there are two habitats that January roosters favor.  The preferred is the habitat that no hunter chooses to seek them in.  It may be the spot where the nastiest grasses and/or brush lives or the spot that everyone overlooks – the place no one expects to see a rooster.  Either way, once the refuge from human intrusion is found the veteran roosters have little reason to leave.  If you find one of these spots and approach it wisely, the birds may be surprised by your appearance and provide opportunity not unlike earlier in the season.  But chances are you get just one good crack at them.

If a hunter-less habitat is not an option for the birds, you will find savvy roosters in the second kind of habitat, places with options.  The most common options for a January rooster include running and flushing far outside of shotgun range.  You know you have found one of these places when the birds are exiting the field as you are entering.  The best strategy here is to simply hunt differently.  These pheasants have been around hunters – and of all the predictable critters, we humans are the easiest to pattern.  So, come at the field from a different location, follow the dogs and not a straight-line sweep through the field, work from the lightest cover to the heaviest or from the outside edges to the middle and be sure to enter the field as quietly and quickly as possible.

Yes, the easy birds are for the most part gone, but so are many of the hunters, too; which leaves some of the most rewarding bird hunting to real the pheasant hunters.  If you’re reading this between sunrise and sunset, there’s a good chance I will be pretending to be one of them right now, too!

hershy

Calling Predators on Nebraska Outdoors Radio

Calling all predators.  This week Conservation Officer Stacey Lewton will be in-studio to talk about coyotes, foxes and bobcats and the skills needed to match wits with Nebraska’s most cunning predators.  The Nebraska Outdoors Radio Show runs every Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. (CST) on KFOR 1240 AM in Lincoln and online at www.kfor1240.com. Be a part of the conversation by calling 402-489-1240.