Crow Gunning

[Patocazador]

I took a walk out to the pond this morning. I had been staying away from it due to wood ducks nesting there. There's still one active nest.
I brought my Navy Pietta 12ga SxS with 7 1/2 shot and 80 gr. of Goex 1FG. I wanted to see how 1F shot and what kind of patterns it produced.

I shot at a blackbird crossing L to R and it kept flying even though the shot seemed right on. I guess the velocity is low as recoil was almost non-existant. If that's the case, I shot behind it.
I walked the far treeline and saw 2 crows in a cedar tree. They let me get within 20 yards and one flew out and "BANG!". He collapsed. The second one then swooped close to see what was going on but I had already squandered the other barrel on the blackbird. I could have had an easy double. They must have been young crows and their momma was a bad teacher. They were stupid.





I'm going to try to shoot more legal critters this summer using the 1FG but will probably go back to 2FG for dove season for the added velocity I think it will give me.

 

[larry wv]

Good job :thumbsup: I hate crows. Larry

 

[Britsmoothy]

great photos.

I did not like the course powders, seemed toooo slowwwww :thumbsup:

 

[Patocazador]

I remember the trouble you had and I might agree after I give FG a fair shake. It sure didn't catch up with that blackbird.

I'm looking for a big piece of cardboard to pattern it with the 1F. If the pattern is good at 30 yards, I will probably just try to use a longer lead.
Crows don't fly fast so it wouldn't matter much with them.

 

[BrownBear]

Excellent!

Reminds me of a day in the duck blind when I was 19 YOA and dripping behind the ears. A game warden friend was "undercover" in the blind with me, watching another blind a ways off with a couple of certified bandits in it.

I went on shooting ducks while he stayed out of sight, getting excited because the shooting was hot and the other blind was very close to tapping out.

Suddenly the action stopped and we sat there. I got bored, and the night before had read an article about crow hunting.

Big fat old raven flew by at about 30 yards, and I jumped up and popped it.

"What did you do that for!" he shouted. :shocked2:

I answered that I'd been reading about crow hunting and wanted to try it.

He replied that it wasn't a crow, but a raven. I asked him what's the difference.

"About $500 plus court costs," he moaned.

I didn't get a ticket, but I didn't get any more requests to share a blind either. :rotf:

 

[Britsmoothy]

Smart bird a raven.....I don't like'm!

B

 

[Wes/Tex]

Sort of the old...

"Four & twenty blackbirds
baked in a pie.
What kind of blackbirds?
Slow ones!" :wink:

Should point out at this point (huh?), that I've shot and eaten several different non-game birds through the years. Western Meadowlark (accident) tastes like quail...crow, not so much! :haha:

 

[larry wv]

I have been forced to eat crow a few times. Didn't like it. Larry

 

[Britsmoothy]

When you say forced what you mean....kinder thinking you were held down with a huge funnel rammed in your mouth :wink:

 

[larry wv]

forced to eat crow-- means you were proven to be wrong about something you were sure was correct. The admitting to be wrong is the forced to eat crow part. Probably not a common term in England. :grin: So now you know something that will do nothing more than clutter up your brain and be of no use to you. Larry

 

[Patocazador]

My friend and I used to crow hunt all the time when we were in college. We could get permission to shoot crows on land where they wouldn't think of letting you hunt any real game. A few times folks would ask if we were going to eat them, we'd say no but that we had to bring a couple back just to show our wives we weren't up to no good. Those folks would ask that we drop off any extra. I even got a recipe once for a crow pot pie. Never used it however.

 

[Rifleman1776]

what's the difference.

??? :idunno: So??? Wassa difference???
I do know they are protected because of a treaty with Mexico. Wish they would respect protecting our country as much as we protect their lousy crow birds. :cursing:

 

[Patocazador]

They have a season on them now which doesn't apply if they are agricultural pests. The season is listed somewhere by the feds but basically it's open most weekends the majority of the time and all the time in the fall and winter.

If they are eating your crops or seed, it's OK to kill them year-round. No limit.

The feds wanted Mexico to put a bag limit and seasons on waterfowl hunting. The Mexicans said they would if we put the same on crows. Why they want to protect crows, I'll never know.
When duck hunting in Mexico, the locals wanted us to kill coots more than anything else because that was their favorite bird to eat. I think they called the coots, 'negretas' (or something like that).

 

[Britsmoothy]

forced to eat crow-- means you were proven to be wrong about something you were sure was correct. The admitting to be wrong is the forced to eat crow part. Probably not a common term in England. :grin: So now you know something that will do nothing more than clutter up your brain and be of no use to you. Larry

Oh...that crow, sure. I have ate tons of them :haha:

B :thumbsup: