Smeggin Crows😵

[getthegat]

I'm obviously doing something very wrong, as another couple of hours yesterday morning provided a frustrating catalogue of misses at crows feeding on newly sewn wheat with scatterted maize cobs from the previous crop.

All summer I've been shooting pigeons and with good hit rates. I've got on well with my new Franchi Raptor 20 bore, taking long fast birds after a choke change and had good days with my semi auto 12 when they've been decoying nicely. But can I hit crows??? Not on your Nelly.

There was only a light breeze yesterday and they were coming in to about 25 - 30 yards over decoys. I tried a bit of lead, a bigger lead, aiming right on them, letting them come close, trying longer ranges.... even those I did hit were runners. Then to add to my confusion, a fast young pigeon shot by at around 45 yards and I took him clean and dead as a door nail. My only thoughts are that I was having them come too close with too tight a choke and too small a pellet size? Maybe my 12 bore on more open choke and #7.5s would have proved more effective. Some how I feel it's to do with how slow they are. I always shoot better when I have less time to think about the shot. And maybe right there is my answer.....THINK. Or rather, don't.

But any tips would be great. Cheers.

[Robertt]

Had the same problem.

I don't know what you're doing wrong but I wasn't matching the birds speed with the swing.

Was still in pigeon mode and I was missing in front.

Cured it by slightly slowing  the mount and swing speed and hard focusing on the beak and shooting immediately the gun came into the shoulder. 

After a few shots it becomes automatic with little thought.

I have found that, for me 5' s worked better on crows ( I'll go and put my tin hat on ! )

 

 

[marsh man]

You are not the first and wont be the last who find the difference in the speed of the two species hard to come to terms with , I most probably shot more Rooks ect when I first started shooting than I did pigeons and to tell you the truth I don't find the difference in flight between the two species to difficult , if anything the corvids I find easier than the pigeons although nowadays I don't no longer go out of my way to shoot the Black ones .

As for advise , I cant really give you any as my way might make you shoot even worse than you are now , but I am sure the more you do the better you will get at it , the only thing I am wondering is weather you are thinking to much of the combination of choke and shot size while you are shooting instead of blocking it out of your mind and concentrate on what you are aiming at.

Good luck and I hope you get it sorted out.

[getthegat]

Thanks guys.

"Tin hat" made me smile 😂

The perpetual debate of shot size, is one that will always run and create controversy.

I would have at one time advocated #6 for pigeon, but I've moved to 7.5s and one day even used some old #8s that I had at the back of my ammo box, all to good effect. But the blacks do seem to shout "bigger pellet needed" to me, so it is very true how one can fixate on equipment just that bit too much. In fact to prove that pellet size does not hold up all the time; one morning last week I dropped a huge gull with 28grm #7.5 

Yesterday I was holding the gun to my shoulder for far longer than normal, so I will try your method Robertt and Marshman I will take on board your comments. 

At least I'm not as disheartened as when I was using a Hushpower. I know I can take good shots with either of my semi autos when on woodies. The Hushpower had no good situations for me, but I know others are excellent with them, so each to his own.

Although yesterday didn't do much to reduce the black population, it was a lovely sunny morning. I saw a big skene of geese feeding at the bottom of a field, next to a mash area, the air was clean and fresh, Soph retrieved the one pigeon perfectly, I had no stress from smeggin customers at work, so nearly everything was perfect.

[pigeon controller]

As I reported before on previous posts, my crow shooting is difficult to get my head round. 

I tend to shoot at them as they look like they are not moving but they are, when they are passing or going away I use the Bum,Breast,Beak method. If I miss I push the gun a little further. All the time keep the gun moving DO NOT STOP.

Incoming just determine if they are rising or falling and compensate accordingly.

With crows and pigeons you should not have to think about the shot it should be instinctive, what I call reflex shooting. 

How many times do you see birds while walking or driving and give them lead????

I can still remember the advice given to me when I first had a gun. When you were a kid and your mate was running away from your snowball you always threw in front of him!!! Instinct??

[GingerCat]

They are deceptive, I find them harder to hit as they are more difficult to read on the approach as they are such good fliers. They aren't that big either, it's all feather, beak and claw. 

We cant be the only ones to find them harder to hit judging by the increase in numbers year on year. 

[Ultrastu]

I find that with crows. Some how they are often further away than they appear . (Compared to a pigeon ) obviously they are a bigger bird but maybe the all black makes them harder to read the range to them ..

Ive dropped crows straight down  that looked 30 yds and then paced them to 45 yds .

Also a bigger pellet is needed imo.a no6 struggles past 40 yds i prefer a no5  and wait and wait some more till they are much closer. 

[motty]

I find crows easier to hit than pigeons. They generally fly slower than pigeons, so less lead is required. A more deliberate style of shooting is how I approach them. A no.7 will still wallop a 40 yard crow.

[marsh man]

4 hours ago, GingerCat said:

They are deceptive, I find them harder to hit as they are more difficult to read on the approach as they are such good fliers. They aren't that big either, it's all feather, beak and claw. 

We cant be the only ones to find them harder to hit judging by the increase in numbers year on year. 

I dont think its about the amount of people who find them harder to hit , I recon its down to the amount of people who now bother shooting them , I know a few chaps who will shoot a few to keep the land owner happy and might put them out on a few canes but I don't know anybody who will decoy them all day purely to shoot big numbers.

One area where I used to do a lot of shooting had a serious corvid problem , while I was shooting pigeons on the peas the Rooks , Crows and Jackdaws would do far more damage than the pigeons , no one in that area would shoot them in any numbers , two blokes I know got together and made a large crow cage that was in sections so they could transport it from one farm to the other , I know after the first year they accounted for well over a thousand , the landowners paid for the fuel ect and the cage was working seven days a week out on the fields and even in built up areas where shooting might had caused complaints with gunfire noise , now when you go out there you will still see Rooks ect but the big flocks are now a thing of the past .

[oowee]

51 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I dont think its about the amount of people who find them harder to hit , I recon its down to the amount of people who now bother shooting them , I know a few chaps who will shoot a few to keep the land owner happy and might put them out on a few canes but I don't know anybody who will decoy them all day purely to shoot big numbers.

 

I will shoot them all day  Generally don't have large numbers of pigeon and many of the farms are plagued with rooks. 

[GingerCat]

55 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I dont think its about the amount of people who find them harder to hit , I recon its down to the amount of people who now bother shooting them , I know a few chaps who will shoot a few to keep the land owner happy and might put them out on a few canes but I don't know anybody who will decoy them all day purely to shoot big numbers.

One area where I used to do a lot of shooting had a serious corvid problem , while I was shooting pigeons on the peas the Rooks , Crows and Jackdaws would do far more damage than the pigeons , no one in that area would shoot them in any numbers , two blokes I know got together and made a large crow cage that was in sections so they could transport it from one farm to the other , I know after the first year they accounted for well over a thousand , the landowners paid for the fuel ect and the cage was working seven days a week out on the fields and even in built up areas where shooting might had caused complaints with gunfire noise , now when you go out there you will still see Rooks ect but the big flocks are now a thing of the past .

Perhaps tounge in cheek of me but you raise a valid point. It may be a change in farming practice , less shooting, I don't know. But what I do know is there numbers have increased massively in the last 7 or so years and any reduction had to be applauded.

Could do with that cage round here.

[motty]

I would shoot a lot more crows if farmers provided the cartridges.

[pigeon controller]

1 hour ago, motty said:

I would shoot a lot more crows if farmers provided the cartridges.

The main farm I shoot puts his hand in his pocket and buys me a slab when required, he is the only one!!!

[Longstrider]

I probably shoot corvids and pigeons at a ratio of about 5:1. One field alone last year saw me take over 500 'black birds' off the Spring drillings in 6 trips. They are more difficult to range and assess the speed of when you're in 'pigeon mode' due to their greater size and the density of the black colouring. In general I think they are slower than pigeon and need less lead (that's shooting not so far in front ) When it comes to the other type of lead (the metal) I like to have at least 32 gr of #5 to send their way through 1/2 choke on my Hatsan Escort. Not many runners from that combo. One of my permission owners is happy enough to see them in a heap that he'll fork out for a  slab of Pigeon Extreme (34gr #5) whenever I'm running low, as long as he sees the fruits of my efforts over his patch.

[Feltwad]

• Crow shooting has pest control over crops which is at its peak from June to September can give you   many  different sporting shots has any other type of  shooting .To obtain good bags you must know your field craft  decoying patterns   more so future weather conditions . For over a decade or two crow shooting has pest control has been my major type of shooting   using  a sxs  hammer gun  averaging 2 to 3 days a week cost can be expensive  but so can driven pheasant shooting .

Feltwad 

Edited November 19, 2018 by Feltwad

[getthegat]

I've come up with an excuse 🤗 The other morning whilst walking the dog, I mistook a small flock of fieldfare for pigeons (if only for a few seconds) and realised my contact lenses magnify things a little. So obviously the crows I was trying to shoot the other Saturday, were in fact further away than I thought they were. Stand by for more excuses......😂

[Longstrider]

14 hours ago, getthegat said:

I've come up with an excuse 🤗 The other morning whilst walking the dog, I mistook a small flock of fieldfare for pigeons (if only for a few seconds) and realised my contact lenses magnify things a little. So obviously the crows I was trying to shoot the other Saturday, were in fact further away than I thought they were. Stand by for more excuses......😂

Not only further away, but appearing larger too so apparently moving slower, fooling you into giving too much lead Keep 'em coming