"Downsizing for Crows"
by Staff Advisor Dick Mermon

After taking two shots at one of the incoming crows and missing with both, my son Rich, turned to me with the look of amazement that he did not hit the bird. He was having a problem, which many crow shooters do not realize they have. First could be the fact that the shooter is not really seeing the bird as the target comes in and begins to swing on it due to a “flinching” of the eyes. This is a common trait that can be corrected by concentrating on the aimed at crow and not worry about the gun’s recoil or noise. Flinching actually prevents the shooter from maintaining a proper gun swing on the moving bird. With the shooter’s eyes closed at that split second of target flight, the swing is halted and gun fires behind the bird. With a second shot fired, the gunpoint is still behind the bird.

Realizing that he had this flinching problem, I persuaded him to switch gun gauge and take up with the 20-gauge instead of a 12. His thought was, because there was more shot in a low-base 12-gauge shell, he could knock down more crows and, at a greater distance. Once getting used to a slightly lighter weight gun and less recoil than the 12-gauge, his flinching stopped and swing became straighter and swifter, ahead of the crow.

There was another factor, not of his shooting, but learning the traits of an oncoming crow or group of birds. Never aim at the first bird in when several are responding to a hand call. Fire at the lead bird and the others take heed and flare off. However, if you pick on the further crow out, nail him then take on the others as they scatter in rapid flight. Always maintain a continuous hand call going, especially in a fighting tone. This causes the retreating crows to take a positive stance and return to see what that “brother bird” dropped down to see among the decoys.

In my early days of learning crow habits and traits, I too fell in line by thinking the “BIGGER THE GAUGE, THE BETTER IT WAS”. I even went from a 12-gauge to a three inch 12-gauge, but that did not do the job either. So, I began employing a 10-gauge goose gun and found myself spending a great deal of money on shells. From there I began to not only think about cost, but watched how a crow can change its feather pattern while in flight from a small silhouette into a larger one and vise-versa. This paid off at distance viewing and especially when I had missed on the first shot and the crow had tightened its feathers in faster flight than before. I may open a can of worms by this, but that 20-gauge, full choke 1100 did the job and with low-base reloaded shells at that. When I really wanted to have some sport, the 410 gave me the delight needed for the day. Think about it; learn to employ every bit of found knowledge with each crow hunt and you will learn what it takes to be a “crow shooter” and not merely a crow hunter.