"The Portable Orchard Blind"
by Wayne Mattox

Dedicated crow hunters are always on the lookout for some way to get the upper hand on their wary black-winged adversaries while also making their outdoor adventures more fun and less work.

Fellow Crow Buster Joe Bruce and I had made friends with a North Florida pecan orchard owner in 2002, who had been plagued with crows damaging his valuable crop. He welcomed our offer to thin out the pesky rascals. As the orchard owner described it, flocks of the black bandits would descend upon his orchard during the fall harvest season and cause considerable damage. One year the crows wiped out three rows of a particularly delectable type of pecan while he was away helping another pecan orchard owner harvest a crop. Wholesale buyers of pecans will reject entire lots of pecans if they find ones with holes pecked in them by crows.

The first fall we hunted his orchard; we took cover around a dumping area off to one side of the property where broken limbs and stumps had been piled. We found that using the same cover a couple of times causes your number of kills per hunt to drop off rather quickly as the crows figure things out. We then threw the crows a curve ball by switching to the use of a well-camouflaged two-man portable blind which I had build the year before for crow hunting. It was easily transported (disassembled) in the back of my pickup truck. The blind's four sections take about 20 minutes to assemble and are held together with heavy-duty rubber bands. Its compactness, however, didn't offer room for a third hunter, or to store items we all like to carry with us on our outdoor adventures, like snacks, a rainsuit or extra warm clothing.

Joe Bruce attaches a support to the blind's roof during an early stage of frame construction.

During a lull in one of our fall crow hunts in the orchard, we came up with the idea of creating a portable blind that would provide ample room for three hunters and which could be moved around the orchard by pulling behind a pickup truck. The blind would have small wheels on one end and a crude trailer hitch on the other, and it had to be light enough so it could be lifted and moved by one person. Having a ready-to-go blind waiting for us at the orchard would save us valuable set up time.

We approached the orchard owner about the idea, and he said it was fine with him. Last summer we set out to build a portable blind. We spent about $75 for materials, which included a set of small wheels, treated 2X4s, 2X2s, 1X2s, a roll of chicken wire, a box of screws, several rolls of camo burlap material, two hinges for a door, etc. The bottom frame consisted of treated 2X4s approximately 10 feet long by about four feet wide. The sides were built high enough to provide adequate concealment, and a back contained a small roof, which shielded us from crows directly overhead. The whole thing was covered with camo burlap and chicken wire spray painted flat black. Once the frame and sides were mostly complete, it was loaded in the back of Joe's pickup and carried to the orchard site about 12 miles away. The owner allowed us the use of a power outlet to finish up the job. Broken pecan tree limbs, palm fronds and clumps of local vegetation were tucked in behind the chicken wire to make the blind appear like a pile of debris.

Joe checks out the view from the nearly finished blind, now located at the orchard.

Early in October of 2003 the crows began their damaging visits to the orchard, and the owner let us know some help was needed. After scouting the orchard and talking with the owner, we had a good idea of where to set up for our first hunt. Arriving at the orchard before dawn, Joe backed his truck up to the blind. I hoisted the blind up and onto the trailer hitch, and away we went across the orchard to a spot where the birds had been the busiest. The blind was disconnected and wheeled around so the sun would be to our backs. The area in front of the blind had only young trees, which wouldn't obstruct our shooting lanes. We quickly unloaded our gear, and Joe parked his truck out of sight. We placed our decoys in nearby trees and set several feeding motion decoys on the ground 20 yards from the blind. We checked the blind's exterior, adjusted a few tree limbs that were draped across the roof, and settled in. We donned our leafy 3-D camo clothing (including head covers), loaded our shotguns and poured cups of coffee. It wasn't long after the "Crow Come Here" tape was turned on that the black marauders started winging in. They came in as singles, then twos and threes. Occasionally, four or five would arrive at the same time. When the feathers finally settled later that morning, we'd busted 34 of the bandits, and the survivors undoubtedly felt the sting of our pellets.

The blind is easily pulled behind a pickup truck.

The portable blind had worked just like we'd hoped, and it provided concealment on several more hunts that fall. We ended up dropping 129 crows in that orchard, and those results tickled the orchard owner. He has remarked that several of his neighbors - who own smaller orchards - expressed their appreciation of our crow hunting efforts, and they're hoping we'll return this year. The owner harvested a bumper crop of pecans last year - nearly 40,000 pounds - minus the amount we ate while sitting in our blind waiting for the crows.

We've already started planning for this year's crow shoots, and a trip to the orchard to perform some maintenance on our portable blind is in order. By establishing a friendship with the orchard owner, respecting his property and his wishes, and helping him solve his crow problem, we've been able to enjoy some very exciting shoots. We showed our appreciation to the orchard owner by putting together a fish fry at his place. Now that will get you invited back.

Does the portable blind work? Wayne Mattox shows off the results of an early October 2003 hunt in the orchard during which he and Joe Bruce knocked down 34 crows. The portable blind serves as a backdrop. During several hunts in the orchard, Joe and Wayne busted a total of 129 crows.