"Decoys That Come Alive"
by Adam Watkowski

Let's talk about movement in your decoy spread. For many years now the traditional means of harvesting crows consisted of placing full body, rigid crow decoys out and going through the calling sequences of "crows fighting," "crows fighting with an owl," and one of the best calls "crow in distress." Results varied depending upon the area that you were hunting and whether or not your decoy spread was convincing to these crafty birds. So let's say you called in a few young and dumb birds. You harvested a few and gave the rest an education. So now what? How do you continue to harvest these recently educated crows?

Add movement to your decoy spread! This can be accomplished by a variety of means. You could use battery-operated decoys or black rags tied around a softball that is thrown into the air and lands into your decoy spread. The "newcomer" to this method is a very convincing wind-activated crow decoy that sports flapping wings. As with any hunting technique, new ideas and techniques are required to make your hunting time more productive.

I use the wind activated crow decoys with great results every time. When I set out my decoy spread, I use only five decoys. That's right only five! Two of the five have the flapping wings that were mentioned earlier. The reason I use only five decoys is that they are very lifelike when set out, but I change locations a lot during my hunt. It's something like bass fishing. You move from one honeyspot to another. Now some of you might disagree with this tactic. You may set out a lot of crow decoys and stay in one area for hours. This method works to a certain point and has its time and place. As the season progresses, you will find that this method starts to work against you. I have found out that keeping the crows off balance gives the advantage back to you. Move around! Set up in hedgerows, wood lines, cornfields, standing timber. I have been known to set out my decoys and crawl under a hay wagon. The most important thing is to use decoys that have movement. You are imitating crows in distress, crows fighting with owls or crows fighting with each other. I have never seen crows in these situations just sitting there motionless. To prove my point, how many times have you called in a few black desperadoes and they flared off to some distant tree or other perch and squawked up a fuss? They won't come in no matter how hard you call. Why? Your crow decoys are just sitting there. No movement, no wing flapping, no body movement.

No matter how expert your calling methods, if there is no motion, it just doesn't look right. On numerous occasions I have had both redtail and whitetail hawks attack my crow decoys. I have had hunting pairs of whitetail hawks start to climb 300 yards out and dive bomb right down into my decoy spread. I didn't have a camera to document the event, but I did have a hunting partner with me who was amazed. This season when you go afield for some great crow hunting, add movement to your decoy spread. You will have more productive hunts and you may have some surprises that you never had before unfold right in front of your eyes. Until next time, great hunting and be safe.