"Compressed Air Crow Hunting"
by Ross Brown

Many of us who read these articles are not fortunate to live in areas where numerous roosts and flyways exist. Often the only avenue open to test our skills against the Wiley Black Bandit is to Run 'n Gun small groups.

Flyway and Run 'n Gun require different techniques, although the end result is the same; call them in and hopefully shoot them. To shoot them with a shotgun requires the crows to be lured to almost above the shooter to be dispatched with great wing-shooting prowess. Shooting them with a rifle requires another approach.

My experiences here are often in contrast to what you read elsewhere and illustrates that there is not a sure-fire, one-only approach to this great sport. Furthermore, the hunter must always be observant and modify his or her technique to ensure success.

The technique that is the basis for this article, and employed by me, is nothing new but I have made some observations that some may find interesting. With a background of 50 years of bow hunting, the "one shot one kill" technique of hunting Black Bandits has great appeal to me. This technique is not for those who require large scoreboard numbers, but offers a challenge with rewarding personal results. Also, by employing the "one bullet one bird" scenario I have managed to spread my hunting enjoyment with a limited number of resident bandits over a longer time period. I have shot the same group of 150 bandits (which new members continually join) at least once and often twice a week for months. This has been done over the winter months from the same blind, in the same position, and yet they keep coming to my calls and decoys. TBC (Total Bird Count) to date is 85 birds from this group.

My TBC for each session is not large, with a minimum of 4 and the best 2 hour period lately was 18, but the challenge is that as the birds get smarter, so must the hunter. My rifle of choice is the modern adult PCP (Pre-Charged Pneumatic) .22 caliber air rifle. These rifles have roughly the power of a .22 short rim fire cartridge and are extremely accurate and quiet. Although I have taken numerous crows at 75 meters, I set my blind at 50 meters and head shoot my quarry whenever possible.

The technique of single shot crow hunting requires the hunter to set up the blind and decoys in such a way as to make the bandits land so the shot can be taken. This in itself can be quite a challenge but not insurmountable. I select a dead or deciduous tree of at least 6m in height and preferably on the top of a ridge for a landing platform and decoy hanger. I use 4 hanging Flambeau brand decoys, and the tree must have a 50m obstruction free shooting lane to the blind. Out from the base of the tree and in line with the blind I place 3 decoys and often a Buster 2 motion decoy on the ground to focus the crows in my direction so that they are looking towards me, presenting a front on shot once they have landed.

The aim is to get the crows to land on the same side of the dead tree as my blind so as to get a clear unobstructed shot. I do this by hanging my decoys in the tree 3-4 meters above the ground, on the opposite side to my blind. This forces the crows to land high and on my side of the tree, as they seem to avoid coming too close to the decoys. I have never had them land below a decoy. So by positioning the decoys well up the tree they land high. I assume they are not sure whether the decoys are friendly or hostile, so keep their distance. I also place a remote e-caller at the base of the tree.

I have found the birds in my area are quite shy and I avoid using high volume with the caller when the birds are close. I tend to use the mouth and e-caller in combination to attract the birds to my location. As they approach I reduce the volume or turn the e-caller off and when they spot the decoy array I stop calling with the mouth call as I don't want them fixing on my position in the blind. Because there is no frenzied calling, I find they leisurely circle the ground decoys in an inquisitive manner and then land in the tree above the hanging decoys, feeling they are safe to survey the situation. If they come in as a group I allow 2 or 3 to land before shooting. Since they are curious and relaxed I can drop the first bird and the others will often take-off but immediately land again to investigate their comrade's strange behavior. This allows a second kill but I very rarely get them immediately settling for a third shot. Once they are airborne I use the mouth call and this will often turn them around and, if I'm lucky, they occasionally settle again.

As mentioned earlier, the birds tend to be on the timid side in my area. The frenzy calls and distress calls will bring them in but if I continue using these calls they generally won't land but circle continuously, which suits a shotgun but not a rifle. So as they approach I only use calming calls or nothing at all. In contrast to many other areas, the crows here often shy away when on final approach to land if they see a comrade dead on the ground below the tree.

When the action dies down I leave the blind and quickly dispose of the dead birds. At this time I introduce some motion decoys and may place a Buster 2 with the ground decoys. The 3 ground decoys are positioned in a circle of about 2 meters diameter. At this point I use a child's furry soft hand puppet animal with a Decoy Heart motion ball inserted in the puppet hand cavity. The hand puppet decoy lies on the ground rocking back and forwards like an injured prey animal as the crow decoys look on. This holds the attention of the target crows when they land in the tree, allowing the shot to be set up. I generally put the motion decoys out in the second half of play, as the first bandits of the day decoy easily to the static offering. The motion decoys offer something different to the nervous returning birds, allaying their fears and hopefully encouraging them to land.

I find that many of the same birds return within half an hour accompanied by first time visitors. The new visitors often land immediately, while the birds that were previously shot at are cautious and more likely to just keep squawking while circling overhead. As these circle overhead they also attract more first-timers to the decoys and these new arrivals will often land in spite of the warning cries from above.

After 2 hours the game is up and a bandit sentry will often sit off a couple of hundred meters and warn all and sundry. The only choice is to pack up and move to another area.

The two PCP rifles I use are an FX Revolution semi-automatic 12 shot and a FX Gladi8tor 8 shot pump action, both in .22cal. With their onboard air tanks filled to 3,000 psi they are each capable of delivering 70 full power recoilless shots before refilling is necessary. Both rifles are fitted with 6-24x56mm Nikko Stirling Nighteater adjustable AO scopes, with an extended mil-dot reticle and set to 10 power magnification. Also, I use a Nikon rangefinder which is accurate to within half a meter, "a must have" item for long range air gun sniping.

The e-caller I'm currently using is a Cass Creek Crow Caller connected by a 60m wire to their Big Horn speaker amplifier. Although this works quite well I will be replacing it with a FOXPRO Prairie Blaster (with built-in motion decoy) for more power. The Prairie Blaster comes with a wireless remote for ease of operation. My blind is a portable Primos Escape Deluxe Ground Blind, which can be erected in less than a minute with a little practice. I shoot off a BOG-POD tripod gun rest.

If you enjoy peaceful, recoilless, quality shooting with high accuracy tack driving capability, give the new generation of PCP puff-guns a try. I think you will be surprised. You can often get permission to shoot varmints in "sound sensitive areas" where powder burners are out of the question. The modern PCP air rifle is also quite capable of taking a fox at 30m with a well placed head shot, should one be stupid enough to try and steal your flapping Buster.

Although the daily TBC may not be high as other techniques, the satisfaction certainly is.