Crow Sniping with a Rifle

6mm06

Well-known member
This morning I went out for a bit of predator calling. I went to the family farm and set up in a place that has been productive before. I've previously taken a bobcat, gray fox and two coyotes from this location, so I thought I'd give it another try.

After calling for a while using various prey sounds, I switched to a Gray Fox Pup Distress. I didn't call fox, but the crows sure did like the sound. Several circled over the area, but since I was wearing snow camo and not moving, apparently they didn't see me. Some landed in the tree at the top of the photo, at 100 yards or slightly more.

I was hunting with a Remington model 7, .243 shooting 58 gr. V-Max bullets. I've been getting some acceptable accuracy with that load on paper recently, so I thought I'd try it out on predators. When the crows landed in the tree, I couldn't resist taking a shot. It dropped like it was hit by a streak of lightening, and the V-Max wasn't very friendly to it.

It was a good morning even if I didn't get any predators. Looks like this has started my crow sniping adventures again for the winter.

Let the crow sniping begin.


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The chair is from GCI Outdoors. It has a nice backrest, making shooting from a bipod easy. The backrest stabilizes my movement quite a bit.

Here is a YouTube clip of some crow sniping I did last year, if you care to see it.







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Be sure to post photos and story, Marco.

I hope to be out tomorrow morning also. There's a bunch of crows congregating in the woods and field behind my house, so I hope to get some video footage. Seems that when the snow melts, they tend to favor bare spots on the ground, probably looking for seeds etc. I too will have a .17 HMR in hand, the new Marlin thumbhole, and 17 gr. V-Max ready. Hopefully the morning will be productive. Since I plan to set up in the woods at the back of my house, I will be comfortable and an easy walk to the house if need be. We do have quite a bit of snow still on the ground, but the temps are rising and it isn't too cold right now. Coffee while sitting in the blind, and a donut or bagel will make things right.

I set a blind up this evening to help facilitate video work. It's just too darn hard to shoot them and video at the same time, without being seen. If I didn't love video so much, I could move about more freely and take more crows. But, video is worth it, to me at least.

We are supposed to get snow Sunday and very cold temps next Monday and Tuesday, so I'm thinking it will make for some fine crow sniping.

 
Good luck and be careful 6mm06. And I'll try to get some pics out to you guys I think its going to be a good day for crows. ~marco
 
I love crow sniping, it is my favorite way to pass time
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. I need to get a remote caller. I still using the old tape player lol. Thanks for sharing!
 
Good goin David! Season here opens in a few days but with my job it may be after the first of the year. OBTW I got a new DVD player so I can see the Video finnaly....Keep up the good work...Jeff
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I was out again about mid-morning, sitting in the blind, drinking coffee and basically enjoying the morning. Two crows showed up after a while and I managed to shoot one of them with the Marlin .17 HMR and Hornady 17 gr. V-Max. Distance was 68 yards measured. I also got the shot on video.

I have a chicken lot and dog lot out from the house, and the crows hang around the area since we feed the chickens corn. A neighbor also has a barn off to the side of my land, maybe 150 yards or so, and crows hand around there too. Also, there is a field just beyond a small patch of wood behind my house where neighbor kids sometimes ride 4-wheelers around a track, keeping the dirt stirred up. Snow tends to melt easier on the track than the rest of the ground. Seems that crows frequent the area, I guess because the loose dirt allows them to find seeds and insects. They especially hang around the edge of the field and woods where the track makes a 90 degree turn.

Knowing the crows come there practically daily, I set up a blind yesterday evening and was prepared this morning.

I really enjoy shooting crows with a rifle, and the .17 HMR is my favorite.


Blind set up near the chicken lot, facing toward the field.

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Blind facing toward the field in the foreground.

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The dirt track can be see here. The crow was shot while on the dirt track.

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It's pretty comfortable in the blind. I had the video camera set up and got the shot on film.
Will add it to my crow sniping video.

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A bit of success. Crow shot at 68 yards, easy pickin' with an HMR. The 17 gr. V-Max is
great for this kind of hunting.

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Didn't get a lot of crows this morning, just one, but I had a great time nonetheless. Rifle shooting isn't as productive as calling over a shotgun, but it sure is fun. I plan to keep the blind set up for a while. We are supposed to get more snow this weekend, so the crows will be coming here for something to eat.





 
Good job 6mm! That front blew in about 11:00 and after that I did see a thing. I thought right before the front blew in theyed be out but I only heard on way off and couldnt get him to come in. It was a nice day out in the woods and saw alot of deer sign for bow season!
 
looks like a great time, can't wait to get my foxpro and try getting a few, i've killed a couple but pure luck cases! right place right time, That chair looks great, may have to get one too!!!!!!!!!!!!! good video.
 

Jeff,

That sounds good to me. I encourage everyone who does this kind of hunting to post some stories and photos. I enjoy hearing how others do it.
 
Nice shooting. I'm really interested in that GCI outdoors chair. Where can I get one. I did an online search and I can find them, but not in camoflage. Thanks.
 

Frontiersman, the camo model is no longer made. They have a green one that looks pretty good, though. They are great chairs in my experience. I use mine on every hunt, both to save my back and also to stabilize my shot. A good back rest and shooting sticks can make for some good shooting.

While the camo model is nice, I personally think the back should be camo as well, it's not. Too much black in my opinion if something comes up behind me.

David
 
Great story and pictures..... you gotta love this guy....LOL.

I found this chair... is it close...?
http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/pr...mp;merchID=4005



This is the same chair.. but without camo....
http://cgi.ebay.com/GCI-Outdoors-Everywhere-Chair-Hunter-Green_W0QQitemZ230562492238QQcategoryZ20719QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3911.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5691365976793022164
 
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