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Sucker Punch Crow Hunting Forum -> Crow Hunting Chat -> Did you see the balls on that crow!
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Splash One


Elusive Crow

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Did you see the balls on that crow!
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I witnessed something today that goes against everything I've heard about how crows behave around birds of prey.

While at the neighborhood pond fishing for panfish I was watching two crows off in the distance fly toward me from left to right. As the crows crossed the 2 acre pond side by side they elivated to go over a stand of really old Pecan trees.. Right as the pair crested the largest tree one of them dropped it's head and did a tight 180 and dove down into the tree screaming like crazy. The second crow circled 3 times then landed at the top of the tree and screamed down at the first crow...

Of course this was more then I could take so I ripped my crow call out and began calling franticly at them to see if I could interrupt whatever it was they were doing... It didn't take long before two crows turned into 8. Circling screaming diving into the tree... then I see a large shape moving on one of the bigger branches... INCHES from a crow that was screaming at it..

As the massive bird of prey took flight into the clear blue sky it was unmistakable what type of bird it was... a friggin horned owl.... yup i'm not telling tales...it was great horned owl... One of the crows that was screaming at it was sitting on the same branch about 5 inches from this monster, and the other birds were not much further... honestly the owl was perched about 3 feet from the top of the tree and it was surrounded by crows... not at all like the stories I hear about how you have to have your decoys many many feet away from an owl, and NEVER at the same height or lower...

Like I said the owl eventually took flight and flew out into wide open air, where it had 8 crows nipping at it's wings and tail... they were all over this owl... even though the owl could have killed them all at any time it chose.

As if all that didn't sound like a fluke... these crows followed this owl roughly 100 yards down the creek to it's new perch and began mobbing it as soon as it landed... the owl didn't move again... the crows swarmed it for almost a half hour more then just gave up.

 



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Gary


Dances With Crows

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I bet that was cool to watch.  It sounds to me like the old owl just finished a good meal and had a full stomach.  That is why he was out in the open and not in the swamp bottom sitting on a low branch in the shade.  If he was hungry I do not think they would have been so bold.  As you know a crow knows when he can get close and when not.



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shaddart


Crow Egg

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Splash; the best thing about that story is that you take your crow call fishing. Now thats dedication, haha

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Splash One


Elusive Crow

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shaddart wrote:

Splash; the best thing about that story is that you take your crow call fishing. Now thats dedication, haha

Yeah I'm a tad obsessed.... I carry a crow call in my pocket everywhere I go... I have a crow call on me more then I do my wallet.. but.... the lake is a great place to practice...and if the fish aren't biting...I can always try a crow.... when I'm on a larger body of water I always bring a crow, duck, and Canada goose call... and again....if the fishing is slow I practice calling... you'd be surprise how far out into a lake you can make a crow fly before it turns back...

 



-- Edited by Splash One on Saturday 10th of March 2012 01:06:25 PM

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Splash One


Elusive Crow

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Gary wrote:

I bet that was cool to watch.  It sounds to me like the old owl just finished a good meal and had a full stomach.  That is why he was out in the open and not in the swamp bottom sitting on a low branch in the shade.  If he was hungry I do not think they would have been so bold.  As you know a crow knows when he can get close and when not.

Gary that's just how the owls around here roost... he was on the shade side of the trunk... The creek I spoke of is only 2 feet wide and has houses on both sides almost its entire length... not really a boggy kind of creek...just a strip of trees, tons of poison oak, and very tall pecan trees.

On the day I saw this owl...it was 3 in the afternoon and there was a family playing wiffle ball on one side of the stand of trees, and on my side there were 7 people fishing, and two that had been having a day at the pond.. picnic basket, blanket blah, blah, blah..and there was a guy introducing his duck dog to water for the first time... The owl could have snuck in on us...but my guess is... he had been in that tree since sun up and hadn't moved..

I could be wrong, but I don't think crows can tell when they are safe around a bird of prey... I think it's more like dog vs bear... Any animal with smarts would not mess with a bear.. and a bear should know with 100% certainty it can smash a dog to bits every single time it encounters one...but that's not the way it works...

Sure a dog here and there gets turned into ground meat... but they get away with it more times then not... and that's how I see a hawks and owls interaction with a crow.... Look at mocking birds....they chase around everything...and everything runs from them..

Anyways... it was very cool to witness... I tried to turn on my camera but was too late.... I even exclaimed (with gaping jaw) to a fisherman I'd never seen never... DID YOU FRIGGIN SEE THAT!!!...THOSE CROWS JUST UNROOSTED AN OWL......AN OWL!.... he was like..... oh...

 

 



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shaddart


Crow Egg

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I do take a duck & or a goose call with me when I fish the river, guess I'll have to start carrying a crow call too, I'll probably have to start wearing a lanyard. LOL

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VelCrow


Baby Crow

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In my carhartt which I wear everywhere, I usually have 2 of my duck calls, 2 of my predator calls, and 2 of my crow calls on me. They are aaalways on me and I take advantage of any downtime to practice them. The result after a few years is much better than I expected because now I am very confodent in my predator calling. Now to work on the crows....

I haven't been on the site in forever because we had a recent death in the family. For a couple days we had almost 40 people in the house! For the past couple weeks its been crazy but now the weather has warmed up a bit and hopefully I can get some crow hunting in.

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