Top_Heavy's World

I was in a trance as I trudged along. What was I doing in the middle of a bean field, long since harvested, and now covered with several inches of fresh snow, this time of year? I let my mind wander about the "shoot" that had been planned so intensely. I thought back to the days of early morning duck hunts, goose hunts in fields similar to this, even deer hunts with long walks to a stand in the predawn cold, but all of those seasons were closed. I had not gotten up so early for a reason so... unusual, in a long time. The Rythmic tapping of plastic bodies as they swung with the stride of the shadow ahead of me, set my pace. The morning was dark, one of those creepy, too dark to be real, kind of darkness, that leaves you wondering if you are outside or still in the closet looking for your boots. We finally reached the perfect spot, that little plumb thicket. This particular thicket was special, not just because it was the only cover between the huge roosts of town and the buffet table that was the landfill, but also because it had 3 elm trees spaced down it's length. These thin and reaching young trees grew fast enough to shadow everything else and were visible for miles. These trees are perfect for setting the confidence decoys needed to bring in the wary birds that were our desire.
Setting decoys for wary crows is more precise than the Arkansas Mallards, Kansas Snowgeese or Wisconsin Bluebills, they require realistic spreads and good calling for good shoots. Anyone can set up on a good spot and scratch down a few birds, but a good shoot for us had to produce sore shoulders and hot shotgun barrels! We pulled out the "watcher" decoys, these are hung from the head on long thick strings with a weight on the opposite end. The weight is there to allow for easier throwing of the string into the uppermost branches of the trees. Once the line had crossed a twig or branch, the decoy was pulled up and the line tied off. When done properly, the decoy looks like it is on a tiny branch at the very top of the tree. Half a dozen decoys were placed in this manner and as the morning light allowed visibility, I was almost fooled by the life like appearance of the fakes. The rest of the decoys had stakes instead of legs to push into the snow or soft ground, or clips to hook to low branches. We quickly emptied the bag of plastic replicas and we unrolled the long wire that connected the speaker to the CD player. Any crow sounds will work for those "few bird hunts" but we had come here for a special day. Some of the speakers were set by decoys in the snow and some were placed facing straight up under the elm trees.
CAW...CAW...CAW... The sounds of the first birds to leave the roost were music to our ears. We played with the volume of our callers and proceeded to reduce volume as the birds got closer. We left them running as we stood for the first volley. The morning produced wave after wave of crows, and we were there to meet them all.

There are many types of adventures still waiting for the creative outdoorsman, even when the NORMAL seasons are gone. Check your local game laws, remember to buy a current years license and have some fun!