Evening star., 1963-03-19
CROWS REVISITED
CROWS REVISITED
Careful Planning Pays Dividends
For old Pro- Crow-Huntinq Team
BY WHEELER JOHNSON
Outdoor Editor

A couple of weeks ago one OF
these little essays treated OF q
crow hunt. At the risk OF
sounding like this department
is in a rut, this one proposes
to delve into the same subject.
The earlier report dscribed
q group Ct crow hunters gath
ering at midday. splitting UP
in parties, taking off across the
countryside, and setting up
shop at various locations, NOV
ing on after the crows had
been shot into once or twice.
The earlier report described
you might say it was some
thing like the operation Of an
eager amateur team. More than
a dozen hunters had q bag Of
two crows at the end Of the
long afternoon.
Now we will examine the
technique Of the team of Bob
and Bob, who would rank in the
shooting world as top pros
If there we're such thing as
q pro crow-shooter.
It's a Way Of Life
The performers on this team
are Robert d. Austin, 1924
Rosedale avenue, Bethesda, and
his partner, Robert B. Hogan,
COS Ednor road, also in Mont
gomery County.
Grow hunting to this pair is
almost a way Of life. In the
winter they labor through the
week Just to go crow shooting
on Saturday. Everything is
carefully planned and nothing
is left to chance. Instead Of
moving around the countryside :
they operate at a fixed base.
Unless they get better than 35 q
birds a hunt they figure they
have had a real bad day. They
estimate that the Montgomery q
County crow population has a
been reduced by 400 since jan h
uary through their efforts. q
The most important move =
they make is first finding a
suitable location for setting UP y
q blind. They watch for likely y
places and when they find a Y
spot where crows congregate y
they get permission from the Y
property owner to build what 2
will be their Saturday home "
for the next two weeks, or at Il
most three.
Must Change Locations Ct
I'VE can't use the same blind IL
for more than two weeks, ordi- 0
narily." Bob Austin explains.
THE birds get too wary. Some
times we have managed to get
In a third week at the same II
blind but mostly we have to Il
find a new spot. o
They take extreme care in u
building their blinds. which y
are works or art. Both men +
are in the construction indus
try, Austin a sheet metal Z
worker and Hogan a foreman u
on a construction project. and p
their tightly-built blinds show c
their building know-how. a
Picking the Site n
Usually, about Wednesday, c
they will start work on the
blind. They choose the site q
after considering factors such =
as how the birds are feeding u
or otherwise using the particu- s.
lar area, the direction of nor a
NAL flight, whether a hedgerow +
will be a help or a hinderance
In shooting. Il
They plant four stout green 81
poles for the corner posts, put D
in two more for the doorway at +
one side. two others in the GEN.
ter to strengthen the structure.
and then poles for top plates
to form the frame, roof and ii
sides. All Of these poles are Il
lashed stoutly together. Il
Then lighter sticks are lashed ii
IN so that branches and pine n
trees can be tied around the Al
sides and roof for complete ir
concealment. The roof of the is
blind is just high enough to "
allow a man good head clear
ance while seated. A hole just is
big enough for one shooter to g,
operate comfortably is left in Il
the roof. Il
When Hogan and Austin go re
crow hunting they go early. re
They want to reach their blind ii
at least half an hour before 81
daylight. This gives them time h.
10 get all of their stuff-guns, d,
ammunition. lunch-into the IL
blind and placed conveniently NJ
and then put out their decoys. W
And they believe in plenty of Il
decoys. They use at least 20 of h
the plastic type and put most Of
them in front of the blind, sit h
ting a few inches off the ST
ground on corn stalks. II an 81
old corn field is the base of a
operations. They also put two II
or three in trees around the m
blind. u
Ready Before Daylight :,
They both are experts with Is
the mouth crow callers. But Il
they also have the record of 81
various crow calls and the am b
plifier. After years at the sport n
they have gotten so they can II
call crows in under all sorts of II
conditions. But Austin says n
that when they first started