I am quite embarrassed by my lack of blogging. I have seen a tremendous number of hits to this site over the past several months, so I know a lot of you are interested in my Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania hunting stories. I will try to catch you up.
A week-and-a-half ago, Curt and I went to our normal crow hunting spot for a late afternoon crow hunt. The balmy Saturday afternoon weather presented us — and many others — with a tremendous excuse to get outside. Now before I rant, let me begin by stating that I have no problems with sharing the great outdoors. In fact, I encourage everyone to get outside and do something instead of sitting home watching the “idiot box”. However, some folks are just clueless and choose to exploit the outdoors with reckless abandon. While driving to our secluded crow hunting spot, we noticed several sets of 4X4 tire tracks. Additionally, we saw several motorcycles (dirtbikes) zooming by. These dirtbikes are a frequent sight at our crow hunting spot, so we have learned to deal with them. When possible, I attempt to notify any cyclists in the area that we are hunting. I point out the decoys, show them our location, and let them know where my truck is (so they don’t kill themselves by crashing into it). Up until a week-and-a-half ago, the cyclists welcomed the warnings and made sure they utilized the other 1,000 acres for riding. But, on this day we had a pair of jackasses who wanted to cause trouble. I tried to flag one of the cyclists down to inform him of our plans, but he purposely did not stop. He waved, but kept going. I then heard him join up with his buddy, and they came zipping back through our decoy spread, with the one moron purposely “burning out” in a blatant attempt to kick dirt and mud all over the decoys. Curt and I both witnessed it and were pretty upset. When they came driving through the decoys again, I unloaded my gun, laid it down, and walked up the hill to ask them to stop. They stopped their bikes, and the guy who trashed the decoys said nothing. Instead, his friend decided to play tough guy. He wanted to yell and scream about the law, stating that we were “not allowed to hunt ducks” there. What a dope. A, we were hunting crows. B, we were legally allowed to hunt crows there. And, C, he and his partner were breaking the law because they definitely were not allowed to ride dirtbikes there! After challenging me to a fist fight (although he never stepped off of his bike or removed his helmet, chest protector, arm pads, or leg pads, by the way) and then realizing that that would have been a bad move on his part, he apologized for himself and his partner. They ultimately left, but not before at least 3 flocks of crows flied right to our decoys. Can’t we all just get along?!?!
Curt, Paul, and I hunted crows last Saturday, March 22. The weather was a crisp, cloudless day, with winds blowing from the north. In all the years we have been hunting this spot, I cannot remember hunting there with a north wind — and it’s a good thing. The north wind totally screwed up our hunt! Because we are on the bank of the Delaware River, the crows follow a typical pattern when they cross the river to roost. They always seens to cross the river at exactly the same location, give or take a couple hundred yards. On this day with the north wind, they crossed about 3/4 mile away from their normal crossing location and actually roosted at a different location! This is the first time we have seen this behavior. (I hope they are not growing accustomed to our spreads!). To make matters worse, all of them flew at 737 altitude! They were flying so high that we needed anti-aircraft guns to hit them. Let this post serve as a reminder to change our tactics on clear days with a north wind.
I was off work on Good Friday, so I took the kids out for some turkey scouting in New Jersey. With the New Jersey turkey hunting season opening on April 14, I need to get on the ball. We checked some spots that I have not previously hunted and found some good sign. Based on my findings, I think I will have good success in the turkey woods this spring. We also found some coyote sign, which is seemingly becoming more prevalent in southern New Jersey. I have a coyote hunting permit, so perhaps I will try for one!