Crow calls (hand-calls) - any local places that have something worth getting?

[ez bake]

I'm looking at picking up a couple of crow calls for myself and my kids to do some duck/dove target practicing since we have an abundance of crows and the season just kicked off again.

I've read some stuff on crowbusters.com and it seems to be a wealth of knowledge and crowmart.com online has several calls etc...

Is there a local place in the Tulsa area to get a good crow call? I haven't gone to Bass Pro yet, but from what I can find online, Gibson makes some of the best calls and Mallardtone makes some pretty good ones as well.

I'd like to buy locally, but I'll just order online if I have to. I went the way of just buying without researching when I first started duck hunting and it was expensive and full of a bunch of crappy duck-calls, so I'd like some advice on this one before I go that route.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Sniper John]

The ones offered on crowbusters are going to be good calls. Bass Pro sells Primos brand calls. I have one and it has worked ok. I use tapes with an old Johnny Stewart call, but also have about 4 mouth calls. Each different.
If someone is hunting with me I just hand them out for them to use during the hunt. I really have not noticed one being a "bad" call. More important to me is having some volume and then calling right. Since it is for you and your kids, you might pick up more than one brand. When hunting I have noticed some crows just sound different. They are not all alike. More important would be to read that stuff on crowbusters about calling and learn the different calls. Do the wrong call, you could actually be warning the Crows instead of attracting them. Also the thing that improved my Crow hunting more than anything else was decoy movement. One of those flapping wing decoys crowbuster sells or a flapping wing woodpecker decoy from Bass Pro painted black attached to the base of or near an owl decoy drives the crows crazy and will direct the attention to the decoys and not notice your movement.

 

[hubmonkey]

No worries EZBake.. Already bought a K&H Magnum Crow from BassPro, only kind they had. Academy had that crappy Primos call that John had on the trip.

Hub

 

[Sniper John]

Hey, I did not say there were not better. I tend to be a little old school, thus the one I usually pick up is my old Olt. Most of the time I don't mess with the mouth calls I am too busy messing the volume and flipping tapes with the old tape caller. I think I have even been using the same owl decoy for 25 or thirty years.

I hope you do well. ez bake. It should be really fun for the kids. I usually don't go until the end of the late crow season. It is a tradition for me as a final bird hunt of the year. I don't take it too serious and just have fun.

 

[ez bake]

Thanks for the info Sniper John - I'm not a big fan of Primos calls as Hubmonkey and myself have had some bad experiences with them (both duck and crow calls). I've heard the older Primos calls are better than the new calls.

 

[cvrx4]

This reminds me of a story. Back in highschool my buddy and I were out squirrel hunting/trapsing through the country side with our shotguns. Well we saw a few crows about 250 yards away. My grandfather and I used to crow hunt all the time and I can call crows w/o a call (learned how to call using my own voice). I told my buddy to get behind a tree and get ready. I went to callin and a few minutes later we were being swarmed/divebombed by crows. I commenced to shooting and looked over and my buddy was on the ground laughing his a** off. He could not believe what I had just done, but we had a good time I LOVE CROW hunting.

 

[dennishoddy]

I've had to eat crow a few times...doe that count?

 

[Sniper John]

Thanks for the info Sniper John - I'm not a big fan of Primos calls as Hubmonkey and myself have had some bad experiences with them (both duck and crow calls). I've heard the older Primos calls are better than the new calls.

I looked online and the one I have looks nothing like what they offer now. I know I have had it a long time. I think when I bought it originally I was using it or trying to use it as a Turkey locator call.

 

[ez bake]

I looked online and the one I have looks nothing like what they offer now. I know I have had it a long time. I think when I bought it originally I was using it or trying to use it as a Turkey locator call.

Do you like that flapping crow decoy? I stared at the one on the crow busters site for a while and decided to wait and get them later because I wasn't sure if they worked that well or not.

This Night and Hale works pretty well (at least one of the ones I got does - the other doesn't seem to fit together well, I may have to take it back). Picked up a plastic owl as well from Bass Pro - it looked a lot better than the one at Academy.

Went ahead and got a Buck Gardner Predator dual call pack (I've been wanting to get some of the many coyotes I've been seeing out at my folks' 35 acres) and have been driving everyone in the house nuts with the dying Cotton Tail and Jack rabbit calls - they sound pretty good (like all of Buck's stuff does).

 

[Sniper John]

The flapping wing decoy is the bomb. put it near the owl or permanently mount it at the base of the owl. It improved our kill ratio. You can also use a flapping wing Wounded Woodpecker Decoy painted black. It is on clearance online with the Cabelas Bargain Cave. I like the action of the one on crowbusters better, but it does not seem like it would be very durable over time. I have had to paint the wings on mine with several coats of black spray paint soaked in to keep the fabric of the wings from wearing out.
I have and use both.