Crow hunting

[ChompChomp_YANK]

Anybody going out tomorrow for opening day. Me my son & buddy of mine will be out at the crack of dawn spreadin out the decoys, and pullin on the snow camo. I cant wait to blast them black bandits.

[harvey lee]

Does a person need a license to shoot crows?

[ChompChomp_YANK]

No you dont need a lic. ITS FREE !! well except for your gun, shells, decoys, and call but thats it, OH I forgot the camo.

[Cooter]

Its a blast, haven't done it in a while but a great winter sport.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

Talk about a blast. One day last march I shot 54 crows from 9am till about 1:30pm by myself. I had to quit because I ran out of shells. I didnt even have to move I just sat in the same spot and never shut off the call. They just kept comming !!! Before that day the most we ever got in 1 day was 36 & that was with 3-4 guys & about 3 different locations.

[maros91]

How does one hunt crows? Just buy an electronic call and have a seat in the woods or what? What do you do with them after you shoot them? I can't imagine them tasting any good.

[MNpurple]

I just use a digital Johnny Stweart caller witha variety of sounds, set out a few decoys, camo up, and there you go. Soem guys really get into it and figure out morning and evening travel routes but you can go just about anywhere. I find the best areas are those which the crows have to fly low enough to see what is going on, so usuallly thick ground cover but not thick enough so you cant shoot. The best is when you knock a bird down and it sits there and flops on the ground, seems like that commotion really gets them in and close.

Can you hunt crows on a WMA?

[WaitForIt]

What do you do with crows after shooting them???

[Bandit]

Taste just like chicken.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

We went out this morning, The first one to come in, came in hard and right at the owl decoy. I told my kid to take him ( thinking he might miss I also put up my gun and drew a bead ) but no follow up was needed, he folded it up like an old pair of pants !! We had one flock comming in hard (about 10 birds) my buddy was so trigger happy he didn't see anything but the 1st one commin in so we didn't get to shoot at the rest. We had about 15 other birds come thru but most kept there distance. Must have been some local birds that I have shot at before.We still got quite a bit of shootin in for a slow morning. It was still better than sitting at home and wondering if we should have went. We need some good warm days to pull some new birds into town. Well maby tomorrow will be better we are going to try some different spots. Bandit, I'll take your word for it, I have never tried them but I know the coyotes like them

[harvey lee]

 Originally Posted By: Biff Tannen

How does one hunt crows? Just buy an electronic call and have a seat in the woods or what? What do you do with them after you shoot them? I can't imagine them tasting any good.

Heck Bill, crow isnt that bad, it seems I eat it all the time.

[prechlerker]

They use to have a crow tournament in Richmond at a resort for a weekend teems of four go in the morning come back at night with all the crows.The one with most crows at end of weekend wins.Thats all i know i never did it.Few of us talked about it.

[maros91]

I believe there is one in the Princeton area also. Teams of 4 and the winner gets everyone elses crows.

[bimbo]

so where should you set up? and what about setting road kill where you are hunting?

[ChompChomp_YANK]

I like to set up in a small opening in the woods. I like this better than an open area because the crows have to come in to see what is going on. In a open area they will check it out from a distance if there is somthing they dont like (movement, shiny gun barrel) they will be gone!! They are very smart. I have about a doz. decoys a owl decoy and a fox pro digital caller I try to get the owl and decoys up as high as i can, set the caller in the middle and get in the brush. If there is crows close by you better have shells and lots of them. Some will come in quiet while others will be making all kinds of noise. We have had times when you cant get your gun loaded fast enough, BANG-CLICK !! x#o%#@. Everybody that I have brought out didnt know what to expect but after shooting @ 20-50 birds in a morning they are hooked. I also think this a great way to get your young kids on the target. If you miss the first shot you better hunker down because they dive, spin, swoop, cork screw anything they can do to get away. I tell everybody its like duck hunting but better. Ther are like ducks on steroids!! Bimbo i dont use road kill it stinks to bad

[Fish&Fowl]

CCY took the words out of my mouth. Small openings in the woods make the crows come in close to check things out. I think fields would be good or better if you could get some motion, but with plain old decoys, small openings seem to work best.

I use the crows I've shot as decoys and leave 'em lay. People do eat them, but those things are full of diseases and I honestly wouldn't ever consider eating one. Good sport, good practice, good fun, and a good excuse to shoot the gun during the off-season.

[walleyeslammer]

We often just drive around past a bunch of wildlife areas and when we find some we find a place that is out of sight to park the car and then find a place to hide, set up 3 decoys turn on the call and in about 1-2 mins you better be ready because the crows are coming hard looking to take a pounding. Definately a blast. If you think spoonbills and teal decoy hard with a mojo, you should try crow hunting. I wasn't planning on it, but now I think I will go crow hunting Saturday morning, the ole gun barrel hasn't been warmed up since rabbit hunting earlier in the winter.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

 Originally Posted By: Fish&Fowl

I use the crows I've shot as decoys and leave 'em lay.

Isn't that coincedered Wanton Waste?

Seems like a blood sport to me, IMO

[BucksnDucks]

Not sure if it is or not, being that crows are not consider game birds! If you dont care to see em go to waste, id be happy to drop a few off at your place to try! Yummy!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Thanks, but nooooo thanks

[123fish]

A crow is considered a varmint. All you have to do is watch them one time sitting on the light pole next to your favorite neighborhood pond and picking off the baby ducks one by one as mama mallard brings them to shore and you won't have any problem shooting them and letting them lay.

[kilkercal615]

Have you ever tried using a crow mojo...I heard they work well

[BRULEDRIFTER]

 Originally Posted By: 123fish

A crow is considered a varmint. All you have to do is watch them one time sitting on the light pole next to your favorite neighborhood pond and picking off the baby ducks one by one as mama mallard brings them to shore and you won't have any problem shooting them and letting them lay.

Really? I didn't think they were that big of a problem for other wildlife. I figured they we more or less dumpster divers and picked at dead animals.

Shoot away!

[ChompChomp_YANK]

Crows are very bad on song birds. they find the nests and eat the eggs.

[Scott M]

Why Kills Crows

by Crowbusters staff

Except for the handful of recipes for preparing crow, why in this day of rampant animal rights fanaticism, should we continue to hunt and kill an animal that has no real monetary value? The reason is that the crow has and continues to exhibit behavior that ranges from simply annoying to highly destructive. In agricultural areas, be it the pecan plantations of the south or the cornfields of the mid-west, crows continue to account for extensive crop damage, including the nasty habit of pulling up sprouting grain in the spring. Western crows have the worst reputation for crop damage, especially because of their habit of congregating by the thousands to feed on cultivated fruits and nuts. Often, they end the day by raiding a nearby watermelon field in order to save a trip to a distant watering place. Under such conditions, total crop loss can occur.

Where their ranges overlap, crows severely impact the annual waterfowl populations. When the hens begin laying, crows break open and eat the eggs. Later they will return and devour the fledglings. In the 40's a biological survey was conducted that really shows the damage crows can cause to the waterfowl in the Canadian "Duck Factory". It was shown that crows in close proximity to duck nesting areas took an average of 110 to 120 eggs or fledglings per crow per year, approximately 20,000,000 ducks. During the same year, sportsman only took 11,000,000 ducks. A common slogan of the time was "Kill a crow, Save a duck". At a time when waterfowl seasons are being dramatically reduced and even canceled, the survival rate of waterfowl at their breeding grounds is paramount. Shooting crows can make a real difference. Crows also take a heavy toll on upland game birds, including direct responsibility for at least 4 1/2 percent nest depredation on ruffed grouse and in California crows have been implicated in the endangerment of the Mojave desert tortoise. They also prey on small mammals such as rabbits and squirrels and have been known to kill prey as large as newborn lambs.

In the past twenty years, there has been a crow population explosion in the suburban areas around the country, especially the East. It is now common to awaken to the call of crows in many suburban backyards where only a few years ago, it was somewhat rare. In fact, many large roosts are forming within the beltways of major cities. Besides the nuisance factor of torn open trash bags and backyard droppings, the effect on the local songbird populations is incalculable.

More recently, crows have been identified as a carrier of the West Nile Virus, an encephalitis type virus that has killed at least 155 people to date. Crows have been found to be prime carriers of the mosquito borne disease because of their highly sensitive nature to the virus and their roosting habits. Blood tests are currently being conducted throughout the East (see CROW BUSTERS Cooperates with West Nile Virus Research), but this disease will continue to be a concern due to the crow's migratory nature.

Having said all this, I believe the crow deserves our admiration and should be considered more than just a nuisance bird by hunters. The crow is the most intelligent of all birds in North America. As such, they can be a challenging and worthy adversary that, kept under control, are a welcome part of nature's complex tapestry. Based on the outcome of man/crow conflicts throughout history, the crow will no doubt continue to be a source of many frustrating hours afield for those of us who call ourselves "Crow Hunters".

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Interesting read. Would like to see some data from a waterfowl biologist on nesting predation, but otherwise an interesting read.