Crow Hunting...

[Alan]

My father in law says he wants me to go crow hunting with his this July. Well, I never knew there was such a thing as Crow hunting..I have to say I would enjoy taking some crows out of the crow population...

Anyway, I have some questions on Crow hunting, and I hope some could help..

What's the best gun of choice for crows? a .22 rifle, or a shot gun???

After you shoot it, what do you do with it? Leave it where it lands? Is that legal?

Where can one legally hunt for Crows? Does Crow hunting require a license?

When you hunt for Crows, would you rather shoot it in the tree, or in flight?

Are these birds smart? Once you shoot a few, do the rest catch on and then are history?

Any advice or tips would be appreciated, as I am not a hunter myself as I would never keep anything I would shoot. No interest in it. but to go out and shoot some annoying Crow and not have to worry about taking them, now I could get into that...I hate crows...

Thanks anyone who can chime in...

[tealitup]

My limited experience: Long shots on an open area - .17/.22 nice. Otherwise, I hunt with a 12 ga. shooting while flying. Rarely can you walk up to them in a tree. I use an electronic call with decoys. Sometime you will get 1 or 2 come in at a time, while other times you might get 20.

Very smart in my estimation. Once you shoot in an area I find that you have to move to another. You do not need a license to hunt crows; and we gather them and throw them when dead. I have heard some people have eaten them, but... I am not that brave.

I have heard that for ever crow you shoot, you are saving 20-50 other bird eggs (duck, pheasant).

[fishermusk]

I like to shoot them with a shotgun in flight. You do not need a liscense and can hunt in WMA's now, the rule was recently changed, hunting in WMA's used to be illegal. They are pretty smart but the good thing about July is the young of year birds are real dumb. I use a electronic call and mostly use crow fight or crow distress, you can make the crow distress sound real easy with a hand call just by blowing in it, that realy fires them up. I dont eat crow but there are a few recipes for it, I usualy leave them in the woods for the coyotes to clean up. Set up around short trees so your shots will be at low birds, mourning is usualy best. Crows don't like to fly to much on very hot days IMO so cooler days are better for birds and bugs.

Good Luck,

Dave

[ChompChomp_YANK]

Fishermuskie, I couldn't have said it any better. The second season is very fun because of the dumb young birds.

[MrBaz]

Teal, I agree, Crows are smart,

I go the cheap road, hand call and an owl decoy, I use my old duck decoy rope and a weight to toss over a branch and pull the owl up and try to make the owl decoy look somewhat real, get hidden and start calling. Some are challenging to shoot because they tuck and dive at the decoy, but overall a fun time. Its a good way to improve your shooting skills.