going crow hunting

[PmDavis300]

i have lots of questions. im going to go crow hunting in carlos avery this weekend. i will bring a shot gun, i think my buddy will bring a .22.

is there a good place to go at carlos avery?

i heard you cant eat crows, what do you do with them?

if i see a coyote, can i shoot one? i might bring some slugs if i can. how likely am i to actually see a coyote in carlos avery?

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

DON'T EAT THEM LOL!!! Crows are a wack'em and stack'em hunt. You have a good chance of seeing a yote out there. If you have a hand call for yotes give it a try. You can hunt yotes year around doesn't matter. As long as you can hunt the land you can hunt them. Also for crow hunting make sure you are in camo. They can see like up to a 1/4 mile and they know what a gun looks like. So make sure you are completely covered or your pattern is broken up enough. Oh also they normally send in a scouter first. Make sure you drop that bird, if he see's you and you don't drop him you are screwed and you might as well move to a new spot. These birds aren't always that easy to get to come in. If they hear you calling and they do come in and don't see what they think they heard they will leave and in a hurry. As for spots I myself don't really have one spot that I hunt there. I tend to move alot. If I am calling for awhile and don't get any responses I will move to a new spot. Also sometimes you can hear them off in the distance but they aren't coming in. Move along the tree line towards them and try closer. Sometimes they aren't able to pin point where you are and a little move can make all the difference. Good luck and let us know how you did.

[PmDavis300]

few more now, do i need to wear ANY orange this time of year? also, i dont think i can just leave the crows where they lay, do i need to remove them from the area? or can i let the yotes eat them?

last question, should i be in wooded areas? fields, tree lines?

[stretch]

No you don't have to wear blaze orange. The crows and coyotes will pick you out like a sore thumb. You need to retreive the crows or coyotes that you shoot and dispose of them properly. I would set up alond the field edges and tree lines.

[PmDavis300]

set up? in a blind? or can iwalk around and try to find them?

[PmDavis300]

well i went scouting this evening. i did find a patch of evergreens with about 20 or more crows, but it was in the sanctuary area... to bad i cant find an area like that where i can actually hunt. it was getting late but i didnt see anymore anywhere else. what time do they go to roost?

[picksbigwagon]

Is the Nemadji state forest open at this time of the year? If so, I have crow hunted up there before. This was before I tried chasing coyotes, so I am not sure if they have coyotes in Nemadji or if the timberpups have moved in. Yes it is a bit farther north, but I bet you will have less non hunters to run into as well. There is also some federal land around the sandstone as well as some county land near sandstone that has always held crows.....I didn't go there to hunt crows, but they were there anyway

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

Ya I run the tree lines of a sod or really any open field. No blaze is needed. If you have a blind you are sure welcome to use it. They definitely can help you hunt by a long shot. I would leave the crows for the yotes and feel that you did you part on feeding nature. Now for that unhuntable area, you seem to have sumbled on a decent spot. What I would do is locate where the boundaries are and find a spot close enough to the crows. If you can find a spot under a patch of trees and just toss out so decoys and have fun.

[PmDavis300]

Ya I run the tree lines of a sod or really any open field. No blaze is needed. If you have a blind you are sure welcome to use it. They definitely can help you hunt by a long shot. I would leave the crows for the yotes and feel that you did you part on feeding nature. Now for that unhuntable area, you seem to have sumbled on a decent spot. What I would do is locate where the boundaries are and find a spot close enough to the crows. If you can find a spot under a patch of trees and just toss out so decoys and have fun.

thats what i was thinking. the boundry is the road. i was able to call them over to me, and i could have potentially made a kill in the huntable area, so maybe i should just stick close to the road and shoot from there, i know i cant shoot over the roadway, but i can get them if they come over it.

[PmDavis300]

might actually make it a little more fun, more of a achallenge

[PmDavis300]

heres a sticky question... if i shoot the birds out side of the sanctuary, but am shooting towards it, like say im 10 - 20 yards off the boundry/road and i shoot toward the sanctuary... would that be acceptable?

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

Hmm I would have to say that would be still illegal to do so. Now if you sat parallel with the road and say the did come a crossed the road you blasted them you would be good. I just think that you would be ticketed or hauled off in cuffs if you were firing into the sanctuary. I think they would make an example out of you.

[PmDavis300]

well i went out on saturday, those crows by the sanctuary were gone, but i did call in 2 crows in that spot. apparently i need some practice, as i missed the one i shot at. i saw 2 more crows north of that area, and again missed the one i shot at. i think i need to get out to the range. i will try again next weekend, hopefully i get back in the groove of things by then

[ac777]

How far were the crow when you shot at them and what size shot were you using? they arent the toughest birds when hit and will drop fairly easy in my experience anyways.

[PmDavis300]

just the w-mart variety winchester universal 20 gauge shells... you know $20 for 100?

[picksbigwagon]

I would use 4 or 5 shot for crows, those wally world boxes are usually 7.5's and 8's

[HunterLee]

All you need is wally world cheapo's. Crows can't take a pellet that well. Shot 31 pigioens and 1 crow today. We have had alot of trouble getting them to come into range.

[benbosh]

7 1/2's and 8's would be fine within 20-30 yards depending on the choke. but i like 6'ss and 5's, they reach out farther and make a quicker cleaner kill

[picksbigwagon]

All I have shot the last few years has been 4' and 5's, because that is all my buddy reloads for me.....It's not like I am saving them for dinner

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

So I was out today and had a bunch calling back but they wouldn't even come anywhere near us.

[fishermusk]

Try using predator calls, dying rabbit squeals work sometimes.

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

I was doing a dual yote / crow hunt. The dying rabbit worked on getting one close enough that my buddy popped off a few but with no luck, and the next spot did me no good.

[PmDavis300]

how often do you actually see coyotees when you go hunting for them? ive never seen one in my life.

[tracker x-2]

carful buying that 4 pack at w mart i was there last night and almost did that with 12g and then looked and the indavidual boxs and it came out cheaper to buy them.

[fishermusk]

Sometimes wary coyotes will only come to crow calls, I have killed a couple while using crow fight or crow gathering sounds. They can be killed with 2 3/4' 5's which is what I use for crows.

The first time it happened for me I killed an old female that didn't have much left for teeth, she was about fifty yards away , but I did find a little blood. It took me over an hour to track her down and find her.