help crow hunting

[mio]

my buddy calls me up yesterday and asks if i know anything about crow hunting my response was "yeah some people do it"

he calls me back this morning and tells me he bought a call 2 deeks and an owl so out of curiousity i go hunting with him today.

we go to first spot get set up with the crows above the owl and turn on the call after a few minutes a couple crows start coming in but the call shuts off and they leave. we get the remote for the call get set back up and have 2 more come in but they circle just out of range.

next spot we get 3 to come in but the roost in a couple red pines about 100yrds away and just sit there looking at our stuff then move to some oaks a little farther out and call a bit but dont come into range at all. finally we get one to come in a circle within range and get it.

this is the first time either of us had done this. yesterday he ran into the crow busters website while surfing thought it sounded like fun and a good way to get ready for grouse season so he got some tips.

we were in full camo well concealed and used the challenge call untill we got a call back then we used the crow/owl fight call. when they start to leave we use the distress call.

any idea what we were doing wrong, or maybe just picked a poor area?

 

[Floppy_D]

Pick a spot they frequent; a covey of trees near the dumpster at a WMA. Dress for turkey (i.e. camo everything). I like a rally cry to get the mood on, and I prefer mouth calls. With an electronic call, you talk "at" them. With a mouth call, you talk "to" them. The other thing, once you get the ball rolling, they'll keep coming. Crows all over the ground make great deeks, and they'll keep coming.

Last, if you aren't seeing them in a few minutes, try a different spot the next time. When you call, they'll come. Crows are easy to muster.

 

[wankerjake]

i would get a .223 or maybe a .22 mag and pop them at 100 yds. it would be equally hilarious i think (I assume you were using shotguns)

 

[mio]

yes he had a 12ga pump with modified choke and i was using a bolt 20ga with c-lect choke set on full

 

[mio]

oh and i dont like the idea of shooting a .223 at something sitting in the top of a tree.

 

[Geno]

Mark a comfortable spot for yourself to sit, and set up a portable blind, I prefer under nice big tree, or inside of the grapevines. Take a couple buckets of garbage, and walk out 175 paces for rimfire, or 200 paces for centerfire. Dump a pail of garbage. Make a few piles, and put them at about 20 to 25 yards distance from eachother. Crows are opportunists. Within a day or 2, crows will begin to frequent that garbage.

Others may disagree with me here, but I really like to use a .22LR for varmints when taking head or neck shots. Before you do, be very assured of your ability to perform 1-shot kills to the desired distance. The beauty of the .22LR is that it is so quiet that multiple kills can be made without scaring the crows all off.

Enjoy!

Doc2005

Edit to add: The shotgun reference was made while I was typing. Shotguns can work in closer ranges, but I still prefer .22LR at distance; I have to...I hunt the bean and potato fields around Mt. Pleasant. WIDE-open.

Doc

 

[mio]

thats some long range 22 shooting. another question while im here. i saw recipes for crows on the crow busters site. is it really safe to eat something that carries west nile?

 

[publiuss]

Crows are very smart. They often land in a tree a 100 yds away or so and check out the situation. if you're playing a call of his fellow crows raising hell and all they see as 2 crows sitting calmly staring at an owl, they know something is up. Only thing i have found that helps is not to set up in an area where they can survey you from a great distance. Set up where they have to come into range to check things out.

 

[Geno]

My Grandfather ate crow on more than one occassion as a young man (1920s). I could not, would not. Although, if starving...

 

[mio]

are crows and ravens the same thing and if not what is the difference?

 

[Geno]

Did a Google and found this at (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven

Raven is the common name given to the largest species of passerine birds in the genus Corvus. Corvids are also commonly referred to as crows and other...

 

[Regolith]

Ravens and crows are NOT the same thing. Shoot a raven instead of a crow, and its a good way to get fined if you're caught (they're a protected species).

Crows are smaller, have a narrow beak and a narrow tail. Ravens are much larger, have a humped/curved beak and a spread-out, wedge-shaped tail.

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

Our cardinal rule for crow calling is in a low hedgerow. The lower the tallest cover is the lower the crows come over for a look and dead crows.

If we can hide in a corn field we throw the dead crows up into the air just above the corn, this drives them crazy. They come in low and we kill more crowsl

Number 8 cheap shot works for us.

Having crow hunted so many years, I have learned to call with just my voice. Comes in handy in the duck blind and impresses my hunting partners and they get to collect a few crows.

 

[mio]

ok im off to bed thx for the tips guys hopefully we will do better tomorrow

 

[dagger dog]

Ravens are protected in many areas, and have been making a come back,quite larger than old black joe crow (jose cuervo). And I quote "Nevermore"


I was mobbed at a camp ground, had set up my electronic caller under a picnic table that had been receiving a lot of attention by the local crow population, those garbage left overs I guess was what was making all the interest to old joe. I had the distress recording on and once the right volume was found must have had 45-50 squaking, straffing ,wheeling around that picnic table trying to find out what the heck was chewing on that new guy that was making such a fuss. To bad it was in a no shooting zone , bet I could have taken a dozen or more from my vanatage spot.

 

[HB]

Mark a comfortable spot for yourself to sit, and set up a portable blind, I prefer under nice big tree, or inside of the grapevines. Take a couple buckets of garbage, and walk out 175 paces for rimfire, or 200 paces for centerfire. Dump a pail of garbage. Make a few piles, and put them at about 20 to 25 yards distance from each other. Crows are opportunists. Within a day or 2, crows will begin to frequent that garbage.

Illegal (baiting in Missouri at least, as they have a season) and what's the point of shooting crows if you aren't going to eat them (or at least try?) They are not like p-dogs in the fact that they actually serve a good purpose. They clean up.

HB

 

[Geno]

Crow hunting is Michigan is much more regulated now than say 10 years or so back, when they were fair game 365 days per year. In recent years, there has been an established season. I haven't seen this year's DNR manual Re: crow, etc. It should, however, always go without saying that one has to check the current DNR regs prior to hunting. Due to all the surgeries I didn't get a single day of varmint hunting yet.

 

[BADUNAME37]

I was varmint hunting in some fairly thick woods and started using a varmint call (sounds like a rabbit dying).

The more loud squeeling I did (mouth call), the crows started coming.

I must have had about 200 crows all calling back at me, like they were angry to hear the call, or angry at each other to try to be the first to get the "food."

For a while, I thought the crows were going to attack me they were flying so close overehad!

I was sitting in a tree stand with cammo on. I had a rifle, not a shotgun and it wasn't crow season, so I just watched them fly by in my scope.

Just a thought!

 

[308win]

Crows are naturally curious, social, and opportunists when it comes to food - use that against them. They are intelligent, highly alert, and have excellent eyesight. Baiting is illegal in Ohio but that doesn't stop you from shooting over natural carrion and food sources.

 

[EShell]

Pick a spot they frequent; a covey of trees near the dumpster at a WMA. Dress for turkey (i.e. camo everything). I like a rally cry to get the mood on, and I prefer mouth calls. With an electronic call, you talk "at" them. With a mouth call, you talk "to" them. The other thing, once you get the ball rolling, they'll keep coming. Crows all over the ground make great deeks, and they'll keep coming.

Last, if you aren't seeing them in a few minutes, try a different spot the next time. When you call, they'll come. Crows are easy to muster.

Our cardinal rule for crow calling is in a low hedgerow. The lower the tallest cover is the lower the crows come over for a look and dead crows.

If we can hide in a corn field we throw the dead crows up into the air just above the corn, this drives them crazy. They come in low and we kill more crowsl

Number 8 cheap shot works for us.

Having crow hunted so many years, I have learned to call with just my voice. Comes in handy in the duck blind and impresses my hunting partners and they get to collect a few crows.

Excellent posts. We've shot a thousand of them, over bait, and/or with hand callers and electronic callers.
My own practices/suggestions:
1) Hunt where the crows are and do not be reluctant to move. If you don't get any action within 15-30 minutes, you're wasting your time and probably educating birds to the caller.
2) Yup, "camo for turkeys" is exactly right. Most people fail because they do not give crows due credit for their eyesight and/or reasoning ability. Stay hidden, do not move until they're in range and you're ready to fire.
3) Give them something to look at, so they don't keep searching for the cause of the disturbance. An old fox hide on a stump or low bush usually beats a plastic owl, especially on sunny days.
4) More decoys are better and face decoys into the wind whenever possible (watch the way live birds sit).
5) Try to keep direct sun off your decoys, which highlights any unnatural appearances.
6) Dead birds make great decoys, but place them in a more natural posture than upside down with their wings flopped out.
7) If they sit in a distant tree and look at your setup, you're made. As long as they sit there, they'll warn off incoming birds. Either move or scare those birds off or you're just educating them and those that would have come in.
8) Skip the rifle unless shooting over a bait pile. Unless your eyesight and terrain permits several miles of unbroken visibility, you just can't safely shoot them out of treetops anyway. I've carried a rifle, but couldn't take most of the shots presented and a rifle ends up being dead weight.
9) Be critical of your setup and stay hidden. *Convinced* crows coming to a caller/decoy spread will come in hard and direct. If you find yourself wanting to shoot birds at distance, either with a rifle or too long a shotgun shot, something is wrong with your setup. Figure out what it is and fix it.

http://www.crowbusters.com/

Illegal (baiting in Missouri at least, as they have a season) and what's the point of shooting crows if you aren't going to eat them (or at least try?) They are not like p-dogs in the fact that they actually serve a good purpose. They clean up.

What applies to you and/or your own area isn't necessarily the universal experience.

Baiting pests such as crows, while not as productive as calling, IS legal in many areas, as is shooting over natural food sources such as winter kill or waste grain. Urban crows probably do offset (some of) their existence with performing cleanup duties, and looking out an apartment window at crows in McD's parking lot and dumpster, they DO seem useful. Rural crows, however, can be quite destructive to crops and songbirds, and in the huge numbers commonly found, they'll strip a field bare and/or ruin crops in a day or two. Even small suburban home gardens can be totally lost to even a relatively small flock of crows.

Using your own example, one could easily say that prairie dogs also perform the necessary and valuable services of loosening soils, aerating the prairie and converting vegetation to fertilizer, as well as providing shelter to snakes, owls and black footed ferrets, and food to any number of natural predators. They are only (considered) pests where agricultural and livestock interests intrude into their territory, and on/in public grounds they are simply a part of the natural balance.

That said, both prairie dogs and crows provide interesting sport shooting and PDs are a big source of tourist income to otherwise desolate places.

 

[mio]

thx guys looks like a couple more good tips in there. today went a bit better we were more carefull of our set up and more critical of our calling. didnt see a lot of birds but got to shoot at most of the ones we did see.

one problem here is that we dont have the crow problem some of you do. here a big flock is 6-8 crows on a road-killed deer.

ill keep checking back here for tips for next weekends hunting.

 

[penny]

Use a Mcdonalds french fry box with ketschup placed on the ground around the box.Works better on the snow covered ground.