Crows

I live in a smaller community but still local ordinance states no shooting of any kind. People all around have squirrel, skunk and small varmint problems. Hearing a shot or two is not uncommon. I dispatch my yearly crow problem with CCI CB longs. Not much more noise than your average air rifle. At 20 yards crows never know what hit them!
 
Smart indeed, I have a few crows that are hurting the local songbird population and Im also wondering what I will do about them since Im in the city.

I picked a mouth call and after messing around with it for 10 minutes two crows landed on a tree in front of me 20-30 yards away. They are very smart but they can be fooled now I just need to dispatch them.
 
My old aunt in Calgary gets the neighborhood magpies every year by hanging small leghold gopher traps on her garden shed about 15" from the ground and put cheese whiz on the trigger. Bird jumps up to peck the cheese, snap
 
Slapshot said:
My old aunt in Calgary gets the neighborhood magpies every year by hanging small leghold gopher traps on her garden shed about 15" from the ground and put cheese whiz on the trigger. Bird jumps up to peck the cheese, snap
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I have heard that before and I bet it would work. A #1 longspring on nightlatch would do the trick.
 
Levi Garrett said:
Anyone hunt crows ? :rolleyes:
calls, what works ,,glassing, methods , etc....:D
This is the " Hunting !! " Forum...:D
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I have hunted crows with shotguns and varmint rifles for 31 years or so. Hand calling mixed with an electronic caller at the right location can net dozens of kills in a single morning. My record one day kill was 66 with a 16 gauge Model 12 back in September of 1988. These were all roost bound crows.

Really enjoy setting up with my little Sako 222 near a landfill or cattle operation manure pile. Rifle kills are the most dramatic IOM but one day kills of more than a dozen are few. Let's talk crow shooting people!
 
gth said:
Foxpro and a 12ga = lots of crow shooting fun.
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was thinking something more mobile, and not break the bank
agccowcall2.jpg


Would use a diana 350 in .177, a 460 in 22 cal, and some others, love the full power Airguns.
maybe a bit of use from a 20 guage, and 3 in Kent #6/4 lead.
 
Levi Garrett said:
was thinking something more mobile, and not break the bank
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I hunt crows all the time...I may not get as many as others have but I get a few every outing with basically a $10 crow call and a $15 rabbit in distress call...I just walk the bush, and crow call until I hear a crow call back and change to a dying rabbit call and they come in right away for a look, usually I just get the one chance at them before they move on...I keep walking and calling, the bigger the bush the better, new crows are always flying by...like I said as I soon as I hear a crow I start using the rabbit in distress call and 95% of the time they come in for a look just above the tree line...I use a 12 guage with cheap #6 shot modified choke....This type of hunting lets me scout off season with a little action to boot, not to mention helps me hone my shooting skills...
 
gth said:
I have heard that before and I bet it would work. A #1 longspring on nightlatch would do the trick.
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The crows had killed a couple of song birds, when I got mad at them and set the connebear trap on a high pole, as described in my first posting.
I thought the trigger on a connebear trap, a number one, with meat on it, looked more enticing than a leg hold type.
But no way would they go even close to it. Thoroughly inspected it at a distance, plus some fly by trips.
 
this will give you an idea of how smart a crow is. Even though these crows tongues are slit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nqpo9F_4Sc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtmLVP0HvDg&feature=related


they are fun to shoot with a shotgun and electronic caller. Just make sure you are a good shot because they dont come back too easy. The young ones seem to forget pretty quick but there is a few that know it right away and warn the others. I wish I could kill thoughs 2 or 3 but they never get closer then 100 yards
 
An old farmer who had magpie problems told me he used two fence posts a few inches apart (maybe 6") and had meat on one and a trap on the other. The magpies would land on the trap to try to get the meat.
 
KDX said:
An old farmer who had magpie problems told me he used two fence posts a few inches apart (maybe 6") and had meat on one and a trap on the other. The magpies would land on the trap to try to get the meat.
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An old #0 leg hold trap... the type that people would trap weasels or squirrels with. The fence post thing is waaaay too simple...can't believe I never thought of that! As a kid I would trap magpies with the aforementioned trap. Would set up on a hay bale by concealing the trap next to some plain old chicken egg shells. At times the magpies would actually watch me set the thing and would race each other to the "prize".
 
Go to the country. Kill a crow. Drop the dead critter out in the open near your home. The crows will freak for about an hour and then vacate the area for about a month. Repeat as needed.
 
sjemac said:
Go to the country. Kill a crow. Drop the dead critter out in the open near your home. The crows will freak for about an hour and then vacate the area for about a month. Repeat as needed.
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+1 :agree:

A friend hangs a couple dead crows on the fence at calving season to keep the crows from pecking the eyes out of newborn calves. He says if you hang em upside down by a leg the others won't come around.
 
Now if you want real fun. Kill a crow. Put it under a stuffed hawk. Get all camoed up and start wailing on the crow call. Don't shoot the first few bastards that come in. Let them get all worked up and get a big ball of crows pissing themselves over the bastard hawk that killed their brother. Then, without moving much, shoot the crows that fly into a narrow path that lets you shoot without making really big swings. You can kill 30-40 (my record (two of us) is 42 ) of the buggers at one stand before they get wise. All the cawing and flapping seems to make them oblivious to the gunshots.
 
I put a plastic owl decoy on a post in a crow area. Screw a fish hook to the base and hang a dead crow from this hook. Looks like a crow in the tallons of the owl. For added effect I break both or the wings of the crow as they dangle in the wind for added effect. The best crow decoys are dead crows. Make sure your owl decoy is higher than the surrounding shrubs/trees and never put crow decoys lower than the owl...except for the one on the owl. I have shot thousands of crows over this simple setup. They just keep coming back for more if you remain well hidden. I have often shot a half dozen or more out of the same group before they get wise. Set up on a flyway to and from roosing sites...often metropolitan areas these days. Crows often use defined flyways to and from roosts and never shoot the roost... as tempting as it is. Crows will vacate this area and lots of field work will be needed to locate another roost. Use light trap or skeet loads of #7 1/2 or 8 shot. Most often shoot a 16 or 20 gauge as I find the sub gauges very effective and a bit less report which has less impact on distant approaching birds. Crows are the greatest game bird to hunt IMO. Smarter than any canada goose but their gangsterish behavior makes them most vulnerable!
 
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