Crow Hunting Ontario

IAMAWILDPARTY

IAMAWILDPARTY

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Hey, I've never actually been out hunting before, and just got my hunting licence.

Myself and a friend (also a complete hunting novice) want to hunt some crows or other similar pest birds, for practice and because a few people we've spoken to rather like the taste of them, so I'd like to try it.

My question is: what do we do? We've never done this before and really only have ideas, not any real practical experience(outside of shooting clays).

At the risk of getting laughed at, I'm going to list what I was thinking about trying.

-some scrap meat(he works as a butcher, easy to get)
-some sort of call (squirrel? rabbit?)
-a stuffed animal for a decoy, set somethign up where we attache a fishing line to it so we can make it move a little bit.

We'll probably be using primarily shotguns. I also have a .22 I wouldn't mind trying. Probably leave the .30-06 at home for this one :p

How far from a decoy should we set up? What kinds of chokes?
Is this a difficult bird to hunt?

We're in the GTA and are thinking nonquon or somewhere else nearby.
 
Interesting first choice for hunting. If you are willing to eat crow (no pun intended) you might want to consider squirrel there are many recipes for them. At the very keast youd be able to combine the two hunts. I'd be leery of eating a crow, they're scavengers and eat garbage, but then again so do bears.
Crow are very very smart birds, the may not give you a first shot and for sure no second. There are calling techniques you can find line, I know many air gun hunters hunt crow that might be a place to start. .22 would be good, and as far as a shotgun, personally I,d lean towards a tighter choke, modified or even full, that's just me.
Just go and hunt it's a great way to learn you can only read so much. When I started hunting I was in my early 20s and had no one to teach me, so I went out again and again until I started learning where the animals were (grouse in my case) and how to hunt them.

Good luck
 
For your first time..
Bring along your shotgun and some #7.5 shotshells, I like modified choke.
Buy a Quaker boy crow call from walmart/Cdn tire and imitate the crows as they "caw" but don't overdo it.
Wear FULL camo, stand between a couple of short trees but out in the open, the crows have to be in reasonable range- ie 50 yards or less and then don't move!
One lone bird will come across to check you out, leave well alone as this will be the scout before he tells his pals to come flocking in. Enjoy! Don't overthink it- just have fun the first time out and see whats happening all around you.
Here's a hint on shooting crows: They are not flying as fast as they may appear, just a four inch lead is fine.. ;)

Once you get into it, you'll want some crow decoys and a plactic owl and an electronic caller.
May I suggest you check out Crowbusters.com
 
I thought squirrels had seasons, and we're looking for something we could do in the next few weeks. Long time between now and the fall if you're a student working part-time.
 
I use about a half dozen decoys I bought for $5 each, buy a dozen eggs to put in short grass with the decoys and wait. I call with a prey master digital caller too but some practise with a hand call and a good set of lungs will work just fine. I want to try a spinning wing decoy sometime
 
This time of year they are paired and nesting and really dont respond well to the calls. A scrap pile with a few dekes around it would be a better choice for this time of year. Once the little ones have hatched the action gets really hot as they are in total protection mode and thats when the fun starts. They respond really well to an owl decoyand calling with distress, dying crow and fighting sounds being best. We always take the first crow we shoot and place it at the foot of the owl decoy. When they see that all hell breaks loose and you can often empty your gun at them as they seem to not realise what is happening right off. We were getting some good spring action up until about 3 weeks ago. They were migrating back in for the nesting season and now have set up house here so they arent responding to the calls well so we put it down til end of may then we'll go after them again. Just like duck hunting, wear camo and a face mask, stay hidden and keep your movements down. Look for areas where they travel from the roost to the feed and set up under them if you can.
 
set up in thick enough cover where you will be hidden but can still see them coming and shoot above the tree tops. We would set up and call, don't shoot the first one or two until the big flock comes. Soon as they get close enough, let em have it.


Do that two or three times then move about 100 yards in the bush and set up again. After they get real smart we will move completely to a different bush and start again.


they are very smart birds and learn quick, after a while they wont fly low and its a waste of shells shooting at them. Keep all the dead crows out in the open, it drives them nuts.


I like going in early may and june, the young crows will be out and they are easy prey :D

good luck
 
Be aware that crows are very intelligent birds, they seem to know what a firearm is. They won't approach if they see you with one.

I've had my best luck sitting in a blind, and imitating an injured crow with a crow call.

This goes like CAAaaWwwwwwww, CAaawwwwwww long strung out calls about five in a row, five to ten seconds apart you can muffle some of it, make it sound sick.
Do NOT do five short caws this is an alarm call, and makes them very wary

If there is a crow within ear shot, it will generally check that out.

Crows have a death ritual, they pick the eyes out of dead bretherin, or so I have seen.

Also, they hate owls with a passion. An owl decoy on a post may hold their attention for a spell.
 
I had a crappy crow year I start counting oct 31st and stop at feb 1 the next year. I only got 804 this round. I average around 1100-1200 mark. Find a flyway if you open fire at local birds it'll be your last. Get a owl decoy and a couple crow dekes throw out in a field and call like mad. Throw the first dead crow rite in front of the owl and stay completely hidden. I use smainly 12ga f/m chokes but I do make some long shots. Winter is a better time for crows. Trap load rips them down from the sky you don't need heavy loads
 
hmr-hound said:
...buy a dozen eggs to put in short grass with the decoys and wait....
Click to expand...

Ping pong balls work just as well ... aren't as fragile and are re-useable over and over again. ;)

A dead crow or two often works better than decoys. They don't seem to like it much when there's a "piper down" - especially if there's an owl decoy present too. Drives 'em nuts and caution to the wind. Had a couple of boxes of copper plated 7-1/2 24 gram International Trap loads to use up once
... one of the best crow shoots ever. "Puffs of black" !!! :D
 
What kind of terrain are you guys hunting in/on? I potentially have access to some wide open areas of pasture/hay land edged with trees and with a power line going through it - have been wondering if that would work well, and if/where I should set up - and with what kind of camoflage
 
1shot said:
Here's a hint on shooting crows: They are not flying as fast as they may appear, just a four inch lead is fine.. ;)

Once you get into it, you'll want some crow decoys and a plactic owl and an electronic caller.
May I suggest you check out Crowbusters.com
Click to expand...


Excellent advice, I started a few years ago and found I gave them too much room. Shot to far ahead. I'm not much of a bird hunter...just the odd grouse.

I use crow decoy, owl decoy... crow and rabbit distress call. Heck I call more crows then yotes with my hand calls when predator hunting! and sometimes when I target shoot crows come to check me out, up here they associate the gun fire with a free meal of entrails I guess. Little to no movement is important, and I wear camo. I do not eat them.

EDIT> BAITING CAN WORK TOO... I had a ton of birds raid my deer corn piles all fall.
 
here is a trick I learned... from another crow hunter, somewhere.
I bought cheap plastic crow decoys took old black T-shirt ripped pcs of fabric and stapled to the back of decoy in a light breeze it adds movement like wings.

P1060185.jpg


It can help with your display and is a lot cheaper then the decoys with moving wings.

Also always keep the crows higher then the owl.(unless its a dead one) I read some where it is unnatural for the crows to let the bird of prey roost above them.

Here is owl I got from CDN. Tire it does the job crows hate it. $15 maybe.
The crow decoys I got from cabelas a few years ago. Cheap like $5 each.

P1060184.jpg


I also agree with what others have said crows are very smart birds!
 
Forget about putting bait out and sitting by it unless your out for some fresh air and sunshine. To kill lots of crows you first of all have to be in crow country, that is go where the crows are and don't try to lure them to where they don't want to be. Crows like mixed farmland and small woodlot type terrain. Landfills, cattle or hog operations and such will draw them like a magnet.

Spring and early summer are the breeding season for breeding pairs. they will be spread out across creation and large kills are uncommon. Try run and gun method of driving likely countryside. Stop and call at regular intervals where a pair may be gaurding their nesting territory from others of the species. They will come in on an agressive mode, often using the old WWII fighter pilot tactic where one will come in low with the other slightly behind and higher.

Mid summer crows begin to gather in lare feeding flocks and can commonly be seen feeding on insects or cerial crops in preparation for migration.

They are communal roosters where roosts often number in the thousands at times. Locate one of these roosts and your in for the shoot of a lifetime. Never shoot in the roost but pick a location near where birds gather before entering the roost.

With the aid of an electronc caller, kills of a hundred or more are not uncommon.
 
beretta boy said:
Thankyou ... and I mean that sincerely ! That's a great contribution to conservation. No telling how many game & song-birds you have saved.
Well done. :D
Click to expand...

I have 2 nesting pairs of kestrals and 1 pair of baltimore orioles building a basket right now. Anything that interfers with them doesn't last long. I also feed the flickers and enjoy the redwing blackbirds call. Sterlings and crackles and crows are my choicest targets. I do have a lot of song birds around. I've had a few hundred crows corner my basset hound pup out on the lawn before. Very smart bird so smart that I'd haveta put my truck in the barn to get a flight over the farm. If my truck was out they would flare a km away. A wounded crow on the ground is the best decoy you can get
 
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