Crow Hunting

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Mark Sterk

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I have had trouble for second time this winter with corws gettin into and poking holes in the bunk silo plastic. cause the feed to spoil. So i have recently took up crow hunting. I loaded my foxpro up with some crow calls to call them in. it has worked well and is an enjoyable hunt. I can hunt 365 and no limit. I have only been out a hand full of times but is something i plan to do more of in the future.

Does any one have Experience in hunting them? or tips and trick?
 
Crows stay in Canada all year as do their cousins Black Billed Magpies.I live in Manitoba and you will see them on the coldest of days.Not to mention, their numbers have increased over the years ,the dirty basta%$s.

The Ravens tend to stay in the forested areas and landfills of course.Some folks don`t know the difference between Crows and Ravens until they see them side by side ,big size difference ,wedge shape to Ravens tail ,heavier bill and rough throat feathers.

Have fun blasting them !!

BB
 
Mark Sterk said:
I have had trouble for second time this winter with corws gettin into and poking holes in the bunk silo plastic. cause the feed to spoil. So i have recently took up crow hunting. I loaded my foxpro up with some crow calls to call them in. it has worked well and is an enjoyable hunt. I can hunt 365 and no limit. I have only been out a hand full of times but is something i plan to do more of in the future.

Does any one have Experience in hunting them? or tips and trick?
Click to expand...

I get out a few times a year (at least) for them. Not a ton of success, but always a bit of action. I'm probably not the guy to be asking for advice I guess, but, I use a Fox Pro Hellfire...decoys...an 870 with full choke tube and usually #6 or #7-1/2 lead shot. I've hunted in SW Ontario near a town that has a HUGE issue with crows...but with a fellow who takes crow hunting VERY seriously. I suspect the # down there accounts for a good deal of the success he has, but a few things he said have proven to be true when I've gone out on my own closer to home.

1. best time to shoot~last couple hours of daylight
2. windy days are FAR superior to calm ones. In calm conditions, they stay at a higher altitude to investigate the calls/decoys. On windy days, they come in lower/faster=good shotgun range
3. serious, turkey-level camo. They have great vision.

The most success I've had was ON windy days, but also knowing which direction the area corn fields are in. (hunting fall/early winter) On one particular farm, the corn fields are NW of there so I set-up in the tree line (on the north edge of a field) facing south. I put the decoys about 20 yards out from the tree line and set-up the fox pro to blast sound to the NW. (crows, crow fighting with hawk, injured crow, etc.) I wait as still as I can. On the windy days..the crows will sail over the tree tops towards the caller/decoys and be pretty close by the time they realize there is a problem and hit the brakes hard. That pause when they change direction/purpose is the key. (or has been for me)

The odd time, in spite of that plan, they'll come FROM the south but I position the decoys so that when the come over the tree line on that side they can only see the heads of the decoys and hear the sound. That seems to bring about 1/2 of them at a pretty low altitude and well...they're flying right towards you. The temptation is to shoulder the gun early to be ready but they'll spot you every time. It's a wait...wait...wait until they realize the decoys are fake then shoulder/shoot.

Sorry for rambling.....just bringing back some good memories! :)
 
get yourself some crow decoys and if you have the cash buy/make one of these
plenty of vids on youtube on how to make them.

use the decoys to bring in the crows,when you have shot one/two,use the bird on the spinner ( i am not sure of the legality of this where you are)
use a caller and the spinner,the crows will keep coming in.
the more crows you shoot,replace the decoys.
not sure if you are allowed but i would freeze the shot crows to use again in the decoy pattern.
make sure you use full face cammo as they will spot you a mile off.

you could build a crow/magpie trap,these work.
google 'larsen trap' or crow trap
 
Mark Sterk said:
I have had trouble for second time this winter with corws gettin into and poking holes in the bunk silo plastic. cause the feed to spoil. So i have recently took up crow hunting. I loaded my foxpro up with some crow calls to call them in. it has worked well and is an enjoyable hunt. I can hunt 365 and no limit. I have only been out a hand full of times but is something i plan to do more of in the future.

Does any one have Experience in hunting them? or tips and trick?
Click to expand...

Subject to local / Provincial hunting regs:

An owl or eagle decoy can work well. One's with moving wings can be deadly!
Position yourself under camo / in a hide / inside a dark building.
Have a good open view of perching spots / hydro / telecoms wiring etc.
When one is shot, expect a frenzy if there is a flock of them.
If you can remain under cover, and not be located you will be able to take many birds in a sitting.
If you can contain the hunting area to under a 100m us a .22 air rifle or rim fire.
With a shotgun you will more likely disperse the flock, but you can take in flight birds.

Corvids are intelligent birds with very keen eyesight. If can remain hidden whilst taking them down, they will go into a frenzy giving you even more opportunity. My record is 27 in one single sitting, with a flock of over a 100. They eventually get the message and fly off, but even then there are a couple of stragglers that present well for the final shot.

Good luck and enjoy.

Candocad.
 
another one for shooting crows.
find their nests/roosting spot.

go there just before dusk and wait for them to return.
give them the good news at bed time.

we always (back in the UK) would wait for the young crows (branches) to start trying to fly,around the end of april.
we would just nail them off the edge of the nest and mum/dad would know and return,then it would be their turn.
we used either shotguns or 32ft/lb muzzle energy air rifle.
 
I've tried very unsuccessfully to hunt crows. Even with calls, they are smart and very suspicious birds.
I use a .22, which is probably the wrong choice!
Crows here must have learnt what a rifle looks like. You can point at them and they don't move but when you point a stick or a rifle at them, they fly off. Everytime, I get a nice shooting solution on one, it's always an unsafe backstop so I take longer shots at safer directions but always miss! Tried it a few times at dusk last year. Got exactly zero!!
Hope you have better luck and use a shotgun!!
 
High power .22 centerfire rifles are the way to go... bait works very well, where legal... an animal carcass or corn... set-up a couple hundred yards away in a good blind. I like 40 grain V-Max from a .22-250... the impacts are quite dramatic.
 
Set up a couple of decoys around a garbage bag filled with fake garbage (or real if you prefer) and torn open with contents spilled. Use the crow "gathering for food" call. Usually, sentries will come first. If you can stand it, don't shoot them and wait for the main group.
 
I hunt them by spotting a flock and setting up within earshot. I use my foxpro playing crow fight and with foxbang set to play a wounded crow when the shooting starts. Usually helps keep them around for some followup shooting. If I've got time I set up decoys. I use a shotgun with an IM choke and size 7.5 shot. They aren't tough to kill.

If you're trying to kill specific birds around your place though they will get wise to the call sounds pretty quickly and not respond.
 
I have several tactics for hunting crows.......

I do the decoy and the owl decoy thing sometimes..... it has netted me a few using the same shotgun loads you would use for ducks....

For best results, I have used a bit of bait (stale bread) and a couple decoys around it and a small bore rifle (.17 hmr, .22 mag or .223)..... and snipe them in the trees......

Or just set up like you would for yotes and snipe them when they come in and take a branch to analyze the action......
 
We used to have lots here in Essex County... In all honesty but maybe or maybe not coincidentally, they buggered off since the wind mill went up. Its what got me into reloading. Anyway, we used to get pig guts and put them out in the field and let the crows come for a couple weeks. Once they were thick, we'd go an shoot them out of blinds we made specifically for crow hunting. Had a few properies going at once. And like others have said - the worse the weather, the better the hunting.
 
. Once they've been shot at once I'm sure they know what a rifle is. They are actually a very smart bird. Got tons of them around here. I can walk out the door with no gun and they just sit in the field or trees with no worry at all. As soon as I step out with gun they're gone. Last fall a buddy and I were out partridge hunting and we seen the biggest murder of crows and ravens I had ever seen. Their had to have been between 3-400 of them. Same deal as soon as they seen us with guns they were gone.
 
Not me but a guy I know said that if you were hunting the bush line just throw some black socks into the trees for decoys, he swore by it but I never tried it so I cant say whether he was pulling my leg or not
 
I understand your problem and have friends with pit silos covered with plastic.
Call them in an shoot them with a shotgun or a 22 long rifle. You do not want to break them up with a high velocity center fire rifle as they deteriorate to quickly. They still work though.
They dry out too the extent they blow away. If you use tires to hold down the plastic the crow can be tied to one or two tires so they stay put.
Place them on the pit with wings spread out for maximum visibility.
For a few years I built a cross and tied one by the leg to the end of each arm. Get them hung quickly so they flutter in the wind. The wings should be spread out quickly after death. When they hang like a rock they are less life like. The motion appears to be more compelling to stay away.
Setting up your calling close to the pit after shooting them in the area enforces the consequences.
After you have a couple staked down try calling from near the pit again in a few days. It kind of measures the effectiveness of your efforts.
Depending on the size of your pit one may do. I like to get a couple on the big pit that is around 86,000 cubic feet.
 
hoytcanon said:
High power .22 centerfire rifles are the way to go... bait works very well, where legal... an animal carcass or corn... set-up a couple hundred yards away in a good blind. I like 40 grain V-Max from a .22-250... the impacts are quite dramatic.
Click to expand...

^very true. I've shot them with .223, .204R and witnessed a few hits when my buddy cranked them with his .243. Remarkable impact, and in even a slight breeze...the cloud of black feathers...
 
It's fun blasting them with a rifle, but you're severely limiting your shooting opportunities by using a rifle as you need to wait for them to land.

I have the best luck setting up on the edge of a field with a few decoys in the field around some roadkill bait. This setup works good because it allows them to land in the trees before dropping down to the bait, provides clear shots, and allows you to stay hidden in the bush line where the brush tends to be more dense. They'll usually land in the trees before a few fly down to the bait and if you're patient enough to let this happen you can usually swat more than one bird on the ground with your first shot and have time to get a couple more shots off. Use the dead birds as decoys by propping them up with sticks.

The intention here is to knock as many down as possible with clean kills not really being of concern so I stick with larger shot as it's better for sky busting and just getting them on the ground. #6 is good when targeting individual birds, but I have had great luck using shells up to 3" BB's for knocking down multiple birds at a time.



Many flocks around here right now are ranging from a couple dozen to 100+ birds.
 
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