Tips, trick and advice for 1st time hunter ? (crow)

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RobSmith

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First and foremost, I've never to this day had the opportunity to discharge a firearm outside of a range, or at anything that wasn't made out of paper.

I may have the opportunity to go crow hunting this weekend. The land owner is getting annoyed at an ever increasing flock of crows which is slowly taking the place over and I have a relative who works for him who will try to arrange permission for us to go take care of business so to speak. The "spot" would be a clearing about 50M across with about 700M of nothing but woods in front, and about 200M on each side. The idea is to somehow bait them and then pick them off with the .22 as they come in to land.

My relative has noticed that they seem to be attracted to the lawn mower tractor, looking for small dead critters (mice, rats, etc..) that were cut up with the blade (neither of us are hunters so I guess it's worth a try). I dont own any decoys, blinds, calls etc... This is mostly intended as a fun day with a family member. Are there any old hands on this board who are willing to share wisdom when it comes to techniques, baiting, do's and don't etc ?
 
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Old trick I've tried. Get a large piece of white paper or plastic ( 4' X 4' ish ). Put the paper in the clearing out a bit put from the tree edge. Put a bunch of ketchup in the middle of the paper. Stay hid back in the trees. Crows are curious and will come to see and perch in the trees around the paper.

If they are attracted to the mower you might want to set out the paper, run the mower and wait for em.

Good luck

Be sure to know where your bullets will go especially if you are shooting at them in the trees
 
heh. Crows are one of the smartest birds around :)

you might try going to a local Labarons and picking up a Hawk Decoy.

crows absolutly HATE hawks. they will come in and beat the crap out of them.

if you dont have that. get a garbage bag and fill it with Fast food wrappers and such. poke a hole or 2 in it so they can smell it. crows are scavangers so they like free food :).

i would also recomend useing slower bullets, and a heavy barrel. after the first gunshot they arent to likely to come back. they are extreamly fast learners.
 
Crows are difficult to hunt...

if you have a battery powered CD palyer, go here and download some crow calls, they are in MP3 format so you may have to convert them to wav to play in your player:
http://www.western-rivers.com/downloads.html

I suppose an ipod with speakers will also work.

Again as said beofre they "get wise to the rise in you levis" pretty quick. If you don't have any decoys just cut a 5-15 crows out of cardboard (for all weather decoys, try plastic sign boards), paint em black and put stakes on them, try to get a fe up high, like on a fence post or small tree, so they can see them.

As far as getting them to land... good luck, I have hunted crows alot in the last 3 years and I have only shot one on the ground (other than driving around and finding them on the ground)
 
Crows are extremely intelligent. Many crow hunters use shotguns over decoys and dress in full camo, including face and hand covered like for turkeys.

Decoys are normally predatory birds like hawks (already mentioned) but they also really hate owls. Owl calls are used as locater calls by turkey hunters, so it should be easy to find one. Call them into gun range and blast 'em out of the air.

I've shot crows with a .22LR, but I wouldn't expect to get more than one this way. They'll wise-up to your tactics and won't land. They feel a little safer in mid-flight, so shotgun stands a better chance.
 
Like I said, this is my first attempt at hunting, so if I get one I'll call it a success. I'll bring the shotgun as a backup but would prefer not to use it as I have very little experience with it.
 
Nail a dead chicken to a tree. Get a blind, a semi auto, and three rounds.

Once the crows find the chicken ,you open up.

No sence bringing more then three rounds, they wont be back.

Wait a week and try again in a different area, with different bait, different blind.

Good luck
 
Buy an owl or hawk decoy. You can buy crow and owl decoys from sirmailorder for like 8$ each. Buy like atleast 5 crow decoys and set them up around the owl decoy. If a crow sees that he will be down in a second.

also a crow call is a good idea too. I have a johnny stewart hammerin' crow call and I can stand in thick cover and call and have a flock over top of me squawkin like crazy. The odd one will land and if its a clear shot he gets pegged. I just immitate every sound they make, seems to piss them off more.

leave all your dead crows out in the field too, close to the owl decoy. This set up works better with a shotgun and bird shot because they might not land for very long if they get close to the decoys and figure out its a setup. kill every crow that gets close or you wont see them back for a long time.

crows are tough and smart, I shot one today off the back porch from 65 yards away and blew a hole between his legs about the size of my fist. He flew up with his buddy and then had to land about 50 yards away. I knew he was definatly hit. i walk over and hes hiding behind a tree lol


i like that piece of white paper and ketcup idea too. never tried that but i usually just stick a piece of carpet out in the field and put bird seed on it. I almost kill one a day lol
 
Main thing is also - don't let them associate you with being shot. IE - walk outside carrying nothing, you'll knotice they just watch you. Go back inside and get a broom or even a metal tape measure, anything that can be made to look long. Hold it like it's a rifle. I bet you won't get out your back door without them scattering.
 
Yea once you shoot you are done. For a few days in that spot. Don't use a 22 use something bigger. Get a shotgun, maybe you can shoot one on the ground and a couple flying away. I have only killed more than on in a single day once. I hunt lots and probably only get a few a year, 2 or 3. Not for lack of trying.....
 
if you dont have that. get a garbage bag and fill it with Fast food wrappers and such. poke a hole or 2 in it so they can smell it. crows are scavangers so they like free food .
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Don't know much about crow hunting but I do know that birds can't smell
 
RobSmith said:
Like I said, this is my first attempt at hunting, so if I get one I'll call it a success. I'll bring the shotgun as a backup but would prefer not to use it as I have very little experience with it.
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Get used to the shotgun;)
They are extreamly smart!! Those who say they are easy to get aint tried it much;)
Called birds will seldom land on the ground but will land in trees and usualy high up. It isn't a good idea to shoot a rifle at crows in trees;). The bullet has to come down somewhere.
I have best success with a disress call. A crow call works but you need to know an awfull lot about crow language to use them. Crows are birds that communicate more than most other birds and each call means something. If you sit and listen you'll hear different birds calling to each other as individuals more or less. One calls to another then one calls back and another one will chime in and all three move in unison together to one tree or take off what ever. Not knowing the language puts you as just a curiousity atraction. Rabbit distress however is the dinner bell as well as a chance to attack that so hated hawk or OWL and take his prize. They'll swarm you from all directions. I use an owl decoy with fur attached to the base. Deadly! They smarten up real quick but if you do your homework with the distress combined with a "Hale Marry" on your crow call you might fool them again. ONCE;) Don't give up after the first bunch of survivors takes off because there will be another group farther off that heard the excitement and will come in. Don't change positions if there is a crow in sight and when you do change your distress call to something differnt in tone.
They don't have the nose of a predator but they do have the eyesight and the advantage of being airborn. They are very clever and are not easy quarry whatsoever. As fall begins so does the fall migration when thousands of crows head south in strings miles long are available for the calling. Have fun:D
 
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