Crow hunting

[Buckmaster7600]

Anyone else as excited as me for crow season to open? Last year was the first year I had crow hunted much at all but I am hooked I will not duck/goose hunt once this year because I have way more fun crow hunting. No limits and a target rich environment leads to sore shoulders and big smiles.

If any of you have never tried it and live nearby I would love to have someone join in on the fun. I'm about an hr north of Albany.

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[greybeard]

I enjoy hunting them and carry crow calls with me when I go to certain areas just to call them and tick them off...

I don't hunt as much any more, but do manage a couple of days to hunt crows and squirrels.( I also still enjoy calling red foxes)

I bought my first crow call in 1965 and I think that I have about 25 mouth calls now. I have my favorites, but frankly, from what I've seen they don't care as much as I do.  I carry 3 to 5 calls whenever I go.  I also use predator calls for them when they don't respond to the crow calls..

I don't waterfowl anymore, but when I did I preferred crows also.

I've gone in Sept., but the ticks can be annoying, so I wait until later. I do call them ALOT when I fish in my kayak .

Have you been on the Crow Busters website ? Some years ago I got a tape from Bob Ahronson, who is an amazing crow hunter, and a member of crow busters. My numbers increased after his tape taught me their language. Until that time I just made greeting and fighting calls....

Do you use mouth calls ??  Have you tried predator distress calling ?

Good luck, I hope that you post photos and a story when you go.

[Pygmy]

I was a crow killing sumbitch when I was a young feller......Me and a buddy or two killed 50 plus in a day  a number of times...

Anymore I generally limit my killing to things that I eat or things that are directly being a PITA to me, like woodchucks burrowing under my buildings or porcupines eating my treestands.

However, being a wingshooter at heart, I would LOVE  to get in on another good crow shoot or two before I kick the bucket....Hehehehehe...

Edited August 19, 2017 by Pygmy

[Buckmaster7600]

I was a crow killing sumbitch when I was a young feller......Me and a buddy or two killed 50 plus in a day  a number of times...
Anymore I generally limit my killing to things that I eat or things that are directly being a PITA to me, like woodchucks burrowing under my buildings or porcupines eating my treestands.
However, being a wingshooter at heart, I would LOVE  to get in on another good crow shoot or two before I kick the bucket....Hehehehehe...

I have always been the same way but after last year when I had crows eat 5 acres of sweet corn in 2 days I have waged war! I have a new Benelli and just ordered 2 flats of shells they are in big trouble this year!


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[ATbuckhunter]

Sounds like a great offer and a whole lot of fun! I know id take you up if I lived closer than 4 hours away. 

[wolc123]

I have never shot one in flight, but I usually manage to pick off a few with my .22 rimfire, from my bedroom widow each late fall and early winter.  They land on or near my carcass pile that is a bit over 100 yards behind the window.   I miss about as many as I hit at that range.  I always have to play the wind a bit to drop a bullet on them.    They are small targets that make great practice.   Hitting a coyote on that pile is a piece of cake in comparison.  

Speaking of coyotes, have you ever noticed that even a crow will not eat their carcasses ?   I toss them on that pile with deer and coons, all of which are devoured, but nothing ever touches the skinned coyotes.  They just shrivel up over the winter and lay there until spring when they get turned under by the plow.  

For me, crow shooting is mainly "target-practice" but you got me wondering about the corn.  I suppose that a few times, when I thought some big stretches of field corn did not germinate, it might really have been crows that were the culprit.  I do wage war against the coons to protect that corn however and I will probably start digging some holes around some sickly looking apple and spruce trees tomorrow to take advantage of the free fertilizer.   The NY state asks us to bury or burn coons that are causing damage and killed before trapping season begins.  After that, I just toss them on the carcass pile for the crows to pick at.        

[greybeard]

This post made me think of some crow hunts so I looked at my "crow file" and I found this photo of a crow hunt sometime ago. I think that I was using an Olt regular crow call as well as the Olt perfect crow call..I still use the same decoys

[airedale]

When done right a Crow hunt can provide about as much fun and action as a fellow can stand. I have not been Crow hunting in years, I used both an early and cumbersome Johnny Stewart electronic caller along with some mouth calls. When shotgunning I used the Stewart  caller most times, I used the mouth calls a lot when Woodchuck hunting with a varmint rifle picking off a few at distance for some extra action. My old Owl decoy I used for Crows is hanging on my front porch keeping the Barn Swallows from building nests.

Al

[Paula]

We shoot them, we leave the dead ones out to bring more in. Some have to be posed

[Elmo]

17 hours ago, ATbuckhunter said:

Sounds like a great offer and a whole lot of fun! I know id take you up if I lived closer than 4 hours away. 

Ditto.

[Buckmaster7600]

I chuckle when I talk about it and other hunters turn up their noses at the thought of crow hunting.

There is too many of them, there is no limits, they are smart enough to make it fun but dumb enough to keep it fun, you don't have to get wet "unlike duck hunting" and best of all shells are way cheaper than steel shot.


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[kpkot]

Recently  the DEC mandated you hunt them on certain days of week. FRI SAT SUN OR MON. Any idea you cant hunt tues through Thursday?

[rachunter]

42 minutes ago, kpkot said:

Recently  the DEC mandated you hunt them on certain days of week. FRI SAT SUN OR MON. Any idea you cant hunt tues through Thursday?

it was a treaty signed by jimmy carter and mexico .If I remember correctly it was pressure from ducks unlimited to get them to shoot less mallards in return we shoot less crows there country bird.

crow hunting is awesome it was the first legal hunting I did when I was a kid my father would take me and my older brother every sunday. I was hooked until I started bow hunting now it's once in a blue moon.i gotta blow the dust off my rem.1100

 

[TreeGuy]

I'm on the excited boat. I've kinda gone overboard on gear though. Decoys, tactics, 10 shot extension for the versamax, swivel chairs and a bag to carry ammo... Absolutely a blast , literally. I do love when they start dropping and they go from target to decoy automatically. Great times !! Keeps the farmers happy too

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[martin]

If any of you have never tried it and live nearby I would love to have someone join in on the fun. I'm about an hr north of Albany.

 

My favorite hunting. It's so much fun. Wish it was year round. I live in Dutchess county. I'd come up for a visit Buckmaster7600. Nothing wrong like hanging out and having a few laughs. I will be going in 2 weeks. I have to work Labor day weekend 12hr shifts. 

[GreenDrake]

I have been hunting them for about 6 years. Last year it became a quest and soon became addicted. Bought a FoxPro super sno cro plus and the Bob Ahronson call pack...unbelievable fun. Throw in a dozen flocked decoys...10 degree mornings after deer season...and shoot yourself silly. Best times for me is right at first light. I am fortunate to live in a large flight path with no pressure

[TreeGuy]

I have been hunting them for about 6 years. Last year it became a quest and soon became addicted. Bought a FoxPro super sno cro plus and the Bob Ahronson call pack...unbelievable fun. Throw in a dozen flocked decoys...10 degree mornings after deer season...and shoot yourself silly. Best times for me is right at first light. I am fortunate to live in a large flight path with no pressure

Ditto. Just a bit longer than 6yrs though ! We get the half hour after sunup, then 3 more big flights by 10. Good times

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[GreenDrake]

There is nothing like setting up in the dark then hearing the first few early  feeding calls as it starts to get light...followed by those first few birds floating into the decoy spread. The right calls and decoy spread made sll the difference for me. Have to have at 2 to 3 decoys as high in the trees as you can get them. I got so crazy that I built a fake tree out of PVC That extended 12 feet in the air for the decoys. Packs down into a camp chair bag. Sounds silly but it works when trees are sparse in a hedgerow. 

[TreeGuy]

Sounds silly !!??? Sounds like I'll be planting some pvc trees this winter !!!

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[GreenDrake]

Look up George Digweed Crow shoots on YouTube. It will make you nuts watching him kill 500 in a day...in the UK of course

[Doc]

Anybody ever try eating one of those things? Who knows .... Maybe they taste like chicken.

[rachunter]

4 hours ago, Doc said:

Anybody ever try eating one of those things? Who knows .... Maybe they taste like chicken.

I've eaten them they defiantly have there own flavor, it's like anything else I try cook it with salt & pepper if it's eatable then i'll try different ways. I've made them into cutlets,chili,stir fry, I'm not a stew lover but that seems like a good way to go.

breast them out and give it a shot you have nothing to lose. 

[TreeGuy]

Def NOT like chicken...

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[turkeyfeathers]

9 hours ago, Doc said:

Anybody ever try eating one of those things? Who knows .... Maybe they taste like chicken.

A little dry rub, wrap in bacon, smoke with apple wood chips for about 2 hours. Unwrap, eat bacon and throw crow in the trash.

The Real TC and I went out last year. Few dekes, Fox Pro caller. Lots of laughs, few shots  and NO birds were hit in the process. Would definitely be some fun to get on a big dawn or evening flight to/from roosting area. And I'm a terrible wing shooter BTW 

[TACC]

A little dry rub, wrap in bacon, smoke with apple wood chips for about 2 hours. Unwrap, eat bacon and throw crow in the trash.
The Real TC and I went out last year. Few dekes, Fox Pro caller. Lots of laughs, few shots  and NO birds were hit in the process. Would definitely be some fun to get on a big dawn or evening flight to/from roosting area. And I'm a terrible wing shooter BTW 

That's what makes it fun though.

I say the same thing about wing shooting,

I can throw lead with the best of them, but actually hitting them is another story

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