Crows

[GreenDrake]

Now that deer hunting is closed anyone going to get out and target the black bandits?  I have been scouting my usual areas and it looks good. Thousands of birds have been staging behind my office every night before going to roost.  Going to hit them hard in the mornings and then get on the pigeons after they stop flying. We are just shy of 800 pigeons since July and want to break 1000 before the end of the tear. We can probably get out 3 or 4 times before then. Our crow goal is 350 this winter. We shall see. 

[Jeremy K]

I'd sure like to

[GreenDrake]

First hunt.  Killed 12. Very few birds in the area I hunted. Can’t find where the big flocks are going out to feed in the mornings. They have been bouncing around. Ive been scouting the mornings before work and just can’t find them. They will hopefully start hitting the usual areas. Off with nephew to shoot some pigeons. 

[GreenDrake]

Found the mother load. 2 of my usuals had a couple thousand birds feeding this morning.  Will hunt them with nephew this weekend. Hunted a spot this morning that has not been getting very many numbers passing through.  Managed 10 in an hour.  Hoping the weekend plays out well 

[crappyice]

What do Crows taste like? I am thinking very rich like a Woodcock and you can't have much at one time.

Eating crow is a lot like humble pie!


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[doebuck1234]

15 hours ago, GreenDrake said:

Found the mother load. 2 of my usuals had a couple thousand birds feeding this morning.  Will hunt them with nephew this weekend. Hunted a spot this morning that has not been getting very many numbers passing through.  Managed 10 in an hour.  Hoping the weekend plays out well 

Usually just hunt mornings or have you had success in the afternoons aswell???just curious

[GreenDrake]

I do not eat them. It is purely pest control and sport. They do considerable crop damage this time of year especially on the sprouting wheat fields without snow cover.   The farmers welcome me to shoot as many as I can. Though we can never kill enough to prevent damage, shooting them over growing crop fields usually means they will not feed over that same field for weeks. They will then usually feed in cut corn where they are not damaging anything. 

[GreenDrake]

2 minutes ago, doebuck1234 said:

Usually just hunt mornings or have you had success in the afternoons aswell???just curious

I do best in mornings. However I found 2 big afternoon flyways and afternoon gathering areas where they go before their final flight to the roost some 5 miles away. We are going to try those 2 areas this weekend in the afternoon. If you get into those areas you can have a couple hours of constant shooting as not all the birds are coming at once. I stay about a half mile from the actual flyway to try not yo disturb it too much. 

[rachunter]

What do Crows taste like? I am thinking very rich like a Woodcock and you can't have much at one time.

I’ve eaten them a few times. There not bad with a mushroom broth. I don’t eat stew but think they would work. Fried they where to tuff.
I was reading the syllabus and noticed they allow rifles to be used. That to me sounds dangerous.


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[doebuck1234]

6 hours ago, GreenDrake said:

I do best in mornings. However I found 2 big afternoon flyways and afternoon gathering areas where they go before their final flight to the roost some 5 miles away. We are going to try those 2 areas this weekend in the afternoon. If you get into those areas you can have a couple hours of constant shooting as not all the birds are coming at once. I stay about a half mile from the actual flyway to try not yo disturb it too much. 

Ok thanks.have hunted mornings on crow but not very familier with hunting them in general.remember going a few times with my grandfather and went out this past weekend(should have had atleast 2),wasnt hidden well enough and caught my movement.found a few decoys today that my grandfather had so may give it another shot this weekend,small 38 acre private land.seem to have a dozen or so flying around in the early morning hours.

Do you favor certain weather while crow hunting??

[GreenDrake]

Chilly morning. Heading out now with my nephew for the first hunt in a couple weeks. Found a field where they have been injecting manure this week and there was probably 1000 crows in it last evening. Hopefully they head back out there this morning before the snow starts. 

[GreenDrake]

Nephew was late this morning so we started setting up as most of the birds had flocked. 30 minutes make a huge difference. We managed 18 crows. Unfortunately the first group all all came to the call at once. It was fun to see and hear but horrible for hunting. Went for pigeons before the snow hit snd killed a dozen. 

[GreenDrake]

Beautiful morning. Hunted solo. Killed 18. Not a lot of birds flying this morning but many that came in did so nice and low. Even managed a couple doubles.  I love when 2-3 come in and not a whole bunch at once. 

[GreenDrake]

Got out late this morning. Too much snow for usual areas. Sat in a corn bunker. Killed 15 crows using mouth calls and no decoys. Got 23 pigeons. Could have shot more pigeons but I was working crows and didn’t want to scare them off. 

[GreenDrake]

I have called them in. They are pretty easily distinguishable, especially if vocal. There are very few ravens in my main area. Where I hunt deer in the NZ there is a large family of Ravens. They drive us nuts. The noises they make range from eerie to comical. 

[GreenDrake]

To go or not to go in the morning.....its going to be quite chilly....but the crows will be hungry!!!