Crow Hunting

[Team Hoyt]

I think I wanna give this a try. How many decoys do you guys typically use. I was thinking of taking a couple of my old duck decoys out and spraying painting them black to see what happens.

[Rattler]

That won't work too well.  Crows have really good eyes and won't decoy to odd decoys.

You can get a half dozen crow decoys pretty cheap on Amazon.  Putting some in the trees near you works well too.  They also come in well when you use an owl decoy.  They hate owls and will dive bomb them when they see one.

Calling them is the hard part.  It takes some education to learn to call them.  Get a CD of crow calls and learn some calls.  That will pay off.

The most important thing to do is learn what spots they are using each day.  Scouting pays off.

BTW, they learn real quick.  I used to hunt them with an owl decoy and a few crow decoys in my back yard.  Word got out among the birds and now they avoid my yard like the plague.  LOL!

Edited January 26, 2020 by Rattler

[GreenDrake]

I am by no means an expert but I have been seriously hunting crows for about 10 years now. I have learned by trial and error and by reading every article, book and watching as many videos as possible. Those by Bob Arohnson are the best. What I have learned is as follows:

1.  FInd the birds. I spent hundreds of hours driving the county looking for big numbers of birds. Do it at first light and see where they are feeding. I am fortunate enough to live near a major roost and flyway. The best shooting is at first light when they are heading our to feed.

2. I set up where I expect the birds to be flying over on their way to feed, even if it is not in the particular field they may choose that morning.

3.  I use a dozen flocked decoys on the ground, and no less than 6 in the trees around me. I put one on an extension pole as high as I can get it. MAKE SURE the decoys are visible. I use the scrawniest trees so they stand out.

4.  CONCEALMENT.  Blend is as best you can. They WILL see you.

5

[GreenDrake]

5.  Try to set up where there is not high trees. You want them in range when they come in. I try to find brushy stuff aside a pasture or crop field.

6.  I use the Bob Arohnson crow call pack from FoxPro on my Shockwave. I also had a friend convert the Johnny Stewart Crow calls to MP3 for my FoxPro.

7.  Use softest come here calls in the morning. Once the birds are less numerous, I switch to distress calls.

8.  I use 1 1/8 oz. 1300+ FPS loads. they make a big difference.

9.  Try to find 3 or 4 different feeding flocks so you can rotate week to week. I currently have 6 areas. I NEVER hunt the same place less than 3 weeks apart.

10.  If you find their evening flight paths, you can set up and get a good stream of birds for a couple hours if you are lucky.

WARNING:  It is ADDICTIVE. I find myself waiting for deer season to end so I can hunt crows.

CONCEALMENT CONCEALMENT CONCEALMENT

A good shoot for me is 25-30 birds on a solo hunt. I am usually done by 8:30 as the birds are then disbursed and no more coming in.

 

[Buckmaster7600]

I’ve killed crows over black trash bags on coat hangers. I now have 3 dozen flocked decoys and I often wonder if they work any better.


Scouting and getting permission is 99.9% of crow hunting. I would way rather have crap decoys and a bad caller/calls on good property than the best gear on shit ground.


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[GreenDrake]

I just got back from a quick crow hunt by a corn bunker. Killed 6 and 5 pigeons. 

 

Ill take half as many good dekes as crappy ones. flocked made  a difference to me. But you have to have a good number of birds in the area to make it worthwhile.  Otherwise you will shoot a couple  residents and its all over. 

[Pygmy]

It has been years since I seriously hunted crows....

However, I have a few observations....For numbers I never utilized electronic calls..A good way to have WAY too many crows to handle at one time... It is much better to  find a feeding area, set up a blind and let the decoys do most of the work, using mouth calls sparingly as necessary..This way you tend get them 2 to 4 at a time, so a couple of shooters can kill most of the crows coming in, without  educating a whole bunch of them..

I never had many real crow decoys, perhaps half a dozen, but you can set up dead crows in the decoys to increase your spread...

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by Pygmy