Recently ran into a buddy who mentioned he was heading out to hunt crows, as I told him I was getting ready to do some predator calling. He was going on and on about how fun it is.

I suppose it might be. Was just curious if anyone here does it.

I have several times over the years, it can be some fast shooting, but they get wise real fast in my experience.

There’s a big murder of crows down by where I’m trapping cats now hundreds of them, I bet it would be a blast sitting in the middle of them. Had a bunch fly over a few at a time I was in the flight path years ago it was like shooting skeet lots of fast shooting.

I used to enjoy it, but we don't have the crow's we used to.
We would save up feathers from pheasant and grouse hunting to spread on the ground around an owl decoy
We typically setup in a corn field because we could lay down between the stubble rows and cover-up with a split burlap bag , and we would use a white sheet to cover with on snow covered fields.
Those were some fun times

I hunted them religiously for 10 years.. killed a semi truck load.. but you have to cover a ton of ground.. you make a set.. complete 100% camo.. turn on the caller.. if your lucky.. 3-4 might come immediately.. but typically, only 1 scout will fly over and report back.. you shoot what ever you can.. load up.. go a few miles , make another set.. probably never killed more than 8 in one place..our best luck was floating the creeks where there were harvested corn fields

We used to do a lot of it...50-60 years ago! We used a "Call of the Wild", a battery-operated 45 rpm record player using 45's of all sorts of crow vocalizations. It took 12 D batteries which really did not go far.

We would locate a bunch of crows then drive to a place where we could conceal the car. We used full camo, including faces, and had a bunch of paper mache crow decoys and an owl. I still have the decoys. We'd get set up and then turn on the player. We usually would not shoot the first crow in as they were kind of a scout. Once we had a bunch circling our set-up we would open up on them. The shoot was fast and furious.

One thing we learned about crows is they were smart. Any mistakes and they were gone.

It was really fun. The equipment has certainly changed since then but i really don't think the potential for excitement has!

Moosetrot

The run and gun approach works, but it also educates a lot of birds. We would wait until the flocks would get big and then hunt them. Best approach would be to bust the flock out of the field, set up quickly and then start calling. As mentioned the scout(s) would come back and if you didn’t kill every one that came in, the flock would get wise. Use terrain like a gap in the trees or low cutover so the birds could get low enough and learn to use a hand call with the e-caller. We would usually go 80% hand call to 20% e-call just because they weren’t conditioned to it. Full camo is a must while sitting in heavy cover. They’re way more wary than ducks or geese. When you shoot the first one and it falls, the others have a tendency to dive bomb it. If any get out, learn a crow in distress call and you can often pull them back. We have had several hunts over 60 birds in one sitting. When they’re done, they’re done. Tons of fun.

We used to hunt them every weekend back in the early 90’s using a Johnny Stewart caller and cassette tapes. Usually kept the number of shooter around 4-5 at the most. We killed several hundred in a day multiple times. Our best stand was over 60, they just kept coming in.

Son uses a fox pro call and he and buddies go a couple times a year. They may kill 20-25 on a good day.

Crow hunting used to be pretty popular; don't hear much about it anymore.

I think some States may have passed laws allowing them to only be shot if they are in the act of depredation.

An old game warden told me when a crow draws his first breath, he is about to commit depredation.

Are you sure it's a murder? You can't call it that unless you have probable caws. Lol.

We used to hunt them when we were kids. Anywhere the grain cart spilled a little would turn into a hotspot after a couple days. Wed get there before first light and wait for them to pile onto the grain. First shot was from cover when still on the grain, then jump up and shoot fast. The most anyone ever got was 7 on the first shot when they were all piled up. Illegal as heck I'm sure, but I think the statute of limitations would be up after twenty years.

Killed my share over the years and loved it! Great shooting and it might be ONE OF THE MOST defective ways to help small game during the spring time.
Lots of research on reducing crow numbers in certain areas and ducks, game birds and small game pop.s increased.

Mr. Paul please remove Big Sam from this forum. That comment was proof he is stark ravin mad. And his brand of humor is just fowl.

3 of us used to hunt crows during the winter and pigeons in the summer. One got pretty good when duck season came around. I still have that old Flambo owl decoy and a few times during the summer I'll put it on the front lawn along with a rolled up black rag right next to it. If I'm lucky I can get 2 or 3 crows using my .22 cal. pellet gun.

I ate a crow once. It wasn't awful but I never shot another. Dead stuff needs cleaned up. I leave them alone.

We used to have a ton of crows here, their population has fallen so far that ravens have showed up instead. I suspect someone will eventually shoot the ravens assuming they're crows

I have a couple family groups and a pair of Ravens come around, they eat the scraps and what not I through out in the yard.....If my wife goes outside they come to her and start "talking"...but if they see me through the glass door they bravely fly away!, lol

I must have a bad reputation...

Here is a good site for crow hunting. The hate mail is pretty good.

http://www.crowbusters.com/cgi-bin/index.asp

Probably nothing I'd rather hunt. No limits and typically more challenging wing shooting than most. BigBlackBirds = Crows.

Have chased them across many states. I'm pretty much a flyway shooter. Looking for roosts of 20-40k. Good shoot normally is 2-400 birds