Importance of crow hunting.

[Deleted]

Thought this was interesting.

Video

[bawanajim]

Any time I have a firearm in my hands crows are in season, they are one of the most destructive things on the planet, they are very intelligent and pass on their destructive ways, kill them all!
Small game, song birds and agriculture all pay a heavy price over these pests. People whine about the song birds that cats kill, crows are ten times worst.

[Bill]

Feb 26, 2017 20:48:09 GMT -5 bawanajim said:

People whine about the song birds that cats kill, crows are ten times worst.

Prove it.

[bawanajim]

Feb 26, 2017 21:55:59 GMT -5 Bill said:

Feb 26, 2017 20:48:09 GMT -5 bawanajim said:

People whine about the song birds that cats kill, crows are ten times worst.

Prove it.

Crows eat sprouting corn, show me a cat that does that.

[Bill]

You insinuated that they kill ten times more songbirds than free roaming cats and I said prove it. I could care less if people hunt crows but don't act like you're saving the world. Of all the things that are destroying the earth I would say crows are pretty far down on the list. Crows don't eat anything different than a gluttony of other things out there also eat.

[bawanajim]

I stated my opinion, "ten times" is your words, I would guess thats an understatement as there are far more crows than there are feral cats, and not nearly enough people shooting either.

[Bill]

Those are not my words, they are yours. There have been studies on free roaming cats, I have never seen one on crows. Crows are supposed to be out there, feral cats really aren't. Why do you want to kill them all?

[bushmaster]

If I'm down to one shot and had to choose between a crow or a feral cat. The cat gets it every time.

[bawanajim]

I haven't seen a cat in the woods in years, crows on the other hand are the first things I hear every morning, and I see dozens each day.

[ridgecommander]

Crows are pretty darn cool. Smart birds for sure. I have been seeing more Ravens down in Washington and Greene Counties. It is rare that one flies over me in the field, without veering around me. They may have crows beat on the intelligence scale.

I do enjoy hunting crows. It can be fast and furious action for a few minutes then they figure it out pretty quick. I did one hunt last year and managed one crow for my efforts.

[Bill]

Feb 26, 2017 22:09:49 GMT -5 bawanajim said:

Crows eat sprouting corn, show me a cat that does that.

They very well might, corn is grass and cats have a thing for grass. Off the top of my head, other things that do eat sprouting corn are turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, bear, groundhogs, elk, and probably many more. Kill them all too?

[bawanajim]

Every crow I can.

[Bill]

Just to add, everything on that list I gave will prey on ground or low nesting bird eggs or nestlings given the chance.

[bawanajim]

I bet those saber toothed chipmunks play hell on them all.

[dougell]

Crows are very smart and they will do a number on a freshly planted corn field.That I've wintnessed.I've always been told that they put a beating on bird nests but I can't sunstantiate that.I can substantiate that they're fun to call in and kill.We probably kill 100-150 every year.It's loads of fun,good practice and you don't have to clean them when you're done.

[dougell]

We have a black and white cat that's been showing itself regularly.Yesterday it offered up a 200 yard shot but I wouldn't let my kid shoot it.I'm pretty sure that little sob is the reason for the decline in our rabbit population.

[dennyf]

Many years ago used to go crow hunting in the winter with two friends. One was my ol' huntin' bud, the other guy hunted nothing but crows by the time he was in his 40s.

Back then there was a landfill operation going on SW of here and it was a prime crow hunting area in January. Several stands of pines around the edges of the landfill, surrounded by farm fields. Those patches of pines were where we had our "set ups". Owl decoy on a long pole, run up high in a pine so the Mexican Eagles could see it, battery-powered record player and megaphone speaker, for the crow calling. Long before tape players or digital callers, used some mouth calls, too.

The guy who only shot crows, racked up some pretty impressive piles of dead ones down there, back in those days.

I shoot crows now and then when at camp. Both by calling them into an owl decoy and shooting them with a shotgun, or out in fields, while shooting woodchucks. My bud exploded one about 400 yards out one time when we were shooting chucks. The other crows flew up into fence row trees at the shot. From time to time, one or two would fly back down next to the original dead one and get whacked.

My worst experience, was the time my son and I went to camp and he wanted to call crows in. Didn't have a shotgun along, so borrowed my cousin's 12ga pump. Only shells he had, were 3" magnum turkey loads. Put a crow call tape in the camp ghetto blaster, set it out in the woods in back of the cabin, ran owl up a pole and waited under the back porch roof.

Crows came, fired a shot almost straight up in the air and crushed collar bone when the shotgun butt crept up onto a shoulder edge. Thus ended that adventure. Son was about 9 or 10 at the time, liked to heckle me about that for years when he and I went to camp: "Dad, you gonna shoot some crows again?".

[Bill]

I was associated with farming for a long time and can honestly say I have never seen crows do more damage to corn fields than various other things out there. All seed is treated now, you would think eating enough of that crap would kill them. lol When you work ground you also bring a lot of insects to the surface, they are eating those too. Just like when you till the garden in the spring the robins literally flock to it eating grubs, worms, and insects. My brother's wife is convinced they are eating the seeds she planted but no matter how much I try to convince her otherwise she still believes it. I'm not saying crows don't work a newly planted or sprouted corn field, they do, but I have never seen horrific damage from it or any more than deer or bear do to corn. There are areas that have more crows than some, I will give you that. Maybe the PGC should start a "Kill the crows, save the world" campaign. LMAO

I just get a kick out of the folks who are seemingly always at war with nature, thinking they are saving so much and spouting off antiquated backwoods beliefs that have little to no truth to them.

[buzz]

My brother inlaw JJ, who post on these boards had to replant a entire field a few years ago due to the crows, in fact he may have replanted some of it twice......not sure, but when he gets back from vacation he can chime in.
I know other farmers who have that issue.

My buddy and I went over and shot the hell out of that flock. I love crow hunting. Our best year, he and I shot over 1,000 crows. We have slowed down on hunting them in recent years, but still shoot a few hundred per season.

I have a couple farmers who call me when they see a large flock of crows on their farm, so we can come shoot them and get rid of them.

You are quite simply wrong Bill, all the farmers I know, and have permission to crow hunt on, hate crows due to the damage they cause. One farmer has a issue with crows tearing holes in his ag bags to get to corn, and it ruins feed from spoilage.

I have permission to crow hunt on well over 30 farms..............

[ridgecommander]

Feb 27, 2017 11:49:05 GMT -5 bawanajim said:

Until I get as old and wise as Bill, I'm going to kill every crow I can !

Fri, Sat, Sun only of course......

[Dutch]

Feb 27, 2017 11:04:44 GMT -5 dougell said:

We have a black and white cat that's been showing itself regularly.Yesterday it offered up a 200 yard shot but I wouldn't let my kid shoot it.I'm pretty sure that little sob is the reason for the decline in our rabbit population.

Last winter we had 7 rabbits coming to the corn I put out. This year, one.

After having all their young, one rabbit.

Guess what I noticed last year? We now have 2 cats roaming the neighborhood.

My brother put a trail camera under his porch last year, EIGHT different cats using that space at times. He has not had bunnies in years.

[dougell]

I've been seeing this sneaky little sob semi-frequently but I hate to shoot someone's pet.It would be justifiable regardless but we have animals as well and I don't want to deal with retaliation.

[3212]

As a maintenance machinist in industry,one of my jobs was maintaining the crow cannons on the roof in winter.One night an electrician took me up to the roof.We had skylights that were bright at night from the interior factory lights.He said "watch this".He clapped his hands and the light was blocked from so many crows lifting off.They were picking the gravel for their gizzards.Then we got gas powered noise makers(crow cannons).They were on swivels and timers to fire until 10:00 pm so the neighbors would not be disturbed late at night. 

[dougell]

Feb 27, 2017 11:19:02 GMT -5 Bill said:

I was associated with farming for a long time and can honestly say I have never seen crows do more damage to corn fields than various other things out there. All seed is treated now, you would think eating enough of that crap would kill them. lol When you work ground you also bring a lot of insects to the surface, they are eating those too. Just like when you till the garden in the spring the robins literally flock to it eating grubs, worms, and insects. My brother's wife is convinced they are eating the seeds she planted but no matter how much I try to convince her otherwise she still believes it. I'm not saying crows don't work a newly planted or sprouted corn field, they do, but I have never seen horrific damage from it or any more than deer or bear do to corn. There are areas that have more crows than some, I will give you that. Maybe the PGC should start a "Kill the crows, save the world" campaign. LMAO

I just get a kick out of the folks who are seemingly always at war with nature, thinking they are saving so much and spouting off antiquated backwoods beliefs that have little to no truth to them.

I think you can treat the seeds but I don't believe all of it is treated.

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2017 11:45:21 GMT -5 buzz said:

My brother inlaw JJ, who post on these boards had to replant a entire field a few years ago due to the crows, in fact he may have replanted some of it twice......not sure, but when he gets back from vacation he can chime in.
I know other farmers who have that issue.

My buddy and I went over and shot the hell out of that flock. I love crow hunting. Our best year, he and I shot over 1,000 crows. We have slowed down on hunting them in recent years, but still shoot a few hundred per season.

I have a couple farmers who call me when they see a large flock of crows on their farm, so we can come shoot them and get rid of them.

You are quite simply wrong Bill, all the farmers I know, and have permission to crow hunt on, hate crows due to the damage they cause. One farmer has a issue with crows tearing holes in his ag bags to get to corn, and it ruins feed from spoilage.

I have permission to crow hunt on well over 30 farms..............

Way back when I used to hunt out of that camp in Huntingdon County, the farmer told us that he would give us a Budweiser for every dead crow we brought him.  I guess he didn't like them much.  One day we took him over 50 of the critters, but we had so much fun shooting them we declined his offer.  Besides, with two cases of beer in the camp fridge not much hunting would have got done.