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Crow hunting help

Bgoodman30

Bgoodman30

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Nov 21, 2016
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I haven't been on a good crow hunt in decades and I have a murder that's pretty much taken over my dove field. I am ready to teach them a lesson. What do I need to do to be successful? E caller? Full camo? Shoot the scout? Don't shoot the scout? thx!
 
The first thing to do is make sure the season is open.
 

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Popcorn said:
All I know is that when I plant my annual popcorn crop they always start pulling it up at germination. I learned that killing one in the presence of others spreads the word and leaving the carcass in plain sight reinforces that warning
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Yep, hang a dead one from a t post, and they will not land on the ground anywhere nearby, but they will sure make a lot of racket as they fly over.

They wiped out our sweet corn one year, pulled it all at after it got about an inch tall. I took revenge on them after that.
 
Been a little while, but chased them hard at one time and had to get better each hunt to be able to kill any. Ideally build a blind of some sorts to keep you hidden. Something where you can stand and shoot while still remaining mostly hidden. Full camo. Face masks and gloves. Keep movement to zero as they come in. A ground blind almost like what you would hunt cranes out of in a field would work, or could use stacked hay bales or tall stakes and camo cloth material (brush it in so cloth not flapping). Could set up on a fence row or with something like hay bales to your back (or in between bale rows). Tall and tight blind would be better than a short and wide. Want them to be able to see less of you as they fly over che king things out. Dont set up under tall trees or they will hang up above trees out of effective range. If on a fence row, pick a spot where the trees are low or a gap. If too close to yall trees, it just wont work out in my experience.

Place decoys out front. E-call out in the decoys with some cover over it. Ideal wind would be at your back or cross wind. They like to turn coming in and land on the wind, so they can hover a min to check things out (then you shoot). Want them to hover just out front of you. Use remote to lower volume a bit as they approach. Blast volume if they are far out.

There is likely a roost somewhere near. If can figure out where, you can have it all set up to get there in the dark of the morning. As they come off the roost and head to your field, you will get several waves/volleys that will be intense action like the wild west. The more you can keep from giving up your position, the longer you will get on each wave.

"Shooting the scout" wouldn't be a concern or really possible. Dont know i was really able to identify any scout, just too much action and maybe something of an old wives tale.? Just keep very well hidden till time to blast.

12ga 7.5 shot with a Modified choke is a good combo. 6 or 8 shot be fine too. I'd opt for 7.5.

Good luck. You might could find some YouTube videos similar to what I've described. Let us know if you can get on them.
 
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^^^^^^^^
I'll add that if you have an owl decoy on a t- post out in front of you, it will take some attention off you. Also playing audio of an owl/crow fight on the old foxpro will get them worked up too.
 
TN Song Dog said:
Been a little while, but chased them hard at one time and had to get better each hunt to be able to kill any. Ideally build a blind of some sorts to keep you hidden. Something where you can stand and shoot while still remaining mostly hidden. Full camo. Face masks and gloves. Keep movement to zero as they come in. A ground blind almost like what you would hunt cranes out of in a field would work, or could use stacked hay bales or tall stakes and camo cloth material (brush it in so cloth not flapping). Could set up on a fence row or with something like hay bales to your back (or in between bale rows). Tall and tight blind would be better than a short and wide. Want them to be able to see less of you as they fly over che king things out. Dont set up under tall trees or they will hang up above trees out of effective range. If on a fence row, pick a spot where the trees are low or a gap. If too close to yall trees, it just wont work out in my experience.

Place decoys out front. E-call out in the decoys with some cover over it. Ideal wind would be at your back or cross wind. They like to turn coming in and land on the wind, so they can hover a min to check things out (then you shoot). Want them to hover just out front of you. Use remote to lower volume a bit as they approach. Blast volume if they are far out.

There is likely a roost somewhere near. If can figure out where, you can have it all set up to get there in the dark of the morning. As they come off the roost and head to your field, you will get several waves/volleys that will be intense action like the wild west. The more you can keep from giving up your position, the longer you will get on each wave.

"Shooting the scout" wouldn't be a concern or really possible. Dont know i was really able to identify any scout, just too much action and maybe something of an old wives tale.? Just keep very well hidden till time to blast.

12ga 7.5 shot with a Modified choke is a good combo. 6 or 8 shot be fine too. I'd opt for 7.5.

Good luck. You might could find some YouTube videos similar to what I've described. Let us know if you can get on them.
Click to expand...

This is exactly why I came here! Thank you sir!
 
Crow hunting update. So I tried it twice. First time mid day because we were going to go dove hunting after and I had seen them there at noon. Called in scout within 5 minutes, circled twice boom, down. 2nd crow came in and I couldn't and I made a bad shot and he left... Heard some calling and none came for another 15 minutes... Figured the 2nd crow told on us.. After about 20 minutes of calling my son got antsy so we left. I saw another one coming in high as we were leaving...

2nd setup the following weekend. Had about 10 come in after about 5 minutes. I was dove hunting and wasn't planning on crow hunting so didn't have mask so I was hiding in tree line. First one comes close, boom down.. The rest of them leave. 2nd one comes about 5 minutes later boom down.

So 3 crows down in 2 quick sets. Pretty fun but not the hammer fest I was expecting but I guess you got to sit and listen to the squawking a little longer.
 
You got 100% more on your 2nd hunt. Just keep improving. We had a good spot one winter, probably a mile or two from a massive massive winter roost by the river. Took us about 5 or 6 hunts, improving our hide/blind and decoy setup each time, before we got into them real good. The improvements helped us, and the sheer number of crows that would keep coming in new waves off the roost was also a big help. Mess up on one wave, and there would be 15 more to try on over the course of a couple hours. I've never again seen them in numbers like that, anywhere.
 

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