Crow Hunting

I’ve never crow hunted but I’m thinking about giving it a try this winter with my 13 year old boy. It seems like there’s plenty of crows around so I’m hoping we can call some in and get a few shots before they get too smart. I think it might be a good chance for him to help his wing shooting skills.

Are crows blind shy? I have a pop up hub blind that has a panel in the roof that opens up and he could stand out of that and shoot. Any suggestions for decoys (crows or owl) or calls?

What type of cover is best to set up in… out in the open, in stands of pines, etc.

Say you call some in and get some shots one weekend, can you call that same spot the next weekend or will they be too smart to return?

We’ve tried pretty hard to get shots at ducks, geese, turkeys, deer, and pheasants some days this past season but the action was never fast. I know he’d like getting the chance to shoot a dozen times or so in a day but maybe it’s a lot harder than it seems it might be.

Thanks,

Boone

Crows have very very good eyes and can see the slightest of movement. The blind would be a great idea, but not in the open. My best spots have been in a pine stand. I would use crow decoys, they seen to work the best for me. An electronic crow call of a crow/owl fight has been my go to.

Hard to say if they will come back after being shot at once. I have given them a 2 week break and some came back some didn’t. I would say if you shoot it twice you are pretty much done in that spot, but maybe a couple hundred yards away would work after a couple weeks break.

Camo camo camo everything, you hands, your face, gun if you can. They have great eyes and use them quite well. Be patient at first, they will make a few fly overs just out of range or just in range, but if you are patient they will come in close and in numbers.

Good luck, it’s fun as heck when it works.

First off, note that MN does have designated seasons for hunting crows. This has become excessively complicated recently, from memory there are 4 seasons now, each 1-2 months long. Bottom line is that the majority of the year, crows NOT in season in MN.

Now with that said, it IS terrific fun. Crow hunting provides some great high bird pass shooting. And it can be very productive if you have good spots and a good call.

Crows are very smart and they possess eagle-like eyesight. Generally, what we do is camo up and place an electronic call and an owl decoy in a small clearing or other open area and then we hide inside the treeline 20 or so yards away. The decoy gives the crows something to look at besides looking for you. Camo facemasks are essential because the human face shining upward is like a flashing red light to crows.

The eCaller is very loud, which is helpful for crows. Once they start coming in, if you can, control yourself and wait for a bunch of them to gather and start ganging up on the owl before you shoot. This is easier said than done, the first couple of times I used the eCaller to call in crows, I was so shocked that it actually worked, that I was totally unprepared.

Crows are not easy to bring down, either. I use a 12 ga and #4 or #5 shot is what I’d say is optimal. #6 at least in my experience is too fine and doesn’t give enough knockdown power for longer range shots. Of which, you will have many because it’s tough to get crows in under 30 yards and then you’ll only have 1 or 2 shots at this distance before they head for the hills. Personally, I use an autoloader, and if you have 2 shotguns, I’d bring them both so you can pick up a second gun rather than reloading.

In general crows become very call shy, so it helps to have a “milk route” of places you can hunt, and then call each place only once in a while.

Grouse

Crows are incredibly smart. Had one as a pet as a kid.

High powered rifle 300yds away from a food pile probably best bet.

I’ve never hunted them but if you ever cover across a nest of young ones… It’ll be a great pet for the kid

You need to listen to some calling cds so you know what a feeding call or gathering call sounds like.

Instead of decoys just use some black crepe paper wadded up and tied loosely to tree limbs and scattered on the ground. Definitely wear camo. I always liked to hunt where some larger trees were handy and I could just back up to one of them and stay tight to it until the trigger gets pulled. Crows are super social birds and when one or two hit the dirt others will swarm in to keep tabs on them. Even with a pellet rifle in the driveway there are time I can smack a half dozen just by picking off the frenzied birds that won’t give up the ghost.

Thanks for the advice. I’m sure there’s a learning curve and I’m way at the bottom.

I plan to hunt them in Wisconsin. I think the season opens January 24th and runs for a couple of months. It was also open I think mid-September through mid-November.

I always see them eating garbage along the sides of the road. I don’t know if it’s legal to bait them or not, and this may seem strange, but I often wondered if a couple of big McDonalds bags would draw them in. If there was no food it the bags, I don’t think it could be considered baiting, assuming baiting is even illegal. If baiting is not illegal, an order of fries might work. But this wouldn’t draw them in from a distance like an e-caller.

Thanks,

Boone

They do love a good road kill, but yeah I am not sure about baiting them in MN or WI.

Crow hunting is addicting and can be challenging at times, but very fun. This last fall I got out around the house once a week or so – probably got 45-50 of them total. Not outstanding numbers but still learning.

I use both an ecaller with extra speaker and mouth call. I use my same 20g I’d use for pheasant hunting w/ #6 shot, tho I’ve done a lot of reading that 7.5 or 8 shot loads are actually better for them. Crows look pretty big when they’re coming in however their vitals are quite small. I cannot tell you how many crows I’ve shot at that lost feathers but flew away without issue. They’re also erratic flyers. Nothing like shooting pheasants where you just increase your lead if you miss. It’s nothing for you to shoot, miss, and have that bird dip dart and dodge which can make for challenging shooting (which is good).

Like Grouse mentioned, resist sky blasting. It’s so hard, especially as a beginner to not shoot at them right when you see them but 9/10 when they first come in, they’re at max range or slightly above. You’ll shoot, probably miss or get a non-leathal hit, and that crow will tell all his buddies. Sounds crazy but I’m serious.

I also use 4-5 decoys and an old rabbit fur hat as a decoy. All the decoys do is give that bird something to focus on that’s not you.

MN season 1 ends on Friday, hope to make it out 1 least time before then. My brother and I will be also be chasing them in WI after to help fill the winter lul.

Good luck – it’s addicting.

boone wrote:

Thanks for the advice. I’m sure there’s a learning curve and I’m way at the bottom.

I plan to hunt them in Wisconsin. I think the season opens January 24th and runs for a couple of months. It was also open I think mid-September through mid-November.

I always see them eating garbage along the sides of the road. I don’t know if it’s legal to bait them or not, and this may seem strange, but I often wondered if a couple of big McDonalds bags would draw them in. If there was no food it the bags, I don’t think it could be considered baiting, assuming baiting is even illegal. If baiting is not illegal, an order of fries might work. But this wouldn’t draw them in from a distance like an e-caller.

Thanks,

Boone

Bird seed. Its not illegal to feed birds. Pick up a couple 40 pound bags of generic bird seed and spread it out on the snow. Then toss some weighted balls of black tissue or crepe paper in and around the seed and start calling.. Let a dozens or so get right in there to chow, then smack’em. Once the initial flurry is over let the site rest a couple hours and do it again with the calls.

Those big suckers are hungry….food is short now with the snow and that seed will be like banquet table to them. Crows might be smart but that hungry button does a lot to short circuit there thinking of safety.

I learned hunting crows with an electronic caller. After using one for a few years I got pretty good at just using mouth callers which is all I have now.

Got out his afternoon for a couple hours. Struggled to find good cover so many birds I saw stayed high. A few rolled the dice and lost. Season closes tomorrow in MN until March 1st. Might have to head to WI soon to get my fix.

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Nice job Pete. Around our house crows are doing or are about to do harm so they get penalized. Its something to see them fly up and grab hold of the wire mesh around a hanging tower feeder and flap their wings like crazy, spilling the seed all over the ground. Then they feed at their leisure. They die pretty leisurely too. 4 more went in the can today.

WI’s season usually offers a short window into the pre-mating time, when the flocks are splitting up and there’s a lot of fighting amongst the crows. This is my favorite time to sit in any WI pines! They’re so distracted by the other crows that they don’t even seem to remember where they were shot at or watched a couple die even 30 minutes prior. Last March, I didn’t even have to move. I’d just sit still and quiet and blast the low altitude squabblers or a couple of the cheerleaders following suit. It’s a little different flavor than the usual bait and call and a boat load of fun!

Pete, what’s that second speaker on your set up?

I’ve hunted them A LOT for many years in MN. Most of the above info is accurate. Here’s two other pointers to always remember:
1) Like ducks, they will generally come in from downwind – if the wind is strong. Locate your stand position for better shooting on the downwind side of your caller/decoys. Caller positioning consideration is critical for this pointer.
2) ALWAYS hit the first bird that comes in. The first bird is the scout. They always send in one or two scouts before a larger heard flies in. If you don’t kill this bird, he’ll fly back and warn all others not to come by. Hard to believe, but very true. After you kill the scout, keep calling. The others will come to see what happened to Mr. Scout.
Two guy’s I hunt with keep Excel spread sheets on their hunts and log all kinds of details – just like fishing. The information is actually invaluable after many years of data. Good luck!

funny, snowmobiling today I saw 3 large crows chasing down a large Hawk, right on the trail 50 ft in front of me. They chased him into a tree as I went by and I would never have guessed they would pick a fight with a hawk until I saw this post!

One more tip: Know all the rules for crow hunting, because you will be stopped by a CO sooner than later. Most CO’s don’t read their own DNR Rules on hunting for crows. Most don’t remember seasons dates and most citizens don’t either, so you’ll get called on for hunting something out of season all the time. Many CO’s also don’t know the reg’s for blaze orange either. Many think you need to wear blaze orange while crow hunting. Crows are migratory birds. After being stopped, harassed and ticketed (more than once) for blaze orange requirements, we finally got a written letter from the head hunting enforcement guy in the main office at the MN DNR that says you do not have to wear blaze orange while crow hunting because they are migratory birds. We all now carry copies of that email letter and have had to show it several times to the CO’s. Most CO’s (and sheriff’s) don’t run into too many crow hunters, so when they do see you out there, they generally think you’re out doing something else (that’s illegal) and that’s how you’ll get treated in the first couple of minutes until they figure out what you’re up to. ….I guess I can’t blame them for that though.

like it has been said before it is about good camo and little movement lot of volume.
Pine plantings conceal the best. Use an owl decoy sometimes, fun to have hawks smash the owl decoys. Crow owl fight recordings is my best recording. Use to have crow tournaments weekly in Wisconsin was a bar league type tournament. Dam that was fun. My game plan is quick set ups with no decoys and stick around busy roads. I would kill to be able set up in Minneapolis there is a nightly roost there that is mind blowing. Have batteries charging
as I type, going after them this weekend. Me and my son had a riot doing this
fast action, lot of snacks and no pleasure. Try crow busters website.

Dogs: Best call – crow/owl fighting ☠☠☠. 👍

Well my boy and I made it out this afternoon for the first time. The Season opened on January 26th in Wisconsin. I bought a nice owl decoy from Cabelas and a couple of not-so-nice the flocked, foam crow decoys from Fleet Farm. We used a crow and owl fight cassette tape in an old boom box that I had. It was fairly load and sounded fine to me.

We made five sets. First set we saw nothing. The breeze was pretty strong and I don’t think any crows heard the calls. Second set we had a couple fly over when we were setting out the decoys. They never came back and might have been out of hearing range by the time we called. Third set we had one come in real high. I didn’t think it was going to commit so I shot but missed. Probably too high. Then two more came in but they were too high but my boy shot anyway. See saw about 6 crows fly into a stand of pines about 200 yard north of us but I think they were actually harassing a real owl. I’m starting to think this isn’t going as planned. Thinking maybe I should switch to a full choke. Fourth set we were in a tiny patch of standing corn that was too wet to pick. The decoys were out in front of us about 20 yards. I did not see nor hear any crows so I was wondering if any were around. After a brief period of calling I looked to the north and saw a group of five crows coming in fast and low. I waited until they got out in front of us and told my boy to shoot. He does but missed and they retreat back to the north in a flash. I wonder if I should have held off telling him to shoot. Maybe they would have landed or circled around and my boy would have had an easier shot. But at least we had some come right in. The fifth and final set was near a big stand of pines. Again I did not see or hear any prior to calling. We had our backs to a couple of medium sized spruce trees facing away from the stand of pines and placed the decoys out in front of us about 10 yards away. I was hoping any crows would fly past the spruces and towards the decoys and present a good shot. Within 30 seconds the first crow came right in but instead of flying past the spruces, he landed in a maple tree that was just behind the spruces… basically right above us. He saw us move and was gone before we could shoot Then about a minute later a pair came in and did the same thing but in a different tree. In hindsight we should have set up facing the direction I expected them to come from.

So all-in-all, not too bad I thought. In three of the five sets we had crows come to the calling. With more experience about what to expect the crows to do, how to set-up, and some better shooting, hopefully we can get some.

We also spent a little time rabbit hunting but didn’t see a single rabbit.

I checked the crow hunting regulations for Wisconsin. Crows are considered a game bird and it’s illegal to hunt game birds with a rifle or bait them. We’re going to get some better crow decoys and a decent electronic caller. Hopefully we didn’t educate the crows in these spots too much as I’d like to try calling again from there the next time we get out.

Boone

My boy and I didn’t have much time to crow hunt today but we made a couple of sets and had crows come in at both locations. The problem is that the vast majority stayed too high to shoot. The closest that any came seemed to be no lower than the height of the nearest trees. We’ve been using an e-caller with a Crow Frenzy call. We set up an owl decoy and put crow decoys around it. That seems to help keep their eyes off us but they were still staying too high today and the last time we were out. I’m not sure what to do. We wait but they still aren’t dropping down and eventually they seem to figure out something is not right and then fly off. But we usually get at least one to give us a shot at each set. I think I may need some crow decoys that have some motion like either wind driven motion or a mechanical motion decoy.

We’ve also learning how to set up. Hiding under trees makes us difficult to see but also makes it difficult to shoot the crows flying overhead.

Here’s one my boy made a nice shot on today.

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What do you do with the crows you harvest?

I missed the last weekend and hate myself for it. I cut the wings and feet off
and give them to a person that makes dream catchers.

I’ve got one question for you guys. How do they taste?

Had a friend eat one once; he is a guy that has eats everything from coyote nuts, pickled rabbit hearts, cat. He tried crow one time old and under cooked ended in hospital. I have placed dead crows out and nothing ever touches them.

Chance R. wrote:

I’ve got one question for you guys. How do they taste?

I used my lab many times to retrieve shot crows. Like any trained hunting dog, she loved retrieving them, but boy did she spit them fast once she brought them back to hand. It was actually funny watching her force the thing back to me just to drop it quickly – unlike ducks, geese and pheasants. Even dogs don’t like the taste of them!