To all of you intelligent individuals,

Does anyone have a way to attract crows and magpies in short of an animal carcass. Here in Nevada we have a season on crows twice a year. Problem is is that your are only allowed 6 birds a day and can only use a shotgun. We all know that you can't get within 400 yards of a crow without him taking wing unless your are within the city limits. In the city limits you could hit them with a fly swatter. I would love to bag a bunch of crows and magpies. They are raising hell with the local upland game bird population. Would make for some good off season target practice. A .223 up to an 06 might prove to be real fun.

Tony

When I lived in Nevada I used to use an electronic call and use a camo net over me. I used a crow and owl fight recording. Very suprising how many crows showed up when not a one was in sight before I started calling. Be aware around you should you decide to do this as I had more then one coyote come in to the call also.

I would try some cracked corn 50 lbs is about 7 or 8 bucks here spread a liberal amount around ( Private property?} if its legal wait a few days and you will have a shooting gallery

i hate magpies.

The electronic call is the way to go. The crows are easy to get in shotgun range with one. Concealment is a must though. Once you get one or two on the ground it seems hardly nothing will stop them from coming in.

We use calls (we do not use the electronic ones, I do not think they are legal here) and they seem to come in a waves. Most of our crow hunting we do in a pecan orchard and we get next to the trees in full camo (head to toe). Usually after the first one is down, we lay it out in an open area so the other crows think that one is calling them in for snacks.

Take a piece of old rabbit fur coat and nail it to a piece of wood so it can't be carried off. Set it out in an open area near the cover you're hiding in. Add some calling and maybe a decoy or two.

I set up a blind in my carport.
I hid behind wood slat lattice with a benchrest and .177 pellet gun while reading a book. I put a pile of bird seed in the driveway. I had the rifle sighted in for the bird seed 25 feet away. Withing 1/2 hour the breeding pair of crows I was after showed up. I got a single shot to go through both bird bodies. They both flew away. The next day I got a shot at one in a tree and shot him through the neck. He dropped dead.

Tony, Magpies are smart SOBs, we have a "Mapie Distress Call" here in NZ, you can get it on CD or tape.

What I have done is used Magpie decoys and the Tape get all camoed up with my suppressed 223 and wait, with the tape going full blast!!Its all over prety quick, most of the local birds will be in under a minute, if Im lucky I may get 6 at most, I use the 223 because usally after the first shot they all piss off real quick to near by trees so I shoot from the same spot.
With a couple of people with shotguns you would certainly get your fair share of them, but centre fires are definalty the way to go with them.

They are a real pest here, they give our native birds hell, so it is a permant open season on them.
Some clever bloke invented a magpie trap, this is a link to our local envromental watchdog, on here is plans on how to make one and how to use them. Hope it helps
http://www.ew.govt.nz/
if you want one of the tapes let me know.

Regards Runas

Do you guys keep your crow callers going all the time after you're set up? I've never hunted crow before, but it sounds like a lot of fun. Any time of day usually better for them? Or would it be something fun for me to try between my morning/evening ground hog hunts in the summer?