I love shooting these pests. Ohio has the strangest law on crow hunting. You can only shoot crows Friday thru Sunday.
Lately I have been wacking them around my place with a 17 HMR.
Shots are all under 100 yrds.
Last fall a buddy of mine stops over and he and I are having lunch when I spot three crows in the yard. My old 220 swift was sitting in the cornor, ready for groundhogs. I open a window and turn one of the crows into a cloud of feathers. The other two go bonkers, cawing and flying circles around my yard. Whitin minutes I have a dozen or more crows wheeling around cawing and raising a racket.
I have never seen anything like it. It was like a Steven King movie. Within 20 minutes there had to be 50 crows circling around and sitting in trees in my yard and woods beside the house.
I grab my 1100, pull plug out, and drop in 5 high base turkey loads. I step out a side door closest to the woods and bust two crows sitting side by side in a big hickory with the first shot. Next four shots I only bust two more flying rats.
My buddy who is not a hunter is laughing his ass off saying the this is what it must be like to live in a war zone. For the next couple months I never had a crow near my house. I could see them in some of the big fields out front and as they would head for the woods they would fly a big arch around my house.
I have shot a dozen or more since and have had no repeats of the big gathering.

Its funny how crows look like they explode into a cloud of feathers when shot, i have never seen any other bird do that like that? Is it just me or do crow feathers just fly off their bird bodies?? I'm serious, i never seen feathers do like that with any other bird!

Hit just about any bird at over 4000 fps and instant water balloon. I have done it with
220 swift and ruger 204 both.

Some of the most enjoyable crow control shooting I have had has been off the back of 2 dead crows and a couple of slices of Wonderloaf bread.

My friend doesn't even bother with the sliced white bread. He uses those polystyrene food trays. But he lives on the edge of a large city.

I once had a piece of property that had two humongous pecan trees on it. It also had a well house/shed under those trees. I would sneak in there in late September or early October, while the green husks were still on. All day long murders of crows would frequent those two trees, robbing pecans. I loved to sit underneath the cover of that shed and stick the barrel of my 17 Mach IV contender out a crack and nail those dirty birds. Distance would be twenty to thirty feet. An 18 grain hollow point or 20 gr. V-Max, yessiree! Like others have said, it was like busting a pillow stuffed with black feathers. Haven't done enough of that lately.

Here's one taken at just under 300 yds. with a Tac 20. Forty grain V-max at 3850 MV, at that range, kills them dead, but does not have quite the same devastating effect. Blew him up pretty good, but a few feathers left.



Best

GWB

We have just started calling crows again as the season closes over the summer here. I have the crow chip in my jonny stewart, and it will pull crows from a mile or so. We killed 18 in about 3 hours hopping from spot to spot last Sunday. They are the fastest learning, smartest birds or animals I have ever seen, but they sure are suckers the first time they hear a call. It's a good way to clean out all the duck and pheasant shells that got in a bucket last winter.

Until a couple of years ago, I hardly ever saw crows in this part of Ohio. For some reason, the population has increased markedly. I took the one above at 311 yards with a Contender chambered in 204 Ruger whilst laying prone on my front porch. The crows buddy flew around in great excitement after I shot this one.

I've been fairly impressed with how tough crows are. My 204 Ruger and a 270 Winchester have always worked. I shot one in the rear with a .22 caliber air rifle and it flew away. I've shot 2 or 3 with a 12 gauge shotgun and though I could see that shot hit their feathers, they just kept flying.

The best was one I heard at the rear of my property. Using my own talented voice, I let out a few caws and it came flying in. I had my 12 gauge loaded with, if I remember correctly, #6 shot and fired 3 times and it kept flying for another 50 to 100 yards before it knew it was dead and fell out of the sky.

By the way, if crows are creating a nuisance on your property in Ohio, it's not considered hunting to shoot them and you can take them any time of year and any day of the week.

Our mystery here is why we have a crow season and why a Ravens protected. You wanny puke, watch a bunch of Ravens pecking the eyes out of a lamb while the ewe is still dropping it ! Illegal to interfere !
Any doubt that birds are modern Dinosaurs is put to rest.

quote:

Originally posted by RM007:
I open a window and turn one of the crows into a cloud of feathers. The other two go bonkers, cawing and flying circles around my yard. Whitin minutes I have a dozen or more crows wheeling around cawing and raising a racket I have never seen anything like it. It was like a Steven King movie. Within 20 minutes there had to be 50 crows circling around and sitting in trees in my yard and woods beside the house.

Happened to me once, but with Magpies...had a hayday that day...what a BLAST

I know what u mean RM007, years ago myself and best friend used to crow hunt. Boy when u kill one the rest go crazy. Weird law only letting u hunt crows fri thru sunday.