Crow hunting

[muttbuster]

Can anyone give me some advice on Crow hunting. I have several decoys and some calls but it seems the Crows know whats up and won't come close enough to take a shot. Am I doing something wrong? Any tricks of the trade you can help me with?

[BP]

camo, camo, camo!

[muttbuster]

I was dressed in full camo. With a mask hiding in the weeds. Is there a certain sound I should use? Do crows communicate and is there a place I can learn their language?

[Lackawannafox]

The flock usually sends a lookout crow first.If your seen by him the hunts over and the rest of the flock wont come in..If you werent seen by him and the rest of the birds come in the usually circle the call a couple times  out of range before they get within range

[muttbuster]

I didn't realize they were that smart. I didn't see the lookout bird but maybe it saw me. Thanks, thats a big help.

[220_Woody]

while i'm not an avid crow hunter i do know a few tricks.

~ as BP said....camo!
~ place yourself at the highest point in the surrounding area. crows will circle above the highest point while investigating your calls.
~ start your calling quiet....draw in the closest birds and pop them before announcing your presence to the entire township. if you start out calling at full volume you'll attract every crow within earshot and therefore have less shooting time and more chances of a busted hunt. know what i mean?
~dont pop the first crow that flies in....let it get comfy and will most likely fly off or out of site. as Lackawanna stated...its the scout or sentry bird. let him live and more will come in short order.
~decoys help....an owl decoy works wonders...hawks too for that matter. an owl or hawk on the ground with some crows in the braches above is an awesome spread. makes the incoming crows wanna fly lower to investigate or harrass your owl/hawk deek making for easier shots.
~one thing i like to do once i get one or two on the ground is to retrieve them and toss them on the ground at the feet of the owl deek. when you go back to calling and the next set of crows come in and see their dead buddy at the owl deek they are less apt to fly off even with a couple shots sometimes.
~buy a hawk scream mouth call....adds alot of realizim to the set.

good luck

[muttbuster]

Thanks for the help. It means I get to spend more money on hawk calls and more decoys. That will make my wife happy. My house is already fill to capacity with mounts and hunting stuff. I need a bigger house now. More debt. My wife will be pleased when I can bring some of her things back in from the shed. She has always said we need more house.

[swarter2]

My experience has been to place the owl decoy in a tree or fence post.  Put the crow decoys around that.  For more advice here is a great website.

www.crowbusters.com

[BP]

I can't justify carrying an owl decoy.  Crows come in equally well without one.

[swarter2]

I persoanlly don't carry one but my buddy does.  I also use vocalization with my mouth to call them in while goose hunting when it is slow.  The birds respond well to my voice.

[foxtrot]

 Something that a lot of people don't think about is the wind direction,try setting up slightly down wind from the call.They can hover facing into the wind and there line of sight is in front of them.

[muttbuster]

Thank you. It is all good advice. I like the crow hunting site too. There is always something to hunt.

[foxpro51]

HA muttbuster perhaps those crows are smarter than us. Thanks guys. Interesting

[muttbuster]

After looking at the Crowbuster site, they're smarter than I gave them credit for. Does your caller have some crow calls in it?

[BP]

I used to give crows a lot of credit for brains.  I've changed my mind, I give them a lot of credit for eyesight!
ALL the sounds that come on e-callers work, and when you see how they react to those sounds, how they sometimes hang around while being shot at, you will see it is eyesight!  I recently bought a Primos Power Dogg and the crow sound on there works well too.  I was at the end of a stand for coyotes one day recently and heard a crow off in the distance.  I switched sounds to test the crow call and it worked like magic.  Turned off the call and let them filter away, and called them right back, several times.  I was 70 yards away with a .243, so they never saw me.  Had I been near the call, I would have needed to be totally hidden.