New To Crow Calling - - Question

rainshadow1

rainshadow1

Custom Call Maker
Gonna call crows this year. First time. Been calling them for fun lately and getting ridiculous response, but it made me wonder... Do you shoot as they arrive, or do you wait til there's a big mob of them dive bombing your head before you open up on them? Will they keep coming when you shoot as they arrive? Or should you just unplug the gun and try for as many as you can in one frantic volley?

I'm getting 30 to 40 crows swarming the call in 2 to 3 minutes! Hope it's like that come October!
 
I heard once from I have no idea who, that if you shoot the first one they'll all keep coming because he's the look-out.

I don't buy that. No thing or no body is going to keep circling when the buckshot follows the bark of a 12 gauge.

I've always called from a spot, killed as many as I could, and then moved maybe 100 yards. A lot of times just relocation of the sound will get the rest coming again.

You wanna have some real fun, get some decoys, set em up, and STAY HID for as long as you can stand it.
 
I agree with River Runner once you start shooting at them they will leave. But if you quickly change sounds they will often times come right back and some times you can get them to come back several times by changing sounds. One sound that brings them back is the come back call which is 2 sharp caws followed by a longer caw. Johnny Stewart has this sound on tape and CD. Another trick is to change to a owl or hawk sound then to a dying crow and this usually brings them back. But sooner or late they will leave and you have to move. In the fall and winter look for flyways to and from the roost and you can set up and call them for several hours without moving. Good luck.
 
Take em as they come. They are not stupid, change sounds or shoot and go to another spot. But always get the "scout".
 
Thanks for the input, guys. And thanks Africapredator for the link, that's an interesting site about calling them down there. (Another vote for shoot first.)

I'm gonna just have to try it and see I guess. If they were waterfowl, it'd go both ways, if there are more coming close by, wait until they all get there, but if a pair comes, you shoot, then cover back up and keep calling if another pair is in the air. I've heard both theories now.

Every time I've turned the caller on one comes, usually being swarmed by blackbirds, then comes a pair, then another single, then three, then a single, then another pair... Coming from as far as you can see. I don't think they've been called here before.

Seems like if I shot as they came there would be others that would be far enough out to keep on coming. On the other hand, the longest I've run the call has been about 7 minutes, the shortest has been about 3 minutes, the smallest bunch was about 20 and the biggest was about 60. Waiting hunkered under a bush in the ghillie until they mob then opening up would produce as many as I could hit out of a tube full of shells every time. So either way would be a blast! I'll just have to experiment I guess.
 
Biggest key is don't miss. From my experance if you can keep the crows dropping the others further out will ignore the gunshot and think that his buddies are diving in to join the fight. If you miss a couple, they'll go about 500 yards away, lite in a tree, and alarm call, then you might as well pack it up. We shoot everything that comes in as they get into range and it works well for us.

Nick T
 
I too shoot the first one that arrives. After shooting several times, they will generally fly off and sit in trees, looking and listening. Changing sounds as other have already said, definitely helps. I've had crows come charging in once again just by changing sounds. I generally begin with a Crow and Owl Fight, and after working them over for a while until they leave, I will switch to a Young Crow Distress, and generally they come right back. A good thing to keep in mind is, don't overcall an area. Give it a rest for a while before calling again.

Good Shooting.
 
...if you want to add to the fun and productivity of a spot, bring a rifle with you as you set up in the cover. When the crows land out of shotgun range, you can still pick off a few before they get too wise. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
any of u guys ever try rabit in distress calls before, ive had quit a few crows around me when im calling the last couple hours before dark,seems like it works pretty good..
 
Yes, I often throw in rabbit and other distress sounds and put a rabbit fur on the ground where they can see it. This is one way to get then to land in trees where you can get a rifle shot.
 
Haven't deliberately used a rabbit in distress to call crows, but now that you mention it, I've called a lot while predator calling with rabbit distress sounds.
 
get a mouth call, one that u can bite down on to change the pitch with, which i think they are all like that anyways, and bight down about mid ways and fluder your toung like your makeing the sound of a mushein gun and make it sound exciting, i dont really know what this makes, the best i can figure is a crow in distress, but if u do that and set a awl decoy out from u a little bit, i can garunty you will have them in really quick, and have lots of them
if u have a high crow population u can just keep makein this sound even after u shoot at them and they will still be some come, we wonce killed 8 crows in 3 minuts just by doin this, then we ran out of shells and just kept makein that sound and it seemed like even after we left they was still flying over that spot. best method i have found. sniping them out of the garden would be the second best.
 
i went to my uncles house yesterday with the rabbit in distress and in two minutes i had so many crows around me i couldnt hear myself think..
 
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