Crow hunting

[mattmillerrx]

Along the lines of my last post I am gearing up for this as well.  I already have shotguns so no big deal to set up for this.  I got a couple of calls and have played with in the back yard and manage to call in some crows, also have some crow decoys and an owl decoy.  There is a long season for these and not many hunters at least in my area and I may be able to stretch that to all of Oklahoma.  From what I have read about it, it is very popular in some areas of the country and non existent in others.  I can hunt theses where I normally hunt but am hoping to find a place locally that will let me go.

[Specklebelly]

I love to shoot crows.  I bought some decoys in the 80's but never really seriously tried to go after them.

You sparked my interest though and may try it out.  We usually pass shoot crows while chasing daffy.  They are sure tough little birds.

[torpedoman]

owl decoy and a tape of an owl and crow fight usually does it

[Graybeard]

There is a lot of crow hunting being done in OK or at least used to near a fort perhaps Sill? I used to read of millions of crows gathering there each winter.

I used to do a lot of crow hunting but have about given it up. I like the Faulk's mouth caller better than any other brand I've tried and I've tried a lot of them. I used first an old Johnny Steward record player caller if that tells you how long ago I started this. I then sold it at a gunshow and went to a JS cassete tape caller and still have it.

The way we did it was running and gunning. We really had few areas that we had permission on but just stopped anywhere we saw crows and called if there was no houses near and if they were we'd ask permission. Pretty much never got turned down and even when we just hunted and the land owner showed up before we left they usually told us come back often and if they had other land told us how to get there.

In all those years we had exactly two folks unhappy with us on the land. One was a kid who claimed his dad didn't allow any hunting and said they had cattle there. There were no fences and no pastures anywhere near there so I'm not sure he even knew who owned the land. One was a fellow who claimed to be a member of a deer hunting club and took exception to us hunting on club land. Again I'm not sure he really had any association with it and ended up backing down and leaving us alone to shoot crows.

We seldom used decoys as it was run and gun for us and we were in and out of a place usually in 15 minutes or less. Decoys were too much trouble and it was mostly thickly wooded where we were so not much way for them to see decoys anyway.

We'd first mouth call and shoot any that showed then turn on the player and pull any from further away and some times bring back any that weren't killed the first time.

Our best day me and my cousion Lewis killed 101 and they were still coming in when we ran out of ammo.

[mattmillerrx]

That sounds like a lot of fun GB.  I don't think many people would mind you being on there land if you are just hunting crows.   Now, if you are hunting deer that is another story.

[handi270]

G.B. Fort Sill is in Oklahoma, but I think Fort Gibson is the crow hunting hotspot.

noel

[Specklebelly]

G.B. Fort Sill is in Oklahoma, but I think Fort Gibson is the crow hunting hotspot.

noel

Isn't it Ft. Cobb?

[Cecil]

yeah its fort Cobb peanut ville

[Graybeard]

Yup Cobb sounds right. Maybe Ft. Sill is just the only fort name I knew in OK. 

[Old Fart]

Ft Cobb was the meca of crow hunters back in the day. I used to visit it regularly about 15 years ago. I heard the the Wildlife department poisoned most of them off about 10 years ago. They were bankrupting the peanut farmers. I haven't been back out so they may have recovered some.
It was a sight to see. Unless you had seen it, it was hard to believe. They absolutely darkened the sky. When I say there were millions, I mean there were literally millions. The roost was just on the north side of the town Ft. Cobb on the north side of the lake. You couldn't hunt the roost, but a smart hunter would set up between the roost and the public hunting area. A buddy of mine and me got in there one year and shot so many we ran out of ammo. Our guns were getting so hot they were getting hard to hold on to. Good times. I still laugh out loud when I think of it. Two big old boys having more fun than should have been legal.

[rodclop]

Whats this about fort gibson being the hot spot for crows tell me more

[Old Fart]

Fort Cobb, not Fort Gibson.

Sorry dude!

OF

[FourBee]

I had a flock of crows swarm me one time while hunting, it was very exciting for a few minutes.  

   Was squirrel hunting with an old bolt action 16ga shotgun, when a lone crow landed in the tree tops above me.  I took him.    Don't remember why, but I was carrying him across a field when I heard a flock of crows in the distant.

    I took a forked stick and pushed the long end into the ground, and set the crows head in the fork.   I jumped into a nearby ravine, and began to CAW at the crows, and they must have spotted that dead crow standing on the ground, cause they filled the sky around me, and I was shootin as fast as I could.   They were confused and some were landing on the ground, and it was getting mighty hectic real quick.  Just as suddenly as it started, it was over, and dead quiet.   Seems like I harvested 3 or 4 crows.

[Old Fart]

You know I live just about 45 minutes southeast of OKC. In the spring some times I go out into the little forest at my farm and wait on these bandits to fly through. They'll come buy a couple times a day and raise cane with everything in the tree. Them and the squirrles will chatter back and forth. They will try to terrorize a owl or two. I picked up a couple marlins in the .17 last year that I think I'll turn loose on those scroundrels this spring. You know they think they're clever and try to stay out of reach of a shotgun. I can set up on the edge of the trees and pick them off as they come in up to a couple hundred yards I think. That will school them won't it?