Crows with a rifle....what's the regs in your state?

Dan Johnson

New member
Need some info, guys, on which states allow you to shoot crows with a rifle. Any other input on the regulations that might affect this, such shooting near roads, etc. will be appreciated. Would also like to hear of your own crow sniping experiences.

Dan Johnson
 
Dan,
We dont have many regs on crows here in IA. We do have two different seasons though. We do shoot them with rifles and also call them and blast them with shotguns.

My buddies and I have a board in the shop with a tally of who gets the most in the two seasons. Its probably 50/50 on rifle kills and shotgun kills.

The best shot on a crow I have ever saw, was about 350 - 400 yds off a fence post in a ditch with a M77 Ruger 223. I tell my buddy his shot was pure luck, of course you know what he says, he made the shot. The crow was so far away, in my 12X binos, he was a tiny black bird in a tree.

------------------
Nothing worse than a coyote friendly gun!!!
 
Dan Johnson,
Here in Ohio you can shoot crows with anything. As far as shooting near roads....I try to stay about 50 yards as a minimum, but most of my hunting "set-ups" are more than 100 yards off the road.

I use 6 crow decoys, an electronic tape player w/ a crow "riot" tape and at least 2 boxes of ammo. I'm in full camo and often I'll have 2 or 3 other hunters with me.

I only took approx. 30 rounds once, while my partner took approx. 70 rounds and we got over run with crows and ran out of ammo. That was a bad feeling to see crows still coming to the call and not having any ammo. However, we had a great time and counted 51 crows on the ground plus a few that became "pedestrians" and escaped to be coyote bait.

MORAL: Always take too much ammo!

Good hunting, bowhunter57
 
Thanks guys. You are fortunate. Here in New Mexico, we can't shoot them at all. There is not a specific state law against it but when the Feds declared them a migratory game bird NM did not write any regulations on hunting them. So basically they are a game bird with no provisions for taking them.

Dan Johnson
 
Arkansas has the following regulations for crow hunting. Season is Sept 8 -- Feb 28. However, you can only hunt crows Thursday through Monday. Since Federal Law only allows so many days of crow hunting, limiting hunting to 4 days a week extends the number of weeks crows can be hunted. And, No hunting over bait. But the bad news is that crows can not be shot with any rifle except 22 rimfire unless a gun deer season is open, and of course if you wanted to give up your deer season to hunt crows,you would have to wear hunters orange. I imagine that would work really well for crows!
Like most game departments, ours sees their main function as seeing how many new and nonsensical regs they can add each year. Especially where predator hunters are concerned, Arkansas is not a user friendly state.
Charlie
 
hey charlie you can hunt Crows here in Arkansas with a shotgun it just cannot be with slugs or shot larger than T,and muzzle loaders no larger than a .40.
 
varmintslayer;
I saw that in a search through Crow Busters. It is incorrect. Federal law requires a closed season in all states. Obviously the researcher could find no regulations on shooting crows in New Mexico and assumed they were unprotected. Many of us here assumed the same thing but Game & Fish made it very clear otherwise. I have tried to stir up some interest in getting a season here but not a lot of luck so far.

Dan Johnson
 
Originally posted by varmintslayer:
hey charlie you can hunt Crows here in Arkansas with a shotgun it just cannot be with slugs or shot larger than T,and muzzle loaders no larger than a .40.

Varmintslayer is correct about shotguns, however, since the original question was about rifles, that is how I directed my answer. Sorry for any confusion.
Ozark Charlie
 
VA has different firearm regulations for each different county. My county allows rifle or shotgun, and the season runs from March to August, and then Monday, Wed, Fri and Saturday.

I simply love sniping crows with my 17 Mach IV, you almost always get to see the hits thru the scope. We do the calling thing sometimes with the shottyguns, but the rifle is my favorite. I keep a rifle at the basement window whenever I'm home, overlooking the pasture. Usually good for several every weekend.

Rich in VA
 
Heres my county! You can use Anyting to shoot them!
Season:

August 18–March 16 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday only.

Licenses Required:

State or county hunting license
Additional licenses, stamps or permits that may be required:

National Forest Stamp while hunting on national forests
State Forest Stamp while hunting on state forests
Special Archery (see Special License Requirements)
Special Muzzleloading (see Special License Requirements)
Lawful Methods of Taking:

Modern firearms
Archery tackle
Muzzleloading firearms
Electronic calls
 
Kentucky Regs: seasons:Sept 1-Nov 7 and Jan 4- Feb 28.There is no daily limit or possession limit on crows. Crows committing or about to commit acts of predation may be taken year round: however, persons attempting to take predating crows shall not use blinds, decoys, calls, or other lures to attract birds into shooting range during the closed season.
Above is the official regs. You can use whatever to shoot at crows. Private property, no shooting across roads, etc.have to be observed also.
 
Lots of great info, guys. Basically, I'm researching the feasibility of writing an article on crow hunting with varmint rifles. It was a passion with me for many years and is certainly challenging, especially shooting them on the ground when they are feeding. Jokers never stand still!

Dan Johnson
 
One thing that drives me nuts about Oregon: Crows are a migratory game bird (Fed regulation) and can only be taken with non-lead shot from a legal shotgun not able to hold more than 3 shells during the season which opens October 1st and goes through Jan 1st. And due to Oregon law hunters are not allowed to "waste" or fail to retrieve any "edible" portion of a "game bird". Don't think I'll ever try crow!
confused.gif


And "THEY'RE THICK AS FLEAS!"

------------------
Matt/Spinner

[This message has been edited by SpinnerShark (edited 12-08-2001).]
 
Was just reading thru here for the first time and remembered the first time I shot a crow! I was just a kid in the back yard w/my BB gun and this crow comes flying along. I said to my brohter, "I wonder if I could hit it flying?" I tried and, lo and behold, if I didn't connect. Blackie did a swerve in mid-air and flew on, albeit at a faster pace than before. Guess a 7 grain pellet at 550 fps doesn't do it for crows. I still remember my bro was as surprised as I.
 
wag;
I once hit a crow on the wing with a 4-inch 357 magnum revolver and he folded up like a cheap card table. Luckily there were a number of witnesses nearby as we were having a backyard bar-b-q at the time. The important thing to remember in those situations is to remain cool and pretend you do that sort of thing everday
smile.gif


Dan Johnson
 
oh man these crazy crows are fun to play with, they roost maybe 150yds. out my back door and always flying around the back of the house so i got a bunch of whole corn off my dad and spread it out back to feed the future dead, well 20 mins. went by and there was 3 in the lowest branch of the tree deciding on who the test dummy was going to be and bingo there they were on the ground wouldnt stay still so i was in my living room laying on the ground with the slideing door open in the snipe mode and this is a 80 yd. shot with the ruger 10/22 tasco 3x9x50mm and shot half his wing off, damn that was not good he left town all jacked up, I'll try again monday....
 
Hey Varmintslayer,
Pick up some road kill and put it out in your back field. This is a stinky but very effective way to snipe crows.

A buddy of mine has a barn that we shoot out of all winter long. We keep a "bait pile" out in the field. About 150 yds from the bench we shoot from in the barn. Saturday or Sunday afternoons if we arent out calling, we sneak out of his house with a rifle, once in awhile there is a few crows on the pile. This ties right into the contest we have on the most crow kills in a season. Lots of fun, challenging shooting.

------------------
Nothing worse than a coyote friendly gun!!!
 
Back
Top