hunting crows with a rifle

bigbronco

New member
I do not own a shotgun so the only way for me to get rid of crows is either with my .22 wmr or my trusty ol benjamin pellet rifle. Every once in a while i will get in range of one to take a shot at it but that is not very often. I have been thinking about doing some calling but it after reading some on the forums it seems like most of if not all the people who call crows in hunt with shotguns. So my question is if i manage to call some crows in will they land so i can pick them off or will they just fly over?
 
most will just keep flying over unless you make a bait pile with crow decoys on it. Sitting close and calling is pretty effective. Just don't miss because they wont be coming back for a long time.

Shotgun is definatly the way to go, Get a lot more birds.
 
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I do not own a shotgun so the only way for me to get rid of crows is either with my .22 wmr or my trusty ol benjamin pellet rifle. Every once in a while i will get in range of one to take a shot at it but that is not very often. I have been thinking about doing some calling but it after reading some on the forums it seems like most of if not all the people who call crows in hunt with shotguns. So my question is if i manage to call some crows in will they land so i can pick them off or will they just fly over?



Shooting crows with a rifle, on freshly seeded fields, or over garbage or a fresh kill, is as good as it gets.

I have shot them in fields with rifles in the 22 Hornet, .218 Bee... to 222 Mag class, and I have shot them in the garden, out of the kitchen window with a Beeman R-1.

Crows with a rifle is my favorite target.


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I like picking them off wiht my .17hmr. However my dad took me crow hunting on his farm once (tearng up his garden) we sat in a barn on the edge of his stock tank, and he had a couple decoys in his garden, and a couple at teh waters edge by an old cassette player. He started plying an old cassette crow call. the flew into the garden where we dropped a few, me with my 17HMR, him with a .22mag, and then they would fly to the oter side of the tank. we would shoot a few there, and then they would fly back the garden, where we would shoot a few. this went on till we had killed quite a few crows. he told me to lay down my gun, lwts go get the crows, go inside and come back out in a few hours and we did it again. was pretty effective.
 
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I do not own a shotgun so the only way for me to get rid of crows is either with my .22 wmr or my trusty ol benjamin pellet rifle. Every once in a while i will get in range of one to take a shot at it but that is not very often. I have been thinking about doing some calling but it after reading some on the forums it seems like most of if not all the people who call crows in hunt with shotguns. So my question is if i manage to call some crows in will they land so i can pick them off or will they just fly over?



Shooting crows with a rifle, on freshly seeded fields, or over garbage or a fresh kill, is as good as it gets.

I have shot them in fields with rifles in the 22 Hornet, .218 Bee... to 222 Mag class, and I have shot them in the garden, out of the kitchen window with a Beeman R-1.

Crows with a rifle is my favorite target.


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You got that right. I've shot them with the ruger 10-22, gamo .177, daisy pump-up, .270win and my favorite for shredding crows....the weatherby .257mag.

Baiting is a necessity. Have a place nearby so they can post their sentry while others eat. I have a tree at 186yds for this purpose.
 
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Baiting is a necessity.



What do you use for bait? Whenever a cow dies we dump it in our back field but nothing ever eats it besides vultures and every once in a while a coyote.
 
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What do you use for bait? Whenever a cow dies we dump it in our back field but nothing ever eats it besides vultures and every once in a while a coyote.



You can use a bag of seed spread out over a 5 foot circle.

Organic garbage (food leftovers, not cans or bottles) works too.


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Baiting is a necessity.



What do you use for bait? Whenever a cow dies we dump it in our back field but nothing ever eats it besides vultures and every once in a while a coyote.



This might sound numb, but maybe try a McDonald's bag with a partially wrapped double cheeseburger and a half dumped box of fries next to it. Don't laugh, I've heard of it working before. Personally, I use old bread heels or any old leftovers in the fridge that are headed for the trash can. They seem to like bird seed and deer food pretty well too. I like to snipe them from my living room window with a .22lr @ about 70yds. Not as much action as calling and shotgunning, but it's fun.
 
corn that you can buy for deer it works,,never shot any using it but we put some out for squrrel in the back bout 3 years ago and crow ate all of it ,, every time it went out they came in ,,,,,, fresh dirt i would say works too,b/c every time i see some plow up some ground there right there
 
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Baiting is a necessity.



What do you use for bait? Whenever a cow dies we dump it in our back field but nothing ever eats it besides vultures and every once in a while a coyote.



This might sound numb, but maybe try a McDonald's bag with a partially wrapped double cheeseburger and a half dumped box of fries next to it. Don't laugh, I've heard of it working before. Personally, I use old bread heels or any old leftovers in the fridge that are headed for the trash can. They seem to like bird seed and deer food pretty well too. I like to snipe them from my living room window with a .22lr @ about 70yds. Not as much action as calling and shotgunning, but it's fun.




Sounds like an excellent way to draw seagulls. They live at McD's.
 
I shoot one last week with my 22-250 with a 55 gr. winchester GX1. Needless to say there were peices everywhere. I took a picture, when i get it uploaded ill post it.
 
Smokin I would love to see that
Hopping to go this weekend with my 243wssm(Cleatus). Will give a full report

GJ

ps.: right now im in school /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif loving this new project lol
 
No baiting here in Iowa, so i take a piece of red fabric and set a decoy on it and a owl deke on a piece of pvc in the air, and more dekes set around all of this.I alwys use a shot gun, but once took a guy with a 22lr and he somewhat mopped up on them as we let them land.
 
Quote:"No baiting here in Iowa.."

Well, there's baiting and then there is community service
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If you were to, by accident, drop a Big Mac and a pack of fries in the middle of a field, and then go sit somewhere under a tree, you would find that a flying crow can spot that garbage from about 20,000 feet.

After you are done shooting, you (of course) will pick up any trash you happen to find, while walkin' through the fields on the way home.


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as long as its "normal/commen agricultureal practice" it's not baiting, SO, if a farmer cleans out the combine, put corn out to livestock not in the feild or such, it's fair game. may have to put a Big Mac attack for the crows.
 
Bigbronco,

I've been reading through several posts here and thought I would bring your's back to life.

As Catshooter said, there is nothing like using a rifle for crows. I grew up crow shooting with a shotgun, but have since found that crows are really a lot of fun with a rifle. I've used a lot of small caliber stuff - 223, 218 Bee in a # 1 Ruger, 22-250, but I've probably had more fun with the 17 HMR. I generally shoot them with the 17 at distances of around 75 - 100 yards; my furthest was 110 yards.

I have found that it's a good time to hunt with a rifle when you have a good snow and cold spell. The crows tend to sit longer and don't fly off as easily, I suppose because they don't want to waste a lot of energy if they don't have to. If you have access to farms, sitting up near a barn that has trees nearby is a good bet. I have shot them with a 22 magnum too, but like the 17 HMR better. I use 20 gr. CCI Game Points.

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They are fun with a shotgun too
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The best way I know of is full camo, play the death cry of a crow. Have a good tree for them to land in and sit with a lever action 22 full of cb caps.It helps if the first one does't die right away.Sometimes you can get the whole herd.I've sat with a pard and shot over 80 in one sit.
 
06 you still liking your 17HMR? I got one the other day, it's a NEF sporster. Fun little guns. How often do you clean yours?

GJ
 
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