Why to some people shoot Crows?

[Rule3]

I have read in several sources about people "plinking" with 22's and shooting Crows.Do they just shoot to kill them? Are they that troublesome in some areas?

Why do they do that? I guess some folks actually pop out the breast meat like doves and eat them, but is it worth it? Are they any good?

 

[deadin]

You apparently have never had a group of crows decide to take up residence in a tree just outside your bedroom window.

 

[RonJ]

I've had to eat crow a time or two, but I've never actually eaten crow.

 

[Sebago Son]

I do my best to not eat any crow but sometimes judgment just fails me....

Seriously, Crows are pests of the highest order. Any farmer will tell you what they will do to corn crops. As a Sportsman I don't care for the predation they reap upon ground nesting game. I've shot them off the wires from my office window with a K-22 while they were trying to raid the robin's nest in the hedge just outside.

People will tell you that they are smart and perform a necessary function of nature, but to me they are rats with wings. I blast them every chance I get.

 

[jkc]

I guess some folks actually pop out the breast meat like doves and eat them, but is it worth it? Are they any good?

Back before it became Fish & Wildlife Service, the federal agency involved with studying and managing wildlife was known as the Biological Survey. At some point this agency captured a number of crows, fitted them with leg bands marked with the agency's abbreviated name and DC address. and turned them loose. Awhile afterwards they received a letter from a disgruntled citizen. The letter was crudely spelled and punctuated, and sent from an Appalachian return address:

"Dere surs, I resently shot one of yer crows and follered yer instrukshuns --- I warshed it, I bioled it, and I surved it --- it was turrible!"

 

[rags]

A "Flying Rat" comes to mind.

rags

 

[G.T. Smith]

Haven't we all!

I've had to eat crow a time or two, but I've never actually eaten crow.

Me too neither RonJ. I don't understand why folks shoot crows for sport. My crows out here in the woods tell me when there is anything out of the ordinary. If they are walking around in the front yard, then I can bet that there is no one or nothing around that doesn't belong there. Kinda like the squirrels, they are very timid. Blue Jays also are like mother natures little watch birds.
What really T's me off is these idiots around here that kill every big old mud turtle that they see along the road. Today on a county gravel road I found one that someone had crushed with two big rocks the size of basketballs and left the rocks lying right there by the turtle. My mail man/boy, actually backed into my yard to try to run one down with his mail truck. I told him that i eat them and all he said was "wow,joo see how big he is. I should have held the boy there until the game officers arrived and let him check out how big the penalty is in Missouri for attempting to take wildlife with a motor vehicle. I didn't though.
I used to believe that it was basically wrong to kill anything that you did not intend to eat. Iggy and a few others opend my eyes to the destructive and diseased prairie dogs and I do shoot pack rats from the brush pile near my garden But I don't get killing crows and turtles. I used to know a guy that would go to any lengths to kill a cat. Stoopid I say.
Peace,
gordon
USASA '70-'76 From Missouri too Ron

 

[Kelly Green]

Crows can destroy corn and grain crops. That's why farmers set up scarecrows—not that it does any good. They will eat about anything, fruits, grain, snakes, rodents, insects, and baby birds. Crows will even eat hen eggs and nab baby chicks. I personally leave them alone until they become too destructive, then out comes the shotgun. Never tried eating one and never will.

 

[Fishslayer]

Watched a crows vs Redtail arial drama awhile back.

The Redtail was hunting near my house & a couple crows came out for the confrontation. It was fascinating. Diving, circling. More crows joined a couple at a time till the hawk had a couple dozen crows harrassing it.

As the crows chased the hawk out of the area the crows went back to whatever they were doing. Thinking the hawk was too close to their nesting area?

 

[paplinker]

hogs

i'm not generally a hunter who kills without eating,but i have been shooting my farmers ground hogs for a about ten years now.he asks how many i got every year.seems two of his cattle have gotten mangled legs from holes in field. hope he has a crow problem soon!

 

[Onomea]

The crows in Tokyo are big, smart, nasty, all over the place, and out of control. There are warning signs in parks because they dive bomb people, occasionally bloodying them. They strew trash all over the place, ripping through unguarded vinyl garbage bags left outside for trash pick up. They **** everywhere – e.g., on cars, houses, and, occasionally, people -- and are raucous in the early mornings. I saw one eating a pigeon – not sure if it had just picked up road kill or whether it did the killing. Made a nasty mess outside my office window.
When I see 'em in my yard I pop 'em with an airsoft Python. I'd rather pop 'em with my K22 or22 OMT, but no guns here, unfortunately. They are smart rascals, tho, and usually take off before i can draw a bead on 'em.
I read a news article some years ago that said a town up north tried killing 'em and turning 'em into shishkabobs (yakitori) as a method of pest control, but that consumers did not take to the test readily.

 

[sipowicz]

A "Flying Rat" comes to mind.

rags

That's a NY pigeon...a crow is more like a flying weasel. We have tons in PETA loving West Hollywood...becoming a real problem too...of course, if they become too overpopulated, the city council will vote to move out all the people and declare the city a crow sanctuary.

 

[Faulkner]

Are they that troublesome in some areas?

Yes

I guess some folks actually pop out the breast meat like doves and eat them, but is it worth it? Are they any good?

No

 

[hsguy]

I saw a crow swoop down and grab a baby rabbit out of a nest in the lawn one day. Didn't know they did that and thought they were primarily carrion eaters.

 

[NKJ nut]

Rats with wings, is a fair description. They have caused me untold grief, even to the point of digging up corn seed I planted. They couldn't wait for it to produce to destroy the crop. And yes they have nabbed baby chicks too. The other day a flock of crows were terrorizing an owl behind my house. I broke up that little party with gunfire.

And what makes it worse is that crows have very few natural predators. One however; the V-Max is a deadly killer of crows. After the Flying V-Max runs his polymer beak in a crow he is buzzard food.

 

[gizamo]

I actively hunt them, in season. Winged Coyote. Almost as smart, better at observation and have a aerial advantage.


If a bird can hate, it would be a crow.

 

[venomballistics]

sport shooting crows ... been there done that. Though I may take flack for it in these parts where people have different viewpoints.
For the activity, I have a certain respect for the species that I dont believe anyone could have without engaging them with a vendetta.
They adapt ... boy howdy do they adapt.
with only a few exceptions, any game plan you might cook up for crows seems to only work once. then you must change the game as they have adapted and figured out workarounds to survive.
mine escalated to long range rifle work against them, which was the most effective method. They took to diving below the tree tops for concealment as they passed through. thereafter I snapped a salute to the critters and hung it up.
They taught me what I needed to know .. the game now belongs to the next who cares for some learning at the university of Corvus.

 

[ancient-one]

If you have pecan trees you will shoot them. That is, if you want any pecans for yourself.

 

[TOM BECKWITH]

Winged Coyote - absolutely- gardens, young birds of all types, crops, anything edable. Smart, crafty, clanish, evil.

 

[dasnake]

recipe

your query on eating crows goes along with the same variation of eating pigeon, you take a pigeon or a crow and throw it in a pot of boiling water that is salted and spiced, you put a large rock in and proceed to boil the bird until you can put a fork in the rock, you then throw out the bird and eat the rock, very simple.