As much of our hunting is in a field that we intend to return for future hunt(s), we always pick up our dead crows and dispose of them. Even when dumping them for the coyotes/raccoons/etc., we try to leave them away from the hunted field. The thinking is that we don't want to spook future crows. But my question is relative to true crop deprivation work.
Most of us have seen the old farmer's trick of killing a crow then staking it out in the middle of his field to serve as a deterrent for new crows. I'm not sure how well this works, but it's been done for a hundred years and they must know something to keep up the practice.
Does leaving dead crow(s) in full view truly scare off other crows? For instance, if a farmer asks us to hunt a field where the crows are pulling up planted corn and we won't be returning to the field, what should be done? Should we leave dead crows all around the field? Will it help keep the birds from pulling up seedlings after we leave (beyond being shy because of having been shot at)?
What say you??? Thanks.
Demi
-- Edited by Island Shooter on Thursday 12th of March 2015 05:49:43 PM
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The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t are both right.
I toss them into the tree line. Whenever I have come back to a location the day after (seldom done and always for some other reason than hunting), all I've found is a couple of loose feathers indicating something had a meal.
I'd be interested in learning what the industrial-scale Crowbusters out there like Bob, Skip, Butch, BH, etc. do with the feathered carnage resulting from a really successful hunt. After all the photos, that is.
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"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
Dick & I found a hot field on our last hunt together this season where there were a lot of birds using this area. The first day we shot 406, the next day we moved to another location several hundred yards from the day before. We shot 400 more that day at that location. The third day we setup in a different spot (the same field) and shot 304 crows. We did not pick up any crows from any of those shoots, just let them lay where they were shot. This field was a whole section of ground (one mile long by one mile wide) and the crows were all over it every day. We called new birds that came into the area that were circling the dead ones several hundred yards down wind from our blind that we shot on the second day. All these shoots were from early morning up until 3:30 pm.
The forth day is when I shot the banded crow on an afternoon flyway shoot where we shot 276 from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. These crows were a different bunch than the ones we hunted over that section of ground.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Good topic, still see folks hang them in pecan trees upside down an on fence lines, haven't got a clue if it does any good, but I'm sure the ones that do it will tell you it does. And like 10ga. We use them as decoys and they work.
O.A.,
Thanks for the laugh! (industrial-scale crowbusters) but really we don't belong in the ranks of these crowkillers, we got lucky this year. We throw ours in thickets on the edge of our spots and they get ate by critters. One spot we had a good shoot on we put them on a large burn pile next to the orchard, I called the owner a few days later to see if he was seeing less crows and he "chuckled" and said yes till all the deads family came to the funerals.
I do not really have a good answer to Demi's question. I too have had farmers tell me about how they hang dead crows upside-down as a crow prevention tactic. It seems unrealistic to me, but what do I know. I personally think that by the time a farmer notices a mass of crows on their ground the birds probably have been there a few days. And by the time they erect a crow graveyard the birds are probably starting to look elsewhere for fresh food.
My crow disposal tactics depend on the location proximity to humans, relationship with the landowner, and type of cover the birds are falling into.
One example from this season: I had a good hunt in a new area with a land owner that I had not yet developed a strong relationship with. The ground was winter wheat with a nice wooded area about 300 yards away. It was an afternoon shoot from about 1:30 to 5pm. I killed 292 crows. I was hunting solo. I probably could have left the birds in the field but opted to pick them up because of my new relationship with the land owner. Also, you could see the black spot in the field from the road which is never a positive IMO. I was able to drive to the hunting location so carcass removal was aided by 4 wheels. It took me 4 full sled loads of bodies to haul them out of there. I would load the sled and then put it in the back of the vehicle and drive it to the wooded area for disposal.
If they would have fallen into tall weeds or on the backside of a hill I would have left them, however, I plan on hitting that area again next year. I did not want to give the land owner a reason to deny permission in the future.
Dick & I found a hot field on our last hunt together this season where there were a lot of birds using this area. The first day we shot 406, the next day we moved to another location several hundred yards from the day before. We shot 400 more that day at that location. The third day we setup in a different spot (the same field) and shot 304 crows. We did not pick up any crows from any of those shoots, just let them lay where they were shot. This field was a whole section of ground (one mile long by one mile wide) and the crows were all over it every day. We called new birds that came into the area that were circling the dead ones several hundred yards down wind from our blind that we shot on the second day. All these shoots were from early morning up until 3:30 pm.
The forth day is when I shot the banded crow on an afternoon flyway shoot where we shot 276 from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. These crows were a different bunch than the ones we hunted over that section of ground.
As I said, "Industrial-scale crow carnage; must have plowed the remains under. Good fertilizer. My dad used to bury excess bluegills he didn't want to clean (after a good day's fishing) under mom's rose bushes.
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"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
Exactly right, the farmers say the same thing out here, "just disc them under, they make good fertilizer"
After we shot crows the first day at that field Dick & & could see birds (lots of them) that were up wind of us that could not hear the call. These birds were roughly 4 to 500 yards north of our blind the first day. So at the end of the first day we picked out a good spot for the next morning to get closer to them. A 10 to 15 mph breeze works very well for our style of shooting unless you have birds up wind, then it is a disadvantage. It still worked out, we turned the disadvantage into an advantage the next day.
At the end of the second day we picked out another spot for the following morning. The third morning we were 1/2 mile north of the second location, the reason we chose it was that we were getting on birds that had not been called from the prior two days. "when things are right you had better take advantage of it"
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
My conditions are different than yours...in this area you didn't want anyone to know -even if the farmer never saw it-that you had shot crows period. True to form someone else would be there to try it out too...that was one major concern..again completely different conditions where that field might have a hundred coyotes who would clean up the dead crows in a few days completely...
..like the plains somewhere or what have we...one place the farmers' daughters dog was eating the damned things and getting sick! Even though they were in the bushes where no one goes period!
So anyways it depends upon what conditions you face! Again you don't really want to do that around here. One place i know of people always access the property...walkers, joggers, hikers...just don't do it!
in learning what the industrial-scale Crowbusters out there like Bob, Skip, Butch, BH, etc. do with the feathered carnage resulting from a really successful hunt. After all the photos, that is.