My name is Michaël and I live in Tienen, Belgium. I have been hunting since I was a small boy, so I have a little experience by now, 'cause I'm already 40 years young (or old, whatever )
Hunting law is completely different in Belgium as it is in the States. We need to have the hunting rights of a ground to go hunting, there is no such thing as public hunting grounds in Belgium, and you need to have minimum 40 ha in one block in Flanders, or 25 ha in Wallonia (Belgium is very complicated, believe me )
Anyway, I rent the hunting rights of a terrain of approximately 450 ha, unfortunately without any trees, all fields. I hunt mostly hungarian partridge there, some pheasants too and sometimes roedeer when they pass.
When it comes to crows, we have a whole bunch of them, but the law is (again) different then in the US. Actually, crows are a protected species in Belgium, BUT we are allowed to shoot them, to protect crops and wildlife. The thing is, we can shoot them the whole year if we want to At least, that is when you have the right paperwork.
Crowhunting is quite new to me, so I'm hoping to pick things up here on the Crow Busters Forum, so don't be angry if I'll ask some stupid questions
So, I wish you all good hunting, or as we say here in Europe: "Waidmannsheil!"
Greetz Michaël
PS: 3 years ago I hunted with a good friend of mine in Dickinson, ND. An experience of a lifetime!!!!!!
-- Edited by Stuka on Saturday 11th of February 2017 01:18:35 AM
Michael: Welcome to the fraternity of crow hunters! We have an interesting and diverse group replete with extensive knowledge of how to pile up crows... and be fooled by crows! Gotta say, seeing you are from Belgium is a plus to me. My first shotguns were Belgium made Brownings... that was 60 years ago! So remember this... you cannot ask a "dumb" question to this group and probably cannot ask one that has not already been asked before... but by all means try!!
Was your trip to North Dakota your only trip here? Can you share details on what you hunted here, etc.?
The factory of FN in Herstal (where they also make the famous Browning B25) is only 30 minutes from here. We're pretty proud that we have some of the best gunmakers in the world, I also have a side-by-side made overthere, I love shooting with that 16 gauge, but for the crows, I more feel like shooting my Browning B425 over-under
Well, I was invited by a friend which I met on the internet some years ago, we met on a pointer forum on facebook (because we both have a pointer, that's obvious ) I hunted huns and sharptail grouse overthere, but I also took some nice photographs of the wildlife overthere, including pronghorns, bison, whitetails, mule deer, pheasants, wild turkeys, ... It was really awesome, I can't wait to get back overthere. Alle nice people, amazing nature and great Belgian beer overthere (Stella Artois, the brewery is at 100 yards of where I work )
Till now, it was my only trip to the US, but I really am sure there will be more, and maybe, I'll be able to hunt some crows too
)
)
At least, that is when you have the right paperwork.