HABITAT
Crows use a mixed habitat including woodlands for roosting, nesting and
perching, open areas, agricultural fields, coastal wetlands, marshes, rivers and
streams.

DIET
Bait - Squirrel or Rabbit cut open to show the blood red flesh (important).

Colored plastic Easter eggs. Once again, the crows seem to be attracted to the 
UV side of the spectrum, so purple, blue, and some green eggs got their attention. 
They came from far and wide to check out the eggs. The candy in them completed
the trap by offering a food smell when they land to check it out. Scatter them 
around on the ground, spaced well apart. This allows you to keep the shots low, 
and you can position the 'bait' so they can't see each other as they go down.

Being omnivorous, their diet consists of almost anything: seeds, fruits, nuts,
insects, mollusks, earthworms, eggs, nestlings, frogs, mice,
garbage and carrion (road kill). They are attracted to garbage dumps and
have a well-known fondness for melons and corn. The habit of
farmers placing scarecrows in their grain fields resulted from
the crow’s incessant damaging and scavenging. Crows do help
farmers however when they eat insects attracted by their crops.


HOW TO HUNT
Spend some time cruising country roads looking for commonly used flight paths,
concentrations of crows, or better yet, a night-time roosting
area. Keep an eye on newly cut fields for feeding
crows. Crows love to hang out at dumps and can
always be found around cattle feedlots. And of
course, finding a sizable roost is like striking gold
to an avid crow hunter.

Camo is a must wear a face mask or burnt cork gloves, pants, 
shirt, and put your gun in a gun sock these birds see color.

The (Hopscotch or Hit and Run) technique is the method most often tried by
crow hunters and can be used effectively even in territory that you are unfamiliar
with. Basically, hunters drive through the countryside searching for
small bands of feeding or calling crows. A quick blind is
constructed and the calling begins, usually a Fight or Distress
sequence of calls, with the result almost always being that at least
a few crows will respond. This method has the advantage of being
flexible and allows the crow hunter to locate and hunt different groups of crows
once an individual group becomes call shy. However, the very nature of this type
of setup seldom results in more than a dozen or two crows being killed before the
local flock wises up to your intentions and you must move on. 

Decoying Crows

Besides calling, the best thing you can do to increase your success at attracting
crows is to use decoys. There are many variations on the theme of decoy
placement, and each veteran crow hunter has his own special pattern. However,
the methods discussed here are a good foundation to developing your own
special technique (also see Advanced Techniques). Basically there are two types
of decoy setups that can be used when hunting these birds, the Friendly and
the Fighting setups.

The Friendly setup is used to mimic a group of feeding and foraging crows going
about their business. This type of display should be placed at a location where
crows would normally be found feeding, usually
in a field, orchard or dump. If there are any trees
nearby, put a few up as high as you can in the
branches to give your setup a long range visual
appeal, as well as to simulate the crows natural
habit of posting sentries. The feeding decoys can
be randomly spaced and should be as far out in
the field as possible and still be within gunning
range, about 30-35 yards. DO NOT put decoys
around your blind, giving the birds a reason to
stare in your direction. The number of decoys that should be used here varies
based on personal preference and terrain. However, this is the setup that you
would want to use your "Full Spread" on, putting out as many decoys as
possible to simulate a group that has found a feast. If you only have a few
decoys, don't despair! Your handful of decoys can be added to with a few dead
crows once the shooting starts.

The Fighting setup, which is by far the most popular, attempts to simulate a
situation where the crows are in conflict with something, either a raptor such as
an owl or hawk, or even other crows. Here is where the crow hunter gets to use
his "Ace in the Hole", the owl decoy. Crows attack and chase
all raptors, but have a special hatred for the Great Horned
Owl. Although it is no longer in practice, hunters of the past
would use live owls and even staked out tomcats to attract
crows. Today, you can do almost as well with the proper use
of an artificial owl. The key to properly using an owl decoy is
to position it so that every crow in the vicinity can spot it. A
fence post, the top of a small tree, or even on a 10 - 20 foot
pole works well; the more obvious the better. Upon seeing the
decoy, most crows will make a bee-line straight for it. Unlike
the Friendly setup, position most of your decoys in the
surrounding trees and brush. Although some ground level
decoys are OK, a real owl-crow fight finds the bulk in the surrounding 
trees scolding the owl. In fact, some experts never put a crow 
decoy anywhere lower than the height of the owl.

I have been observing the crows in my neighborhood and being the 
communal corvids they are, they definately react to one of their 
kind going down. My experience has been that if you kill one out 
of an active pack - the whole group goes nuts with plenty of 
swooping and screaming - but sooner or later one will drop down 
to the fallen brother to check him out. If you can stand the noise 
- this can go on for quite a while. I have  read where some people 
think the crows are having a funeral or wake for the dead bird 
in their group - but I think that's BS. To me they seem to gather 
to scream at the dead brother in an attempt to rouse him or something. 
Once they are convinced he is dead - they will leave. That is, unless 
more of them are being shot out of the trees. The Johnny Stewart 
tapes claim that "Death Cry of a Crow" volumes I & II are their
best selling, best performing crow calling tapes. If you have ever 
seen 40 or 50 crows instantly gather to chase a threat (hawk) out of 
their area - you can imagine what happens when one of their evil brethren is
stricken down. 

I met a fellow in a Houston gun store about a 
year ago. When he heard that I have an abundance of crows on my place, 
he offered some advice as to how to bag plenty of them. Now this guy hires 
himself out as a professional crow exterminator, he gets $5.00 per crow 
from pecan orchard owners. His secret is that he stakes out, on a short tether, 
a yellow cat preferably with a couple of dead crows nearby. He told me that 
this method is sure-fire.