Anyone ever shot a crow with their bow? Had the opportunity today. Shot about 10 arrows today when the rain started so I came inside and sat down to post my 1st shot. About fell asleep and it's too early for that so went to pour a glass of tea and noticed a crow out back by my target. I needed to kill a crow to hang out at the garden to keep them out of my corn that just broke ground about 3 days ago. Even though my bow was still strung and ready I grabbed the 22, went out the front door, snuck around the corner of the house and popped him. Sure wish I could say I got the thieving tattletale with my longbow. They are very slick critters. So anyone stuck one with an arrow?

Not in season around here.

I've missed quite a few. 8^). If you want to read some good stories about crows and other small game with the bow, get "Modern Bowhunting" by Hiram J. Grogan. It was published in 1958 and is a wonderful book about bowhunting. Usually can find it on abebooks.com/

Thanks George. I'll check that out. Guess I'd better check out the season for them here in Alabama. Might have gotton myself in trouble here. I thought it was no closed season no bag limit. Hehe.

The season is closed here in Pa since they're nesting now. I think crows and ravens are cool and quite intelligent and on occasion I've thought about hunting them with my bow, but just can't bring myself to kill them for no good reason.

I remember when I was a kid, there was a one-legged crow I named Pegleg that came to feed on grasshoppers in our field about this time of year, nesting season. It would raise younguns in the giant pines where the woods started and would be there daily, hopping on one leg trying to catch grasshoppers, wobbling and toppling over in their pursuit. He/she never perfected the running down of grasshoppers on one leg, but did well enough I suppose. It was there for about 10 years and then no more. Ol' Pegleg.

Been attempting to wingshoot a crow for 2 1/2 years. Last fall I didn't even hunt deer, just crow: Yep, I'm hooked bad.

Flat out riot to bowhunt, similar to bowfishing.

crows are ALWAYS in season in Alabama as are fox

Yep. No closed season. No bag limit. I will restrict myself to only two legged crows. They are probably safe though cause if I get another chance I will try with my longbow. It was a nice story Mr. Durnell. Thanks for sharing.

don't think I would like crow so I never tried to shoot one they do eat a lot of insects and grubs. and other little garden pest.

And corn right after it breaks ground.

Jeff Durnell, we are seeing more ravens down here as well the past few years. Ten years ago you never saw or heard them. They are fascinating birds and very intelligent. They pretty much stay high to the ridges over here. That guttural call is very primal like and really adds to the outdoor experience in this day and age.

Now that is awesome runner! Love aerial shots. I'm just not very good at that yet.

I couldn't agree more, George. Primal is a good way to describe that gutteral call. It's a treat to be near them. I haven't seen one here at home yet, but they're common up at camp.

I've missed quite a few over the years, very challenging target with an arrow!

The dang things wreck havoc on my new corn. 3 of the last 5 yeas them devils pulled the shoots up and would eat what kernel was left on the new sprouts.

We are seeing a lot more ravens here too. God Bless men

Here's one I shot many years ago. Get your self a owl decoy, set it in the clear and hide yourself in a fencerow or edge of woods with room to shoot and maneuver. Blow on a crow call and have fun.

Used to be you couldn't get within a 1/4 mile of a crow around here. Now they're urbanized. I watched one in a parking lot a few years ago get in a trash barrel and pitch out a McDonald's bag. He then proceeded to un crumple the bag and then retrieved the French fries that were inside. Smart birds indeed:)

Nice shot Mr. Robertson. They are very hard to get a shot at. I would call that picture a trophy!

They are very smart birds and I have noticed that in the suburbs they definitely are comfortable and don't feel threatened. The ones around my place are very skittish. They most always have a lookout above also while the others are on the ground.

Snow Crow, I can see getting hooked on it.

Missed a lot myself and shot one on the foot once. Was sad arrow dropped out as it got to him. did he ever make a racket he was hollering at me. I told him to stand still so I could stop his missery and he would not and flew away leaking.LOL

With no closed season and no bag limit seems to me to be a year-round sporting event. Same as coyotes and hogs.

What do you do with the crow eat it, mount it, or just throw it away

Geez Scott, that was a looong time ago! I think I took that picture on one of our stomps. I could look it up in my journals but it had to be around 1990.

I remember one of our hunts at Croners farm. We set out the owl decoy, I had 36 arrows lined up around me, ready for the onslaught, and you wailed on the call for several minutes. All we called in that day was a lovesick cow that blundered right into our set up!

Boy, do I miss those days. :)

I actually got a crow with a judo point one time. It landed about 10 ft above me when I was standing there with a judo arrow. I am a member of "crowbusters.com". There are actually recipes on their website.

We have a Oct 1 to Jan 31 season on crows with raven's fully protected. Sometimes it can be hard to tell them apart.

I'd like to shoot a couple to try their feathers for fletching.

Runner.....that is a Curtis Byrd recurve, I can't recall the name, maybe Comanche. That's also a pretty old photo 8^). Scott is a hunting buddy of mine .... for many years now.

http://birdnote.org/show/ravens-and-crows-who-who

Dont shoot em,cause i hate eatin crow. Had to do it a few times and i just hate it.Its a serious blow to my ego.LOL

Only one I've ever got, landed in a tree nearby while I was in a treestand. Could hardly believe I got away with the movement of drawing and shooting.

Killing one now likely kills a whole nest full... Season ends in March here in Ohio... I think they are classified as migratory birds now nationally in which seasons and limits are set although don't quote me on that... Still, I'd never kill one this time of year even if legal... At least let the little ones leave the nest...

My wife's grand dad was an old time logger. He was cutting in the redwoods before chainsaws were in use. He always told me, "Never shoot a crow...they're loggers reincarnated."

I've never been able to shoot at one since he passed, but I occasionally wave at one.

George is right, Scott's bow is a Texas Recurve Comanche. I could never shoot it but he sure could.

Yep, I guessed right. I looked back in my journals and found the event. Scott shot that crow 6/2/90 on one of our summertime adventures. It landed in a tree about 10' off the ground and he drilled it with the Comanche.

We also killed a groundhog and a huge snapping turtle with our bows that day.

Man, those were the days. We spent almost every Saturday together hunting.

I am VERY glad I have always been a stickler for keeping up with my journals. I was never one to take pictures but I recorded every hunt, shoot, or family event since the first day I hunted with a stickbow 30 years ago.

Red Beastmaster - That is a great story and great information. That picture of Scott looks like a picture you would see in a stickbow magazine. Wish I would have kept a journal of all of my hunts. I started back years ago but soon after I quit for whatever reason(LAZY I GUESS). If you take the time to write it all down you are stopping to smell the roses and in time you will be able to go back and smell those roses again. Thanks for sharing! God Bless you! Live Large and thank God for the opportunity! ))))========>

I tried for years as a youth to try to get one with my pellet guns and glass bow. I had a Lohman crow call, and hunted them hard. They are the wariest of all the critters I ever hunted except maybe woodchucks. In all those years, I never had one get within decent range. They came in but either detected me or the situation did not appeal to their close approach, and I only ever got off two marginal shots at crows. They taught me a lot about how to hunt by stalking and calling, but I never got one. Now days I wouldn't shoot one - no need to, don't eat them. I eat crow but not the kind you can eat. I did catch a baby one with my hands a few years ago, that just let me come right up to it and pick it up off the branch. I had him for a couple of hours and he was very tame acting. I should have kept him. Would have been a cool pet, but I let him go.

TrapperKayak - Good story. They are very wary critters. Very intelligent creatures. The reason I shot this one is because of something that an old timer told me years ago. He had 8 or 10 pecan trees and hanging by a string on a lower limb was a dead crow. I asked him what it was about and he told me a dead crow would beat a scarecrow anyday. The crows would eat his pecans and that was how he'd keep them from it. He also told me that crows have always got a lookout and if that lookout ever let them down the rest of them would kill the lookout. Don't know how true it is but it is interesting. I do know it's true that a dead crow hanging on a low limb beside your garden will beat a scarecrow. This thread has went alot longer than I thought it would but it has been very interesting to me. Loved all the stories and thanks for yours. God Bless. Live Large and thank God for the opportunity. ))))========>

9/10, that is good to know about crows. Im sure it works. If someone had a dead body hanging in their apple tree you can bet your bottom dollar I wouldn't be stealing their apples. Also, was just out riding and saw three crows dive bombing a what I thought was a turkey sitting on the ground. Then it flew up a few feet at them and I saw that it was a huge raven. They have been around here for a few years now. They too are super smart, and make unusual and interesting sounds. They are special birds, ravens..

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