Duck Hunting in the Summer
More Crow-Hunting Ways with Jerry Tomlin
 Editor’s
Note: Summertime duck hunting sounds illegal, and it
is. However, simply changing which bird is hunted will
leave all the other elements of duck hunting in place.
These hunters shot crows over water, not ducks. Before
deciding there's not much involved i n
hunting crows, consider that crows have a complex communication
system. Ornithologists have identified 50-different
expressions crows make. For instance, the sounds "caw-aw,
caw-aw, caw-aw" assure the flocks of safety. The
"Kawk, kawk, kawk" sound warns crows of danger.
Scientists have found that crows, like parrots, can
learn to repeat words and long phrases. Crows with their
high intelligence and keen eyesight are hard to fool
when you hunt them.
Using his blind-and-decoy technique, Tomlin will have
one, two or three crows coming in at a time rather than
the 15 to 20 crows that will swarm in when he calls
very aggressively. "Calling aggressively and having
a large group of crows swarm spooks the rest of the
crows that can’t be bagged, which makes calling
in any more birds difficult," Tomlin emphasizes
After Tomlin shoots an area, he waits about three or
four weeks before he returns to that same region to
shoot more crows. He finds that he can call the crows
much easier as time passes than if he returns only a
week later. Although Tomlin concentrates most of his
crow huntin g
around pecan orchards, peanut fields and corn fields,
he advises also looking at ponds on dairy farms and
beef cattle farms where the animals eat corn. Crows
are freeloaders looking for free grain, peanuts or pecans
anywhere they can find them,
and love these kinds of places.
According to Tomlin, "The University Extension
Service in Georgia estimates one crow will consume 7
pounds of pecans per season. With swarms of 200 to 400
crows in a pecan orchard at a time when the nuts are
ready to fall, the crows can destroy the pecan crop.
One grower told me that because of crows, he only harvested
about 100 pounds of pecans out of his 40-acre orchard
one year. Crows eat the pecans and also will peck holes
in the ones they don't eat, which spoils the meat of
the pecans and makes the pecans unsuitable for commercial
sales."
Tomorrow: How to Train Your Dogs on Crows for Waterfowl
Hunting Later
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