Crows are one of the most annoying creatures on the planet. They hang around in the trees outside our bedroom window every morning at the first hint of daylight and squawk like the dickens.....

I have all but waged war on them and got six in the last week or so, three today. Two shots were made with the birds sittting in a freshly mowed field at about 150 yards. The third was shot in the top of a pine tree at about 250 yards (pretty good shot if I say so myself). All three were taken with my Kimber Longmaster Classic in 223 with Sierra 40 grain BlitzKing bullets. Those little bullets sure make a big mess of a crow.

You are doing well you flashhole you! I can't even "think" shoot here or they fly away. Must position myself such that the sun is in thier eyes(while concealed behind something), too even consider a rifle. I do blast one from time to time from below. It would seem that they do NOT look down? Any gauge scatter-gun that I have seems to work well for that kind of work.

Lived here about 15 years. Back then could zapp them on the ground with a rifle to near 350 yards. It "seems" that they "learn"?

Cheezywan

You seem to be getting handy with that rifle flashhole! Better start aiming for eyeballs or something so you don't get bored.:p

Good going flash, I really enjoy popping crows and magpies. Wish I could find some rock chucks around here. Even our ground squirrel population has gone to heck. My 204 really leaves a big ring of feathers with those 32 grain V-max's at a little over 4200 fps.

You seem to be getting handy with that rifle flashhole! Better start aiming for eyeballs or something so you don't get bored.:p

Funny you should say that. I had a terriffic range session yesterday morning. I was doing load development right at the range and hit on a recipe that was giving me one ragged hole at 100 yards. I did several 5 shot groups with the same results. That's as good as I can hold with my butterfly rest.

I had mowed a large field the night before (literally with my tractor headlights on) and when I came back from the range it was littered with crows foraging for food. They usually fly off when they see me but they must have been distracted by the bounty in the field. I took the gun out of the truck, loaded it and popped one. To coin Bob's words, it left a big ring of feathers. The others flew off but I moved what was left of the carcas and they returned, that's when I got the second one. After shooting at tiny targets at the range the crows look huge through the scope. I turned down the magnification to make it a little more sporting. I cranked it back up for the long shot.

I've got a lot of squirrels here, if you get bored. Thanks for ridding the world of some more pests.

Flashhole-what load does your piece like??

Im still looking but have found a "reduced load" that does pretty well:

CCI 400 primer
Red Dot 6 grains
Sierra 40 grain HP
COL-2.185"

Velocity about 1700 fps

LBR, save them squirrels after you shoot them in the head, they go good with dumplings.

Flashhole-what load does your piece like??



Best 223 load so far is Lee 1.9cc Dipper Cup (26.3 grains) of Reloader 10x (per Uncle Nick's suggestion), Remington 7 1/2 primer, and Sierra 40 grain BlitzKing bullets. The Nosler 40 grain equivalent works nicely too. The 55 grain Nosler Ballistic tips have been a bit of a puzzle for me. The best (most accurate) powder in my gun with that bullet seems to be Varget. I may try a little heavier bullet, my gun has a 1:9 twist so I should be good up to about 70 grains. I hope to experiment a bit more tomorrow with the 55 grain Ballistic Tip and RL 10x.

LBR, save them squirrels after you shoot them in the head, they go good with dumplings.

That sounds pretty tasty to me. When I was a much younger man I used to hunt squirrels in the wild nut groves of Southern Ohio. The squirrels were always fat.......and real tasty when fried in a nice egg batter.

You are doing well you flashhole you! I can't even "think" shoot here or they fly away. Must position myself such that the sun is in thier eyes(while concealed behind something), too even consider a rifle. I do blast one from time to time from below. It would seem that they do NOT look down? Any gauge scatter-gun that I have seems to work well for that kind of work.

Lived here about 15 years. Back then could zapp them on the ground with a rifle to near 350 yards. It "seems" that they "learn"?

Cheezywan

Agree, they are highly intellegent birds and they do "learn". My shots keep getting longer and longer, the first few I tagged were with a 410 shotgun. Now they keep a lot of real estate between me and them. That's why I now use the 223 instead of the Fireball. Pretty soon I'll be using my 25-06.

I'm using 10X in my 204 with both 32 and 40 grain Hornedy V-max's with great accuracy and good killing power. Got one coyote at 385 yards so far for the longest shot. I'm finding that it's making running shots easier also. Boy do they get to a target quick.

Got two more today and might still get one or two more. They can't resist a freshly mowed field.

In my neck of the woods, they don't cause much trouble. The only one that did used to come and peck at its reflection in the window. I eventually got him with the 410 as he flew away. Some # 6's right up the clacker! Otherwise I generally figure they do more good the harm. One day I counted 125 of them spread out over a 200 acre field. I focused on a spot where the nearest one was and walked over. I could not see what they were eating but I guess it was something my crops could do without. I don't often see them in those numbers.

bones

Sorry, gentlemen, I don't eat rodents. But, when I get to be a good shot, I'll gladly shoot 'em. But, I'd shoot a chicken and take it to get it cleaned up for cooking.

Ah squirrel is indeed a rodent but in hickory nut or acorn rich environments, they taste great. Only reason I don't go to the trouble most of the time to clean them is the hide sticks to them like it was super glued onto the meat

They are so darn hard to clean, but very tasty.

Sorry, gentlemen, I don't eat rodents. But, when I get to be a good shot, I'll gladly shoot 'em. But, I'd shoot a chicken and take it to get it cleaned up for cooking.

Squirrels Diet: Nuts,Grain,Fruit. Chickens Diet: Anything that doesn't eat them first. Will also eat their own droppings. Tree Rodent (Squirrel) much cleaner eating habits.

M1894. Someone else told me that chickens are nasty scavengers. Hmmmm, but I still don't eat rodents. Don't mind giving up chicken. I don't eat shellfish either. Okay, but if I shoot a salmon, there won't be much left to eat.

Squirrels do eat bird eggs and baby birds.

Yeah flash they really do make a racket at 6 am. I popped one myself saturday morning from the bedroom window at about 75 yards. It went a little like this. I wake up to crows squalking their little heads off. I cover my head with a pilow to no avail. I try waiting 15 minutes to see if they will go away on their own, they don't. Now I'm awake and irritated.... So I stumble across the room to the gun cabnits to decide what to waste him with. Now mind you its 6:20 on a saturday morning, and If I wake mom, no hot breakfast for me. So the decision goes a little like this. Marlin 45-70 & 44 mag, iron sights so they are out. Next up is a 300 wsm or a 30-06 scoped bolt guns, seeing that amount of feathers in the air would almost be worth missing breakfast. But the crow is in the top of a tree and who knows where the bullet would stop. Next, a remington and sako 243 win. - same problem as the .30 cals with a chance of gettin breakfast. Next, a 12 ga. single shot goose getter, hummm.... a little far and I wanna kill this bugger. Mind you he still hasn't shut his yap. Ahh, the barreled action to my .17hmr, its scoped, I see ammo, and I get breakfast !! So I open the window just a pinch and slide the barrel out, carefully balancing the barreled action, slide a shell in the chamber, and try to get the cross hairs to settle down. I finally get them to settle in the middle of the offending bird and I send him a little 17 gr hp. I see a feather or two in the scope, but no bird taking off, so I decide to go have a look see. To the base of the tree, a large hemlock I go, no bird, I look up, no bird... humm... But I went back a checked again like 20 minutes later, and their lay a dead crow !!! Take that alarm clock. Wouldn't you know I didn't hear a single crow for the next two days...

Oh, and gyro, the quicker you get to skinnin the easier it is. If you shoot them in the morning, and try to skin in the evening, prepare for a battle. On the other hand if you skin them while they are still warm it isnt too bad.

I would feel fortunate for a 6:00 AM wake up. Ours are squawking at 4:45. It seems they use my property as a gathering place then leave for the day. Their numbers are significantly reduced and will continue to diminish as opportunity permits. My wife is encouraging me to shoot out of the upstairs bedroom window but I haven't done that ..... yet. I think it's about time.

M1894. Someone else told me that chickens are nasty scavengers. Hmmmm, but I still don't eat rodents. Don't mind giving up chicken. I don't eat shellfish either. Okay, but if I shoot a salmon, there won't be much left to eat.

We've owned chickens on and off for years, currently have 3 laying hens. Yes, they eat just about anything and are world class bug getters. Haven't known them to be scavengers in the truest sense, eating dead carrion and other nasty stuff, but they are not bashful and don't pass up many opportunities for a meal.

Cohu or King? What does LBR stand for?

"LBR" are initials for a name I made up for an email address. I think now I ought to have picked a user name that made it clear that I'm a woman. It helps sometimes on a gun forum. It's part of why I put up the avatar of Barbara Stanwyck.

Flash: do the chickens eat bugs, worms, and any old scrap food, as well as grain? Do they eat anything disgusting? I had two chickens once and brought them left overs from a natural food restaurant where I worked when I was in college. I named them Loretta and Inspectress Clue-so. They were Rhode Island reds. They ate very well and each laid an egg a day. I never paid attention to what they ate off the ground. It was in Phoenix and I never saw much they could eat, so I brought them food that would have otherwise gone to waste.

I think you mean Rhode Island Red's, that's what we have. They are large chickens with brownish red feathers and a red crown. I wouldn't feed a chicken table scraps. No clue how they react to fat. Ours get layer pellets and fresh water and all the bugs they can catch.

You don't want to know everything a chicken will eat. Trust me. Anyone raised on a farm before the age of industrial chicken farms can tell you that. If you really want to know and have a strong stomach I will PM you with the details.

Bye
Jack

I "zapped" one once from a mail slot from the front door. Pellet gun. Never knew what happened.

My good amigio shot one from below. Crow was on my antenna. Put a bb right up the spicter(sp). Was a straight-up shot. Found that one in the road next day. "Boy that musta hurt"!

Cheezywan

Flash: i wouldn't know one salmon from another unless it introduced itself. Ought to do a little research about them. I occasionally buy canned salmon for emergency food: all it says is Wild Alaskan.

Have you got a new crow report?

Flash: i wouldn't know one salmon from another unless it introduced itself. Ought to do a little research about them. I occasionally buy canned salmon for emergency food: all it says is Wild Alaskan.

Have you got a new crow report?

"Wild Alaskan" could mean pink (humpy), silver (coho), king (chinook), or red (sockeye). There's the "dog" salmon too, but don't know what the official name is on that, and not sure what they do with those?? The red is the best, then silver, then king, then pink, IMO. Quite a few Alaskans turn their noses up at pinks; they're a bit more oily than the others, but they have the luxury of being choosy. Whatever the variety, canned salmon is not cheap!

flashhole, sometimes I wish I had your targets in those crows, but then again, if that meant a wakeup squawk at 5:00 a.m., I'm glad I don't! I'd have to use a pellet gun on them where I'm at though, and that might not be viable most of the time. Keep up the good work!

Shawn Crea, thanks. I forgot, the cans do say red or pink. It's actually been less expensive than tuna fist here.

You don't want to know everything a chicken will eat. Trust me. Anyone raised on a farm before the age of industrial chicken farms can tell you that. If you really want to know and have a strong stomach I will PM you with the details

Actually both chickens and pigs eat rather unappetizing (to us) food when grown "free range". But then some of the things that goes into "commercial" animal feed, it is equally unappetizing. An animals physiology does a remarkable job of converting "disgusting" things into delicious flesh for non-vegetarians. What is not converted into flesh passes out of the animal to become the nutrients converted by plants into "organic" fruit and vegetables.

Irv, am waiting for Jack's answer. I try to buy organic or grow my own. I rarely buy packaged foods. Making dishes from scratch is a good way to ensure that I know more of what I'm eating. Tastes better, too. Factory farming is pretty disgusting. It just takes a lot of effort to get grass-fed organic, raw dairy or beef, for that matter.

There were about twenty crows to the north of my house this morning. Would have been nice to have one of you aces get rid of 'em. Oh, well....

Irv, am waiting for Jack's answer. I try to buy organic or grow my own. I rarely buy packaged foods. Making dishes from scratch is a good way to ensure that I know more of what I'm eating. Tastes better, too. Factory farming is pretty disgusting. It just takes a lot of effort to get grass-fed organic, raw dairy or beef, for that matter.

There were about twenty crows to the north of my house this morning. Would have been nice to have one of you aces get rid of 'em. Oh, well....

The 2 states that I regularly hunt (Pennsylvania and Colorado) both have hunting seasons on crows that I think are related to the Migratory Bird Treaties.

Organic beef is available in the Denver area at some major Grocery stores, but most of the red meat in my diet (the high percentage of which would make most vegi/carbo pushing dieticians shudder) is hormone free, added chemical free, free-ranging venison.

I don't consider raw milk to be worth the risk. In Denver, King Sooper's (a subsidiary of Kroger's) milk is certified "Kosher" so I assume it is less likely to contain undesirable substances. While in Pennsylvania this spring I found it interesting that a dairy that had labelled it's milk as "Does not contain growth hormones" was being prosecuted by the state for the labelling. The state's argument was that a label may only state what is in a food, not what is not in the food.

The rifle my father gave me is the one he used to shoot rabbits with. He raised rabbits to have and sell for meat when he was a boy. He built the cages, bought the feed, cared for them, shot them with this little rifle with .22 shorts, and skinned them. If I have it right, this was from about 1941 to the end of the war. When I think of how often people hunted the meat for dinner, or raised it themselves.... How far we've slid to having our food come from factories or sprayed with poisons. People were grateful to have meat to eat during the food rationing.

Am full of such thoughts this morning. I'll check the bird hunting laws here, don't know what crows are classified as. The only place I shoot is at the range, but it'd be nice to be able to get rid of a few crows. Yep, those old crows are on the list.

http://www.georgiawildlife.org/documentdetail.aspx?docid=606&pageid=3&category=hunting

The rifle my father gave me is the one he used to shoot rabbits with. He raised rabbits to have and sell for meat when he was a boy. He built the cages, bought the feed, cared for them, shot them with this little rifle with .22 shorts, and skinned them. If I have it right, this was from about 1941 to the end of the war. When I think of how often people hunted the meat for dinner, or raised it themselves.... How far we've slid to having our food come from factories or sprayed with poisons.

If you're concerned about what free range chickens eat, you probably also want to know about the complete digestive process of rabbits. Ungulates such as cows and deer regurgitate, rechew, and reswallow their cud. Rabbits instead produce hard and soft fecal pellets. The soft pellets contain incompletely digested plant material and are passed through the digestive system a second time to extract the remaining nutrients.

If one wants to avoid limiting one's knowledge of meat beyond being able to purchase it already shrink wrapped from a butcher or grocer, one cannot be too squeamish. Of course one can always eat rodents (squirrels) rather than Lagomorphs (rabbits).

We killed the rabbits we raised with a blow to the head with a stick rather than shooting them. The same method of euthenasia was used on the rabbits in my college physiology class 40 years ago, now I suspect the animal rights people would consider that method of killing them to be animal cruelty and have the class and faculty arrested.

lbr, where are you from, this fall I'm goign to have a few yearling holstein steers that will be ready for the freezer. If you have the land, the bull calf market is such that a person can get one real reasonable. But the, you need a barn, etc...

If you're looking for good meat you might try the local 4-H clubs. Their programs are well supervised and the quality of the livestock is generally first rate. We go to the auctions (usually at the county fair) and get great quality meat. You can sometimes find people wanting half of something, beef, lamb, hog, if you don't want a whole animal. My daughter did lambs last year and we buy whole hogs from local people we know.