Crow hunting is becoming more and more fashionable in recent years and makes an important contribution to conservation. The greatest danger for hare, pheasant & Co comes from the air. It is their ability to think and learn that makes crow hunting one of the most demanding types of hunting. If the hunt is successful in the beginning, it is possible that the crows learn from the hunter's mistakes and see through his methods.
In the following we describe the most important criteria for sustainable hunting success.
Decoy
The decoy picture consists of several crow dummies, the proverbial decoys. A lot helps a lot! One should not save on the dummies, at least ten should be set up in any case, better are 20-50 of the decoys. Professionals recommend the matte black flocked full-body crows, because they look the most realistic. Too small decoys are usually ignored by crows, bad decoys are avoided. The distance to the decoy should be 20-30 meters. The farther the decoy is from the screen, the less likely the hunter is to be detected by the crows, however, beyond 30 yards it is unrealistic to apply hunter hits due to the small size of the birds.
Camouflage
Crows have extremely good eyesight, which is why camouflage is very important. The use of a camouflage umbrella is essential, but it should be as small and inconspicuous as possible to avoid attracting the crows' attention. Of course, it should be color-matched to its surroundings. Camouflage for these demanding game species is even more important: the hunter's car should be out of sight - even from the bird's perspective - because the adaptive birds quickly associate the sight of the car with the danger posed to them by the hunter.
In contrast to other game species, crows can also recognize colors and conspicuous patterns - even a tip of signal color visible on the collar or sleeves, such as of reversible clothing designed for driven hunts, can throw a spanner in the hunter's works, as can colorful cartridge packs lying around. The hunter himself should even camouflage his face, hands and shotgun.
Correct shot grain
Professionals recommend a shot grain of less than 3 mm. Crows are comparatively small and the cover of coarser shot is lower- with coarser shot a crow would possibly be hit by only one or two grains of shot, making the hit non-lethal- and thus not suitable for hunting. The lower the shot grain, the denser the cover.
Crow decoys
Are only a supplement to the decoy pattern, but this only "works" as soon as crows are in sight. If this is not the case, they can be attracted by imitating the sounds of crows.
Finally, when hunting crows, "the early bird catches the worm" - setting up the decoy image and the camouflage screen, camouflaging yourself and being ready before observing crows makes it necessary to be ready in the dark. Since crows are very adaptive, the shooting of other crows should not be observed by them, so that there is a chance of success in subsequent hunts.
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