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"Advanced Calling Techniques While it is possible for most hunters to quickly master the basic calls that a crow can make, the real challenge to calling crows is to take these basic skills and successfully combine them to meet a specific hunting situation. Understanding what a crow expects to hear and when, can often be a challenge, but ultimately worthwhile once you actually learn to have a conversation with this intelligent bird. Below are some calling combinations that are successfully used by our staff. While each situation in the field is unique, this information should take you to the next step in mastering your crow calling techniques.
Calling The great thing about the feeding setup is that you can draw many small groups of crows into range, usually undisturbed. Shots are easier and there are fewer eyes focusede on you. Often, large numbers of kills are possible by dropping many one's and two's throughout the day. There are a few calls that work best with this type of hunting: The Feeding Call - This call is used as a confidence call as crows are in the area of your setup. It has a number of variations, but in it's basic form it is simply a "Ca-Cawww". This can be done in groups of two or three. You can also add to the end of this call for variety, for example "Ca-Cawww-Ca, Ca-Cawww-Ca-Ca". This will become your main call at a feeding setup. The Come Here Call - This call is also used as a confidence call and should be used in conjunction with the Feeding Call. The Recognition Call - Another confidence call and should be used as the birds approach. The Sentry Call - This is the call that is made by the Sentry crows that will be found at any feeding setup. This call should be used sparingly and should usually be reserved for crows that can be heard but do not come to the other standard feeding calls. This call can also be used as a locator call. The Growl - This call is more commonly used as part of a fight series. However, for some reason, crows approaching a group of feeding crows will often do a growl to warn the feeding birds of their approach. While it is unclear the exact reason crows exhibit this behavior, it is normal and can be used to a crow hunters benefit. By answering back with a growl or two, reluctant birds will often swing right into the decoys. Additionally, if you see birds approaching that seem too high, give a growl or two while they are still 100 yards or so away. This will usually cause these high flyers to quickly drop their elevation for an easier shot.
Calling In some ways, calling for a Fight Setup can be less complicated than a feeding setup. Because the birds are expecting to hear a random series of angry calls, the order and speed to your calling becomes less important. There are three main calls that need to be used during this type of calling. They are the �Distress Call�, �Excited Crow�, and the �Growl�. These are the calls that crows expect to hear when approaching a trouble spot, and you should put as much emotion into them as possible. An important thing to remember is that this calling should be done continually, even once the shooting starts. By the time the birds arrive within gun range they are �hot and bothered� and often ignore gunfire as their companions fall from the sky. The combination below shows all three calls in the order listed above. This particular combination has no specific order and can be mixed randomly. The Distress Call The Fighting Call The Fight Sequence Call
Bringing Them Back It's common knowledge that crows that are shot at can often be pulled back into gun range over and over, especially if they have not seen the hunters. To make this work, there are a few specialized calls that are needed. The most important thing to remember, is that these calls need to be blown as soon as the shots are fired. The Come Back Calls - This call is a rapid plea to the recently shot at crows to hurry back. It should be made loud and quick. There are a couple of versions of this call. The Come Back Call - Version 1 The Come Back Call - Version 2 The Come Back Call - Version 3 Quirk Calls There are a number of odd sounds that can be used to attract crows some of which may never actually made by live crows. While we may never know what a crow understands when it hears one of these calls, one thing is certain, they work. For whatever reason, these unnatural or seldom used calls will often work when nothing else will. So if you run across a group of wise old crows that just aren't buying what you are selling, give them a try. You have nothing to lose. The Yodel Call The Oh Yeah Call The Crazy Sentry Call The Fun & Frolic Call |
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They say the three most important things when selling Real Estate is "Location, Location, and Location". The same is true when selecting your stand for crow hunting. This is especially true when choosing to create a simulated feeding stand. Unlike the Fighting setup, here the crow hunter is trying to convince large numbers of birds that a meal is available and it's "first come, first serve". Any number of situations apply, a cut corn field, a pecan orchard, a cattle feed lot, a landfill/dump or even a pumpkin or melon patch. The important thing is attract crows that are regularly moving through the area in search of available food sources. And locating a roost or flyway can go a long way to guaranteeing a large number of potential targets will have the chance to check out your setup.
This type of setup is where decoys play an important role. Yes, you can get away with just a few decoys and have a successful feeding setup hunt. However, a dozen or more decoys will really help convince large groups of birds that you are the real deal. This is especially true when working large flyways. Decoys should be placed in a natural feeding pattern throughout the area you are hunting, remembering to place at least a decoy or two in a high spot to act as sentry birds. Proper camouflage and blind construction is necessary of course.
The overall decoy placement for a Fighting Setup is somewhat different than the Feeding Setup. Here, you want to simulate a situation where a group of crows are upset and possibly at battle with some natural predator. This is where your owl or hawk decoy comes into play. While a raptor decoy is not required, it will add the extra visual clue that the crows are looking for. If possible, you should try to place as many decoys as possible in surrounding trees around the owl/hawk decoy. Whenever practical, the crow decoys should be placed higher than the owl/hawk. Fight setups do not require as many decoys as Feeding setups, and you can get away with less than a dozen in most cases. Proper placement is the key.
All crows hunters are faced with difficult calling situations, whether it is trying to lure a group of crows back that you have just been shot at, or trying to fool a long time veteran crow sitting in a distant tree. Here are a few calls that may help.