Crow calls? Best ones?

[Beagle333]

Which crow calls will bring them in?

Currently I'm looking at this one as an electric call. I live down in a swamp and it has hills on 3 sides, so I don't think a super loud one is necessary to pull in the local birds. I'm not wanting to make a full time hobby of crow hunting, I just want to stop the constant crowd of them around my deer feeder. I thought this might get their interest and also give me something to mimic with a regular call.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/77...digital-sounds

And I was looking to get something like this as a backup to the digital one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...KIKX0DER&psc=1

Any advice from people who have experience in this? I have shot a lot of crows in my years, but never tried to hunt them selectively. I usually just encounter a chance shooting opportunity when I'm out hunting something else and kill anywhere from 1 to 3 and then it's over. As I said, the corn feeder will bring them into the area, I just want to lure them on down closer without having to wait for them to decide it's feeding time.

Thanks for any advice!!!
Chuck.

[OldBearHair]

It has been my experience that should you wound a crow and it can't fly off and sits there doing it's wounded crow call all the crows in the area will come to his aid. And hope you have enough shells with you.
Off topic a little, but a story about a service crow for a blind man in a wheelchair , rode along right on the man's shoulder and would warn him of approaching cars by yelling carrrr carrr and another time he was crossing the street and a big truck barely sideswiped him spinning him around several times. Boy was he angry and took the crow back to the trainers and complained. They told him crows could say carrrr carrr but they could not be taught to say ..... truck truck.

[Beagle333]

I have read that about using one for bait, but I'm not quite that good a shot. I either blow it in half or they all fly away.
So I'm going to try the calling.

[NyFirefighter357]

I've use electronic calls as well as reed calls, I do fine with either. I'd get a reed call,a few crow decoys & an owl decoy before you go all out. See how you like it.

[Tom W.]

An owl decoy and hooter will work.

[Beagle333]

I used an auxiliary cord to patch the electronic call to my CD boombox, as the handheld unit is a little bit small and not terribly loud, but the digital sound coming through the boom box will really reach out there and get their interest. Then I used the mouth call to get them in close and really riled up. I didn't expect such good results with such little practice with the call, but they come straight to it as soon as they hear it and are darting all around and trying to find where it is coming from. This is great! I don't know how long it'll be before they learn that they are being called in for a shooting, but preliminary tests show that I won't be bored and just sitting there blowing my calls for an audience of only squirrels.

[Bert2368]

.22LR and a long enough barreled rifle they come out subsonic and real quiet, say, 26" or more (unless you have the BATF's blessing to own a suppressor). A good blind. Move slow and stay inconspicuous... They usually aren't going anywhere unless they see you, often they will just get crazier and louder the more of them suddenly fold up and crash land for no reason they can see.

I have felt bad afterwards, I don't do it anymore without a better reason than "it's fun". They're not smart (or stupid?) enough to make metal tools, fusion bombs and such, but they clearly CAN count, think protectively about their relatives and reason to some degree.

[Time Killer]

I have used a reed call on several occasions to thin them from eating pecans at the home place. It worked great. As I have gotten older I stopped worrying about the crows as much and just enjoyed hearing them. Now squirrels that's a different story. Stewed, Fried, and Smothered in Gravy there some good eating. Just have not been back there much in the past couple of years. Work, Work , Work. Lord willing I will have time for it again soon.

[Bert2368]

Yes, SQUIRRELS. We can all agree on their tastyness, and they're the hockey moms of the rodent world...