They're dropping like rocks....

[MrTom]

We a major cold front on the forefront for tonight and the next week it seems the crows have upped their activity here in town. We have an old, old oak tree in our back yard that sits right next to the parkland behind us, and it's become a favorite place for those suckers to sit and make noise. It also gives me ample opportunity to thin the herd, so to speak. 6 so far today. Yesterday I thought was a decent day with 4. The old springer is getting a workout. lol I got in panic mode the other day when I could not find my pet "red fire", .22 cal pellets while we were shopping but then found a dozen or so boxes in Scheels and I grabbed a couple tins of them. These pellets are proving to be the most accurate in my gun so that's what I feed the black birds.

Along about 5:00 in the afternoon the crows flock in around our place but the hundreds, literally. That's when I drag out a 3" screamer bottle rocket and let it fly. The scream it makes is unreal and the crows go straight into a frenzy to get the heck out of here. I've watched crows wring their own necks on limbs trying to get away from the screamer. At least our neighborhood stays crow-crap-free.

I wish I could get away with letting the 220 Swift rip here but the neighbors are not that forgiving, so I settle on the pellets.

Are we here in Rochester the only city that sees these dirty suckers come into town every evening? One local estimate was 30,000 of the damned things every night.

 

[kerryman71]

Sounds like a murder to me!

 

[03mossy]

Tom I’m picturing you in a flannel robe, black socks and Sandles yelling “get off my lawn” as you launch the bottle rocket!

 

[Greg_E]

Rochester NY? Auburn had/has a big problem and the had competition with prizes for a few years. People from out of the area got bent and put a stop to it, locals loved it. Brought money into the area and reduced the problem.

 

[kerryman71]

Rochester NY? Auburn had/has a big problem and the had competition with prizes for a few years. People from out of the area got bent and put a stop to it, locals loved it. Brought money into the area and reduced the problem.

Sounds like MA. There used to be coyote hunting competitions here until people got all upset over it, now there are coyotes frolicking in backyard playgrounds and tearing Fifi to shreds!

 

[MrTom]

Minnesota. At 5 tonight there was wave after wave of those black devils flying into town. In the heart of our downtown, home to the Mayo Clinic, these suckers roost in trees along the sidewalks all around the many Mayo structures and crap on the sidewalks. Its so bad that the sidewalks are slippery with crow crap. The city has sent squads of people out to shoot bottle rockets and try to scare the things off but it's futile. One thing keeps crows away.... BOOM. I wish they'd allow residents to shoot them with light shotgun shell loads in the parks if the people doing the shooting picked them up. Our trash man came today and there were 22 crows in the bin.

 

[snapbang]

Own a pellet gun???? Quiet and effective.

Guess I need to read this better. Well done.

 

[anonymouscowherd]

Thought this would either be about Iguanas in Miami or Les Nessman and the WKRP Turkey Incident.

 

[.45er]

We a major cold front on the forefront for tonight and the next week it seems the crows have upped their activity here in town. We have an old, old oak tree in our back yard that sits right next to the parkland behind us, and it's become a favorite place for those suckers to sit and make noise. It also gives me ample opportunity to thin the herd, so to speak. 6 so far today. Yesterday I thought was a decent day with 4. The old springer is getting a workout. lol I got in panic mode the other day when I could not find my pet "red fire", .22 cal pellets while we were shopping but then found a dozen or so boxes in Scheels and I grabbed a couple tins of them. These pellets are proving to be the most accurate in my gun so that's what I feed the black birds.

Along about 5:00 in the afternoon the crows flock in around our place but the hundreds, literally. That's when I drag out a 3" screamer bottle rocket and let it fly. The scream it makes is unreal and the crows go straight into a frenzy to get the heck out of here. I've watched crows wring their own necks on limbs trying to get away from the screamer. At least our neighborhood stays crow-crap-free.

I wish I could get away with letting the 220 Swift rip here but the neighbors are not that forgiving, so I settle on the pellets.

Are we here in Rochester the only city that sees these dirty suckers come into town every evening? One local estimate was 30,000 of the damned things every night.

MA does not allow the use of air/pellet guns for taking crows or migratory game birds.

 

[eekjellander]

MA does not allow the use of air/pellet guns for taking crows or migratory game birds.

I think as the crow is considered a migratory (like the duck) it has a season , not sure about being lead free ammo as I've never seen them swimming!/Ed

 

[Treedancer]

Grandson talked me into a pellet gun Last Summer
I don't think I've shot my 22 since I got the pellet gun

 

[anonymouscowherd]

The college I work for has one of the few teaching zoos in the country. And, our area has a VERY large population of vultures/buzzards. Which are federally protected if you didn't know....

Unfortunately, the wild buzzards/vultures have the bad habit of invading the zoo, roosting in the trees above it, causing a big mess, possibly carrying disease, etc. not to mention harassing some of the kept animals.

Zoo has a permit from both the feds and the state to launch fireworks at them to drive them away. Occasionally a student panics at the kaboom noises and calls the campus PD...

 

[.45er]

Grandson talked me into a pellet gun Last Summer
I don't think I've shot my 22 since I got the pellet gun

I always has a pellet rifle. At 67 I find myself shooting it a LOT more. Cheap to shoot and keeps my shooting skill warmed-up year-round.

 

[WP79Vet]

In the early '80s there was a crow roost at Ft. Cobb, Oklahoma, that attracted literally millions of crows. They roosted on a peninsula that juts out into Ft. Cobb Reservoir, and there were so many of the dang things that they literally broke the branches off all the oak trees on that peninsula, as well as on neighboring farms all around there. A bunch of my artillery school buddies and I found a farmer who was happy to have us come and hunt them because they were destroying his woodlots and fields, and we had a great time shooting them on the wing in the evenings as they returned to the roost. On a good evening each of us would shoot around 50 birds.

As far as I know nobody ever figured out why the crows gathered there, and I don't know whether or not they still do.

 

[TransYank]

Yep back in the 70's in Pa. my uncle's farm had a small wood lot that was used for a roost my thousands of crows. Brother and I would shoot them with 22 long rifles about every weekend and probably kill 25-30 apiece. After hunting season for small game was over and in the dead of winter 4 or 5 of my school buddies and I would go out there with calls and shotguns and would wear them out. I had a 20ga double barrel using mostly dove load's the best morning I ever had was 67. I have a old polaroid pic of them some place..Good times

 

[MrTom]

"As far as I know nobody ever figured out why the crows gathered there, and I don't know whether or not they still do."

In the winter here in Rochester, its the city's heat from all the building that collects during the day. Our downtown can be 6-7 degrees warmer than areas only a mile or so away. Where I live I'm not quite a mile from the downtown and also have a stream and a river that flow just over a fence in the back yard, thru park land. The open water offers a slightly warmer corridor that they follow when leaving the city for the day to pillage in the country. I feed woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and a few goldfinches during the winter and the activity around the feeders doesn't go un-noticed by the crows and they'll sit in our old oak until their stomachs get the best of them. A tap on the window and they move on as a rule, however a neighbor two doors down, also along the creek, feeds all sorts of crap and crows can be seen in her yard by the hundreds at time. Of course, they spill over into our yard and, handily, become targets.
I shoot what's in our yard if the tap on the window doesn't prove to be persuasive. I've been doing this for years.

Of course I have had the cops knock on the door. I take them to the garage and reach in thru the service door and bring the old springer out and show them that its not a firearm. Then I cock the thing, go to the open garage door and point it in the air and let it rip. Bang, she goes. And crows fill the air from that neighbor's yard and make haste in getting out of the area. I explain that all I have to do to get the crows out of here is to dry shoot the gun as such. They smile and say okie dokie and leave. Before they hit the bricks, I politely suggest that they stop by that neighbor's house and explain to her that there is a citywide ordinance about feeding the crows. They can't not stop there because they've seen first-hand that there are tons of the birds coming to/from her yard for some reason and that I am simply blowing air to get them to move on. It's an annual affair.

Someone mentioned crows being migratory birds. They are under our state statutes and there is a season when they cannot be hunted or shot, generally when they are nesting and caring for young. HOWEVER, there is also a clause regarding birds that "are or about to cause damage or create unhealthy messes to private property" which allows the removal of said birds even during that closed season. If they are in our yard, I assume that they are up to no good and become legal targets.

 

[WP79Vet]

I spent my teenage years in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, which is a couple hours NE of Rochester. We lived on the outskirts of town, on about an acre of land, and there was a small trout creek a few blocks away. Lots of crows around there too, but squirrels were the big problem for our bird feeders. With the help of our dog and cat, I could often corner a squirrel in one of the one big jack pines in our back yard, and then, if I was patient and waited for a good shot, I could knock a squirrel out of the tree with my slingshot. Marbles made the best and cheapest "hunting" ammo, and a solid head shot or shoulder shot would often kill the squirrel. Regardless, any shot that knocked the squirrel out of the tree was fatal, because it rarely hit the ground before the dog and the cat were on it. When I left home Dad took to hunting the squirrels with shot loads in his .22 pistol. I'm sure the neighbors weren't too fond of that.... Hard to believe that those days are so far in the rear view mirror.

 

[eekjellander]

In the winter here in Rochester, its the city's heat from all the building that collects during the day. Our downtown can be 6-7 degrees warmer than areas only a mile or so away. Where I live I'm not quite a mile from the downtown and also have a stream and a river that flow just over a fence in the back yard, thru park land. The open water offers a slightly warmer corridor that they follow when leaving the city for the day to pillage in the country. I feed woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and a few goldfinches during the winter and the activity around the feeders doesn't go un-noticed by the crows and they'll sit in our old oak until their stomachs get the best of them. A tap on the window and they move on as a rule, however a neighbor two doors down, also along the creek, feeds all sorts of crap and crows can be seen in her yard by the hundreds at time. Of course, they spill over into our yard and, handily, become targets.
I shoot what's in our yard if the tap on the window doesn't prove to be persuasive. I've been doing this for years.

Of course I have had the cops knock on the door. I take them to the garage and reach in thru the service door and bring the old springer out and show them that its not a firearm. Then I cock the thing, go to the open garage door and point it in the air and let it rip. Bang, she goes. And crows fill the air from that neighbor's yard and make haste in getting out of the area. I explain that all I have to do to get the crows out of here is to dry shoot the gun as such. They smile and say okie dokie and leave. Before they hit the bricks, I politely suggest that they stop by that neighbor's house and explain to her that there is a citywide ordinance about feeding the crows. They can't not stop there because they've seen first-hand that there are tons of the birds coming to/from her yard for some reason and that I am simply blowing air to get them to move on. It's an annual affair.

Someone mentioned crows being migratory birds. They are under our state statutes and there is a season when they cannot be hunted or shot, generally when they are nesting and caring for young. HOWEVER, there is also a clause regarding birds that "are or about to cause damage or create unhealthy messes to private property" which allows the removal of said birds even during that closed season. If they are in our yard, I assume that they are up to no good and become legal targets.

I refer to Federal Law not state , they actually have days to shoot ! Has something to do with agreement signed with other countries so we could keep our duck seasons open (or something like that)/Ed

 

[MrTom]

It was Mexico that the agreement came about. I won't go any further on the stuff with Mexico other than if they want to protect those filthy birds they can come take them home..

 

[retrieverman]

I’m acquainted with an older gentleman in Oklahoma that’s kind of developed a new sport and is killing crows at close to 100 yards with a shotgun. His handloaded ammo uses #2 shot, and the barrel on his gun is 34”. He uses a .675 extended turkey choke.

I‘ve gathered the components to reproduce his ammo and have a .675 turkey choke, but I haven’t tried it out yet.