to the fact that if you’re not local to an area, or standing with deep pockets, getting on hunting land today is a rough deal. At times, varmints can be an ice breaker with some landowners, and nowadays anything that can possi- bly help the cause needs to be explored to the maximum.
If you’re fortunate enough to live in a state with public land (and no, that would not refer to Texas) or anyplace even close to such a state, you have another distinct advantage. Hunting crows on wide open public land gives you the chance to expand your hunting methods, move over new ground all summer long, and learn about game or varmint movement in areas that, on the surface, seem to a road hunter to be overhunted.
Author with field-called and killed black mallard! (Crow)
and as such were his friends. That was well and good, and as I see it everyone is entitled to his or her opinion on ev- erything, including the common crow. The fact is, I have not been turned down often when asking a rancher or farmer if I could set up on a field of theirs and bang at a bunch of local crows. In most cases, at least over time, an arrange- ment has come together when it was time to hunt some grouse, pheasants, or even big game on occasion. The crow was the key to the door, and I guess those folks figured if I was willing to fight bugs, heat, and about fifty other
things that were nasty, I was good enough to hunt the place as well in the fall of the year.
In one case back in Minnesota
I became such close friends with an area farmer that he allowed me to set up permanent duck blinds, then also cross the landscape when searching out everything from raccoons to pheasants. This relationship between crow hunter and farmer lasted more than 10 years, or until Honeywell Corporation of Min- nesota came along and paid him for a year’s lease almost enough money to buy the place. There is no question as
Take care, however, as in some areas the public refuge systems run on different hunting dates than other areas of a given state. I was caught hunting crows two weeks ahead of the posted refuge crow season once, but the war- den who stopped me was a long-time reader of mine, and when he found out who he had in the truck with him he gave me a warning ticket. Then he requested me to give a talk at the lo- cal gun club and donate some old test ammo to the local Boy Scout troop for an upcoming outing. I quickly agreed to his terms. There is an outfit in Texas, just to give the state a fair shake here, that is called Texas Crow Patrol. I build special subsonic shotgun barrel exten- sions called Metro Gun Systems and members of this organization all use my ultra quiet shooting system to hunt crows in Texas pecan orchards. Crows love these tasty nuts and ranch- ers lose a good deal of money to the predation by the common crow. Texas Crow Patrol members set up on these agricultural lands and can do farmers a major favor. These guys shoot piles of the black devils each year down in the Lone Star State. This is a very clear example of how and when hunters can make friends with farmers and even work up some side deals in the process. I know, because I sure have made some friends in the farming business over these many years of busting crows.
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