What's your method for crow control?

[dmccarty]

Buzzards/vultures are protected too.

We are members at a pool and the buzzards/vultures would use the pool during off hours as a bird path and poop all over the place. They would try to eat the pool furniture, gaskets on windows at nearby public buildings and even windshield wiper blades. :confused3:

It took awhile but eventually permits were issues and a couple birds were shot and hung. Danged if that did not scare away the birds. I knew what was going on but forgot about it until I walked into the pool one day and noticed dead vultures/buzzards hanging from a few trees. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Kinda macabre to say the least.

Kids laughing and playing in the pool and a few yards away are dead birds hanging from trees. :confused2::laughing::laughing::laughing: You only got a whiff every once in awhile and it was not bad at all.

Later,
Dan

 

[Knight9]

Crows are certainly NOT a protected species around here. They are considered pests that can be shot as necessary. They used to be in my place quite bit, but I took one out with the .22 and let it lay there for a while. Now they fly up and over my place. But it has been a bad year of them in the area again. I can hear them in the distance going at it.

 

[Eldubya]

Hanging a dead one out on display most definitely works. I had a real problem with them around my house, but after repeatedly and consistently harassing them every morning, I finally won. I would locate their nest and empty a revolver of pellets into the bottom of it each morning when they were particularly noisy. They learned to recognize the pistol and slingshot and would go quiet as soon as they saw it. Kept that up for about 10 days, and they learned that this is a BAD neighbourhood (yes, that`s the way we spell it in Canada)
4 years later, and I still don`t have crows in my yard.
Persistence!

 

[jlgurr]

I've heard tell that crows are relatively smart. With that said, it's still funny to see an "animal" realize one of their own is dead and to stay away from the area. I wonder if they have gawkers in their species too... You know, the nosy ones that come to see the ruckus at a crime scene or accident. LOL.

 

[bcp]

Some information about the history and current regulations:

Crow Busters - Beginner Article - Regulations for Crows

Bruce

 

[roadhunter]

Wow, Never dreamed a nuisance would be protected.

Actually one of the most intelligent animals in the world. Some of the stuff in this program is jaw dropping.
A Murder of Crows ~ Introduction | Nature | PBS
Crows live everywhere in the world except Antarctica and are a part of myths and legends in many cultures. Their reputation in the stories varies from comical to frightening, godlike or wise, bringers of light and bringers of death, though a “murder” of crows refers to a flock of crows, and not to anything murderous, at all. They may be all these things, but what we are learning is that they are especially smart.

New research has shown that they are among the most intelligent animals on the planet. They use tools as only elephants and chimpanzees do, and recognize 250 distinct calls. One particular talent they have been discovered to possess is the ability to recognize individual human faces and pick them out of a crowd up to two years later – a trick that might make even Hitchcock shiver with fright.

They thrive wherever people live and have used their great intelligence to adapt again and again to a constantly changing world. Some memorize garbage truck routes, and follow the feast from day to day. Others drop nuts in the road and wait for passing cars to crack them open. And some build their nests from items we throw away – like wire clothes hangers.

These are social birds that mate for life and raise their young for up to five years. And they learn from each other’s misfortunes. When one is killed in a farmer’s field, it’s not uncommon for them to change entire migratory patterns so that no crows fly over that field for as long as two years.

These birds might have a scary reputation, but what may prove to be the scariest thing about them is how much they know about us, and how little we know about them!

 

[8N Ren]

As mentioned shoot and leave 1-2 out in the open, in the next day or 2 you will have a bunch that come to mourn their loss so to speak, then they leave, I did that last year and they haven't been back

 

[bcp]

Sequential tool use:

Water displacement:
Causal understanding of water displacement by a crow - YouTube

More crow videos there, too.

Bruce

 

[k0ua]

Sequential tool use:

Water displacement:
Causal understanding of water displacement by a crow - YouTube

More crow videos there, too.

Bruce

Hmm.. they seem smarter than some people I know.

 

[sld]

Crow season here in Kansas. Protected otherwise.

Years ago I shot and wounded one with my pellet gun in the back yard and within minutes 3 large trees were filled with angry crows. The wounded one was running around making a huge racket. It was an amazing site! I had to run out there and get my bird dog as I was afraid for her life.

They may be smart but I always considered them the pellet gun "canadian goose"! When a bunch of them roost in one spot it gets nasty too.