Duck Hunting in the Summer
Crow-Hunting Tactics with Will Primos
 Editor’s
Note: Summertime duck hunting sounds illegal, and it
is. However, simply changing which bird is hunted will
leave all the other elements of duck hunting in place.
The hunters I told you about yesterday shot crows over
water, not ducks. Before deciding there's not much involved
in hunting crows, consider that crows have a complex
communication system. Ornithologists have identified
50-different expressions crows make. For instance, the
sounds "caw-aw, caw-aw, caw-aw" assure the
flocks of safety. The "Kawk, kawk, kawk" sound
warns crows of danger. Scientists have found that crows,
like parrots, can learn to repeat words and long phrases.
Crows with their high intelligence and keen eyesight
are hard to fool when you hunt them.
Will Primos, of Flora, Mississippi, the president of
Primos Wild Game Calls, has hunted crows for more than
35 years. He enjoys setting up to call crows and uses
decoys to bring in the birds. "I try to determine
from which direction the crows will come in, and then
I'll know where to position myself and my equipment,"
Primos reports. "Because crows usually like to
fly into the wind, I want to make sure I have the wind
at my back and be facing the direction from where the
birds are coming. I'll use crow decoys and an owl decoy
to help lure in the birds. A dozen of these decoys will
fit, wadded-up, in the back of a hunting coat, and they
don't weigh anything. Setting up the decoys, gives the
crows a visual picture of what they're hearing. If I'm
calling aggressively and trying to simulate a fight,
I'll use the owl decoy. If I'm not calling aggressively
and am not attempting to get the crows really excited,
then I won't put out an owl decoy."
To give the set-up a more realistic look, Primos takes
rubber bands, black cloth and rocks into his stand site
by the water. When he spots a crow, he puts the rubber
bands around the black cloth with the rocks inside and
throws the rocks and cloth into the air. The rocks carry
the cloth high into the air and cause it to fall back
to the ground. When the crows see that black image diving
to the ground, they assume the cloth is a crow diving
in to fight the owl decoy. "When I begin to call,
I start by giving three or four 'Hey, I'm over here.
You guys come on over,' types of calls," Primos
explains. "If I get the crows' attention, I'll
give three or four shorter, louder and more-aggressive
calls to simulate a fight. Then as the crows begin to
come in, I'll make longer calls. Often I'll give six
to eight calls in a series, which I c all
a riot call, which tells the crows, 'Hey boys, I have
an owl over here, and we need to whip him. You fellows
come on right now and let's pound on his head.'"
To successfully utilize Primos' style of crow calling,
stay 10- to 20-yards away from the decoys, since that's
where the crows will look. Wear camouflage from head
to toe, and try to hide in some kind of cover close
to the water to keep the crows with their very-keen
eyesight from spotting a hunter’s silhouette.
Because often crows will fly in and circle to look over
a hunter’s set-up, Primos suggests taking the
shot as soon as the birds are in range and before they
have a chance to see the hunter. Once a hunter has shot
an area, Primos advises waiting a couple of months before
returning to the same spot and calling crows there again.
Tomorrow: Jerry Tomlin’s Crow-Hunting Techniques
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