Duck Hunting in the Summer
How to Train Your Dogs on Crows for Waterfowl Hunting
Later
 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 shot crows over water,
not ducks. Before deciding there's not much involved
in hunting crows, consider that crows have a complex
communica tion
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.
Why don't more states allow the hunter to pick the
60 days they want to crow hunt, regardless of the time
of year? In most states, landowners consider crows nothing
but nuisances. There's very little chance of crows becoming
extinct anywhere because of over-hunting. Hunting crows
to practice for waterfowl hunting provides some tremendous
opportunities for the waterfowl hunter and his retriever
for simulating duck hunting in a way that helps the
farmer and doesn't harm the resource.
Consider summertime crow hunting over water in any states
where it’s allowed. Few landowners will deny you
permission to hunt crows over water. Most conservation
officers know enough landowners who will welcome hunters
who can use decoys, set up blinds and use their retrieving
dogs to go out into the water, pick up the crows and
bring them back. 
Too, hunting crows in the summer and early fall can
give a retriever plenty of waterfowl-retrieving experience
and retriever training without shooting ducks or having
to wait until duck season arrives. Hunters also can
have a great time calling and shooting at a time of
year when most hunters, especially waterfowlers, don't
get to hunt and shoot. Often owners of retrievers don't
hunt enough to keep those dogs in shape or well-tuned
enough for the dogs to be extremely sharp and crisp
to perform the job of a retriever once duck season arrives.
However, hunting crows in the summertime, and making
sure not to hunt more than 60 days, will provide approximately
three months to get a dog in shape, keep him that way
and actually let him make water retrieves on birds preparing
for waterfowl season.
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