Media advisory issued October 8, 2002, effective immediately.
For media inquiries, contact Caroline Booth Lara, Communications Specialist, (580) 224-6379.
  email: cblara@noble.org.

Control Pecan Depredation by Hunting Crows

ARDMORE, Okla. — Crows are a huge threat to pecan production, especially improved pecans. Pecan producers use many methods to protect their crops from depredation by crows, and hunting can be one of the most effective controls available.

"Crows are very intelligent birds that are difficult to control. They are able to communicate with one another while remembering previous situations to avoid," said Scott Landgraf, a horticulturist and pecan specialist at the Noble Foundation. "When a crow is shot at and missed, it has been warned. Also, if crows are only being harassed with blanks, they quickly realize the noise is harmless."

Landgraf offered these guidelines for successful pecan depredation control by hunting crows:

• Secure a high-quality, high-volume tape player with a remote speaker.
• Obtain taped recordings of crows: fighting, calling, harassing an owl or hawk, and a death cry.
• Purchase No. 6 shot in high brass shells.
• Dress in full camouflage. The camo color, while the trees have a full leaf cover, should be greener than later in the year. As the leaves turn or fall, a different color should be used. A hat, gloves, and maybe even a veil should be used for complete cover.
• A blind is an option to reduce the requirement for the extensive camouflage, but it limits mobility.
• Camouflage greatly increases mobility, which is very important to keeping crows guessing.
• The remote speaker should be placed in the fork of a tree off the ground. It is best to place the speaker about 50 feet away from the location in which the hunters plan to stand.
• Try to kill the first crow that flies over, because he is the "scout." If he escapes, he will spread the word about what is going on which increases the difficulty of the hunt. If he is removed, the flock is disoriented and often breaks up, making them more vulnerable.
• After the initial flight, turn off the call for a few seconds to a few minutes and listen for activity. If you hear a crow coming into the area, turn the call on to entice it your way.
• It may be beneficial to change tapes. Try to use common sense in tape selection — possibly start with a crow fight or maybe even an owl hooting.
• If starting with an owl, go on to a crow fight. A crow reveille, where the tape begins with a single crow and builds to several, is another way to start. Then go to an owl.
• When you determine a pattern is developing someplace away from where you are, it may be necessary to move closer to the crows.

"Remember, hunting success is dependent on your ability to keep crows guessing," Landgraf said. "The higher the percentage of crows on the ground to shots fired, the fewer educated crows left to spread the word. So don’t shoot unless you have a good chance of hitting the target."

Often, when propane exploders have been used for some time and crows have grown accustomed to them, the exploders should be left on while hunting to offer further distraction and increase the crows’ vulnerability. Hunting in combination with propane exploders is very effective, Landgraf added.

The crows that escape the aggressive hunt described above are very skittish.

"It will take several days for them to gain confidence to even investigate if the exploder is for real. They are more comfortable somewhere else. When they become comfortable, another aggressive hunt is necessary.

When a flock of crows become educated to the point that they will not respond to the call, observe where they do feel comfortable and place hunters near that point. Then have another hunter drive around the flock and herd them back to their point of safety. That gives the hunters at that location an opportunity to take a few of the educated birds.

"If you are not very careful, you can create an educated flock of crows that are almost impossible to control. It is best to be on target with your shots and not ever let any of them become leery," Landgraf said.

Practice your shooting skills before you go hunting, he advised, and follow all the rules of safe hunting.

Remember, when hunting crows other than for depredation control, there is an established season. The 2002 crow hunting season is Oct. 10 through Nov. 16 and Dec. 9 through March 4, 2003.

###

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a non-profit organization conducting agricultural, forage biotechnological, and plant biology research; providing grants to numerous non-profit charitable, educational and health organizations; and assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs.

To learn more, visit the Noble Foundation Web site at http://www.noble.org.

More news releases available at www.noble.org/Press_Release