Ravens

[rockhound78]

Used to Crow hunt long time ago and sent many to their reward.

Mother nature must be having a laugh now, as it seems like I have a pair of Ravens nesting in one of my trees!!!

Thought about taking care of the problem with my pellet rifle, but with Red Flag laws here have to be careful about things.

Maybe a slingshot!! Used to be fairly good with one, but they are in a pine tree and lots of branches in the way.

They are mocking me, I just know it!!

 

[rebel]

Leave em be and enjoy the show. Had a pair of Cooper's hawks here last year. Watching them learn to hunt was cool. My chickens are protected so........

 

[PRR1957]

I used to crow hunt with a rifle. Quite the challenge. You get one shot at the flock, but they catch on to you rather quick and you have hunt them from a different area.

 

[tuttlefarm]

Ravens are protected by federal law, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently granted Idaho a permit to kill 4,000 ravens in four areas of the state over two years. ... Nevada has already killed thousands of ravens in recent years.

 

[jimmymac]

A raven is not a crow.

 

[dolek]

"Thought about taking care of the problem with my pellet rifle"...

Why ? Do you shoot other birds like Robins,Chickadees, etc. ?The other day I had a Bald Eagle in my Elm tree 100 feet from my front door...I reached for the binos ...not a gun .

 

[SBOOMER]

Good on all of you for sticking up for the ravens. They are an amazing bird and in time we will come to understand that they have an amazingly complex vocabulary. I have been trying to mimic them for years with some success.

 

[markT]

I think some states allow hunting of Ravens but in many other states they are protected. Rockhound78 did not state where the ravens are nesting. ???
Ravens are cousins to crows. Love killing crows, but I do respect them for their intelligence. Only second to ravens. They do a lot of crop damage and predate on song birds, turkeys and water fowl.

 

[rockhound78]

Almost the top of a pine tree about 40 ft tall. Just on the other side of the fence from my backyard, in the pasture. I have been listening to their "talk". Quite a change from what I normally hear. Yes, I DO know Ravens are not crows but they both are in the Corvidae family just like Blue Jays, Mtn. Jays, Stellar Jays, and the magpies around the house.

Will probably let them be and watch them raise a brood. Wonder how "tame" they might get, they are about 100 ft from the house. If they go after the song birds, I would probably find some way, somehow, to discourage them next year.

 

[Larry Klutts]

Almost the top of a pine tree about 40 ft tall. Just on the other side of the fence from my backyard, in the pasture. I have been listening to their "talk". Quite a change from what I normally hear. Yes, I DO know Ravens are not crows but they both are in the Corvidae family just like Blue Jays, Mtn. Jays, Stellar Jays, and the magpies around the house.

Will probably let them be and watch them raise a brood. Wonder how "tame" they might get, they are about 100 ft from the house. If they go after the song birds, I would probably find some way, somehow, to discourage them next year.

Raw in the shell peanuts work well, let them see you putting them out in a open area.
I would whistle when I came out to feed them, it got to where they would see me outside and would sit in a tree and wait for the peanuts.

Edit: These were crows not Ravens.
They nested about 200 yards away for the 35 years we lived at that location.
And yes, they are fond of other bird chicks, fond of small snakes also.

 

[rebel]

Every year, at my buddies house we would wait for the raid of the crows on the blue jay young. It was fascinating to watch. An organized , sweeping attack that lasted maybe 15 minutes. They are very intelligent and apply it the way animals should, to propagate their species. I feel no ill will to crows. I am an a-hole, typical human. I shoot them because they are a small, challenging target. Got no recipe for crow at all. I still pop one now an again.

 

[Rustytigwire]

My shootin buddy asked me the difference tween raven and crow.
Crow says Caw Caw
Raven says Awk Awk
Long ago i lived in a small rv park. There was a crow that stayed outside the convenience store. He would come by, hop on my arm and eat crushed ice from my drink cup. Mooch m n ms and food in general. Blackie would carry on a conversation and argue if he felt like it. Corvids are smart.
Im still trying..

 

[jakelly]

I guess they make really interesting pets. My grandfather had pet crows, and always spoke of them with respect.

 

[jpx2rk]

I always feel like they are laughing at me whenever I'm at the gun range, also around the house but they are never that close at either place. No hunting at the gun range, and I live within the city limits.

 

[searcher]

Those ravens are very smart. Smart enough that it has been proven that they can tell people apart - and to steer clear of those who have shown tendencies to harm them. If you miss - it might crap on your car or truck for a year.

 

[farmerjohn]

A raven is not a crow.

Wondering when this little fact was gonna come out...
John

 

[Sieg]

40 years ago I came up to what I thought was a crow standing on a car roof, I was 4' from it and it didn't fly which told me this bird wasn't a typical crow. He just curiously watched me and I him, I said "hello"..... and he said "hello", his vocabulary didn't stop at hello. That was when I learned the difference between a raven and a crow.

I have hundreds of crows in the hazelnut orchard behind my house, I've came home and seen crows standing shoulder to shoulder across the 65' roof ridge on the house. I've never had a crow do any damage to my property or threaten me.

I've shot hundreds of digger squirrels behind my house, the only birds I've shot are with my camera.

 

[jimmymac]

Great photos!

 

[Brians356]

Ravens are protected by federal law, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently granted Idaho a permit to kill 4,000 ravens in four areas of the state over two years. ... Nevada has already killed thousands of ravens in recent years.

I assume in Idaho for the same reason as here in Nevada - endangered Sage-grouse predation. Ravens are hell on those grouse, mainly eating their eggs.

Believe it or not, in Nevada they've also been using pairs of heavy caterpillar tractors with a chain stretched between them to uproot pinyon / juniper stands. Seems the junipers are rapidly encroaching on Sage-grouse breeding grounds or "leks". They tolerate only flat ground with sparse, low vegetation. Even typical sagebrush is too tall. There's a variety called "white sagebrush" they prefer which grows very low to the ground.
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