Your favorite shotgun crow load?

[Bushman]

I know they are not all that hard to bring down if you can get them into shotgun range, but if you were going to buy 12 gauge loads just for called in crows, what would you get? Also what is your preferred choke construction for crows?

[MOGC]

Heavy trap loads of #7 1/2's get it done quite well. As for choke, I guess improved modified is about right for me.

[ncboman]

I like 12 ga loads with 1 1/8 oz of #7 1/2 shot thru a full choke.

ncboman

[dave-t.]

I'll be the odd ball and go heavy field loads of #5 and full choke.

I shoot a tight choke on about everything but doves and quail.

[Hi Ball]

Crows is a tuff question for me to answer in regards to someone else trying to call them into range. If you can get them into duck range, I would say either FULL to MOD in the choke. Sometimes you just have to experiment just a little after a couple of shots.

Now shot wise I will be shooting either #5's or #6's, I use 7&1/2 on quail, chuckar on point with dogs. Crows are another story! I would make sure to take a couple different choke tubes with you just for grins. I am thinking the MOD. Choke will get you more hits on those crows but later on you may have to go FULL CHOKE as they will back off some.:):)

[Bushman]

5's are some larger than I expected to read for crows. Good suggestion on the choke tubes too as they don't take up much room in a guy's pocket and depending on the conditions, a change out in the field could make all the difference.

[Hi Ball]

Bushman, crows are much larger than a quail and we often use 7&1/2/s on quail (sometimes #8's) especially over the dogs ok. Now a #5 pellet has over twice the energy and will put down a crow at a longer distance. I have used #4's before and that was a fun time with a mod. choke:D

[Bushman]

5's are my all time favorite shot size for pheasants and when we could use lead for ducks. They hit like 4's and have a more dense pattern like 6's. I suppose it depends a lot on how close in that one can get them into shotgun range. I don't think that they are that hard to bring down, but they wise up in a hurry when you are shooting at them. As kids, my buddy and I would be at the dump a lot of Saturday mornings, back when they had good dumps instead of landfills. It was crows or rats, which ever showed themselves. We couldn't afford a stuffed owl decoy, but wanted the realism of feathers. Our solution was to get a great horned owl and freeze it in mom's freezer. "What's that in the brown paper bag", mom would ask. Quick subject change. That was back in the days when they wouldn't hang you by the thumbs for having an owl. The crows had it bald by the end of the winter. Back in those days we only used improved cylinder in a 12 gauge M1100. We hit most everything with that wide pattern, but we often needed a .22 pistol to finish things.

[ncboman]

:D

Back in the day, my friend and I turned the ground black a few times at the old town dump too. ... :rolleyes: a long time ago.

[MOGC]

Bob Aroshon has killed well over 100,000 crows with # 7 1/2's and mostly modified chokes. Good enough testimony for me. A hard 7 1/2 shot will break up clay targets at 50 yards even from open chokes like Skeet II or Light Modified. The Sporting Clays loads of 1 1/8 ounces of hard 7 1/2's at 1,300 fps get it done very well. I don't do a ton of crow shooting but get out 2-3 times a year and have been using that combination of shot size and velocity and cannot complain about the performance. In fact, I kill more now than when I used #6 heavy field loads.

[ncboman]

Bert Popowaski was another famous crow hunter (The Varmit and Crow Hunter's Bible) that used # 7 1/2 and # 8 shot. He wrote hitting the head/neck is more important than shot size.

[Bushman]

There might be some merit in using the same target load that a guy has used all year long on the trap range. I've gotten very used to the Remington Handicap Nitro 27 load of very hard 7 1/2 or 8's at 1235 fps. My more open modified and light modified Briley chokes are really forgiving and throw excellent patterns. I think that I'd let the pattern spread take care of the head and neck shot placement. Nothing says that a guy couldn't stack his loads in the magazine either to follow trap loads with some high base stuff to tag those high fliers.

[ncboman]

stack his loads in the magazine

that almost never works out in actual field conditions. One thing that does works out is a 30" double barrel. Full on the left, mod on the right. My favorite crow gun. :)

[MOGC]

Twin barrel guns do have that advantage. My Beretta 686 12 gauge O/U has the light modified in the bottom barrel and improved modified in the top. Stoked with those Remington Sporting Clays loads of hard 7.5's @ 1,300 fps it is good to go as long as I do my job.

[Bushman]

What if there were three crows?;) I've got a M101 Winchester with the screw in chokes in the safe myself and it is my favorite pheasant shotgun. My experience with called in crows is that the shooting can get some faster than a two shooter can handle. I think that my parkerized M870 maybe with the extended magazine tube installed would get the call. A new camo M2 Benelli would work pretty good too.

[ncboman]

What if there were three crows?

I like to try and double on the first shot. ;)

[MOGC]

For me crow hunting is a social kinda thing. I always have at least one other shooter and some times a couple more guys with me. When all the shooting begins the dead crows are dropping and the others are high balling for lead free zones elsewhere. I try to make what I've got count with the time frame they give me.