Actually there is an open season for crow hunting, 1 Sept. to 31 Mar.. I think the 1st yr. we heard so much "flap" about hunting them that about 200+- crows were actually killed. Supposedly, it was last yr., (& I doubt it) that on one weekend, as per a newspaper article, about 150 hunters killed about 348 crows. It was stated that some hunters actually eat their catch, just as they do with deer & other wild game & as others do with sheep, goats, llamas, chickens, pigs, beef, fish, etc.. It's just a fact of life that some kill for pleasure/sport while most kill for what they deem as a necessity or as a part of their jobs.
We have lived in Union Springs 19 1/2 yrs. & watched the increase, the eventual decline (probably due to West Nile Virus) & now again an increase in the crow population. We have a family of crows that checks out our compost every day. We see hundreds of crows leaving the Auburn area in the a.m. going out to feed & then returning in the late afternoon/early evening. The fields are almost as black with crows as with the thousands of Canadas. Both are dirty & noisy but the crow has an intelligence almost beyond comprehension. We enjoy both but are ever fascinated by crows. During WW 2, in the 40's, war was declared on crows because of the damage they did to corn fields when food was in short supply. My grandfather would try to shoot crows, blackbirds & starlings as they stood pulling the just sprouted corn. They always saw him coming!! He had far better luck hunting deer, squirrels & rabbits which did far more damage but actually served us as food & were never, never wasted. Auburn has a human population of about 28,000 & estimated crow population of 20 to 50,000, depending on who does the estimating! The crows roost in trees within a 5 mi. radius of Aub. as well as in the city trees. A well filled tree is an amazing sight & looks like a fully leaved summer tree! The crows fly around in the lighted city all night long looking for scraps of food as well as garbage bags set out for early morning trash pickup. They are very adept at tearing open those bags & scattering the mess as would a dog, cat, racoon, or 'possum. When I lived in Dryden village I watched crows walk up our street, from house to house, tearing open bags. Cornell was sponsoring a "watch to see who or what is tearing open garbage bags or knocking over garbage cans & making messes." Crows like being near lights, perhaps for the warmth in winter. They have an abundant water supply. Ithaca also has water, lots of lights & flat roofs with heat exhausts to provide warmth. It's all about survival. Yes, again this fall, various types of noise-making devices were used as have been at least twice previously, to try to chase the birds from city roosts. (And no gun use is allowed within the city!) It's definitely only a temporary solution. As long as there are humans to produce garbage & litter, & farms, (like in cattle feeding lots, open silage bins & manure spread on fields), crows & other birds ... & mice & rats will find means to survive. The crows will have young next spring & will return to the cities, not just to Auburn & Ithaca & Geneva. And the deer will return to Cayuga Heights, Lansing & other areas, a curse for some & a joy for others. Fritzie Blizzard ----- Original Message ----- From: Michele Emerick Brown To: Cayugabirds-L@cornell.edu Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 1:40 PM Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Auburn and crow hunting Sadly-(and I hope to be corrected)-but I think Auburn's solution was to institute a crow hunting season. http://www.tonews.com/post/3339713/clari/web/local/newyork/misc/ny_crow_hunt_expected_to_draw_crowd.html I believe this article was one written 3 or 4 yrs ago altho' it is headlined Aug. 1, 2010, listing Timothy Lattimore as mayor. Michael Quill, the current mayor was elected in 2007. At the time the article was written much information was skewed, making it seem that lots of "rednecks" were coming in from the boonies to "murder crows" & throw a beer party afterwards. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
