[GM404]

They are driving me absolutely NUTS! I am not sure what the deal is, nearby developments, or what, but it has gotten out of control and it's driving me crazy. Starting around 7AM until the sun goes down, there are anywhere from 2 or 3 of the noisy bastards to hundreds of them in our trees making life a living hell. All. Day. Long.

I live in a heavily wooded residential area and so just breaking out the .22 to take care of business isn't an option. So, has anyone had a similar problem and if so, what remedy worked (and I don't think burning down my trees is a good one)? Ideally, I am thinking a good Airsoft rifle or something similar would be OK, but I have very little knowledge in these. It would need to be accurate to 100 feet or so and I would prefer to spend $200 or less.

Ideas?

 

[mygunstoo]

Air soft will not do anything to them at 100'.
You need 20 cal or 22 cal pellet rifle.

So you know, crows and ravens are game animals and they are not in season.

 

[gunsmoker]

Ditto. Airsoft guns are too weak and very inaccurate.
I suggest a multi-pump air rifle, and figure on using it at about 5 or 7 pumps (out of 10, maximum).
That should reach 100 feet (with some bullet drop; you may have to put the rear sight on its tallest setting), and be reasonably quiet.
A break-barrel spring-piston air rifle is much more powerful (1100 f.p.s. vs. only about 700 for the pump-up gun) but it's a lot noiser.
In my experience, a big adult spring-piston airgun is about as loud as a .22 rifle (18" or longer barrel) using "CCI Quiet" or "CB Long" ammunition.

 

[gunsmoker]

P.S. How about getting a quad-copter and harassing them?
You can get a good drone for less than $200. Fly up to them with a G0-Pr0 camera and get some close-ups.

 

[GM404]

P.S. How about getting a quad-copter and harassing them?
You can get a good drone for less than $200. Fly up to them with a G0-Pr0 camera and get some close-ups.

That's a pretty good idea, although not sure how I could maneuver it around the tree limbs and I think the crows would try and attack it.

 

[GM404]

So you know, crows and ravens are game animals and they are not in season.

Well, they are trying to snack on my newly planted tomatoes, so it doesn't matter if they are game animals or not.

http://georgiawildlife.com/node/1000

 

[mygunstoo]

I did check some time ago that you could kill them to protect your garden. I think that was the only exception to kill them out of hunting season.

Ps just noticed you link after I posted this.

 

[zetor]

People used to kill one or two and hang them on poles in their cornfield when I was growing up. Supposedly it worked. The crowd would pull up the sprouts and eat the kernels.

 

[zetor]

You should be able to get within 100' and kill with a .177 I would think. Where I grew up, crows were very skittish and getting within 100 yards was hard. The crows down here in residential areas should be easy. I don't know the law and personally I wouldn't concern myself with it. That may not sound too good, but ........

 

[ICP_Juggalo]

How good are you with a crow call?
You can get an Owl decoy and place it out in the open and they will swoop in and try to drive the owl away or you can pop on of them and then place his body out in the open and lay on a distress call on the crow call and they will try to swoop in and save their buddy. You will need to be quick though because they are highly intelligent and catch on quick.