# Help! A Crow has taken over my back yard!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712 "2010-06-10T22:11:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/61 "2010-06-13T10:18:16Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Quck impression for you: > > Caw! Caw! Bang! Fuck, I’m dead! > [@levdrakon](#): > > You killed my father! Prepare to die?:dubious: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/62 "2010-06-13T11:23:59Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Crows do remember people. Friend of my father once accidentally destroyed a crow’s nest. The flock or murder or whatever followed him around and harassed him for years. Some crows would even follow him until he went onto a bus, then wait until he got off the bus and harass him again. (This was in a city, so the bus wasn’t moving that fast, but still…) Damn, he should have just killed all of the little bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/63 "2010-06-14T22:25:51Z")
Getting back to the OP’s question, and some of the suggestions that were made before this turned into “crow joke central”… Pellet gun suggestion. Yes. Crossman 760. Costs about 50 bucks. No, it won’t kill the crow. Sting it, piss it off, yes. Will the bastard remember you? Yes. It will also remember your range, and learn to stay out of it. So will all it’s friends. I’ve had annoying crows around here, too, but they very rapidly learned to stay out of range. I also have another pellet gun (a much more powerful one, that cost $100), and one crow learned the hard way that I _ **can** _ cripple you with it. So did it’s friends. Now they don’t even come within hearing distance. Crows ain’t stupid. And they don’t like to be shot at. Get yourself a Crossman 760, and snipe them from your windows. Even in suburbia, you probably won’t have a problem with “Officer Friendly”, unless you shoot your neighbors’ windows. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/64 "2010-06-15T04:58:09Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Getting back to the OP’s question, and some of the suggestions that were made before this turned into “crow joke central”… > > Pellet gun suggestion. Yes. Crossman 760. Costs about 50 bucks. No, it won’t kill the crow. Sting it, piss it off, yes. Will the bastard remember you? Yes. It will also remember your range, and learn to stay out of it. So will all it’s friends. I’ve had annoying crows around here, too, but they very rapidly learned to stay out of range. I also have another pellet gun (a much more powerful one, that cost $100), and one crow learned the hard way that I _ **can** _ cripple you with it. So did it’s friends. Now they don’t even come within hearing distance. Crows ain’t stupid. And they don’t like to be shot at. Get yourself a Crossman 760, and snipe them from your windows. Even in suburbia, you probably won’t have a problem with “Officer Friendly”, unless you shoot your neighbors’ windows. I’d like to quote a previous post that seems to have been overlooked by the “shoot 'em” crowd… > [@Tamerlane](#): > > If anyone cares about the legalities involved ( I know many do not ), crows are protected under the _Migratory Bird Act_ along with all other members of the corvid family, such that shooting them willy-nilly without proper cause/permits is subject to whopping fines if you are caught. … If it’s possible to maim the bird with a pellet gun then it’s probably against the law to shoot them with one. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/65 "2010-06-15T11:23:15Z")
OTOH, I know many, many people who have killed bothersome crows. I have, myself. I don’t know _anybody_ who has been prosecuted, much less convicted, for killing them under any game law, migratory brd act, or other statute. I’ve nevr even heard of it actually happening. Is anybody able to provide a cite for such a prosecution and conviction? Ideally, such a cite would be a pellet-gun wielding suburbanite killing a single bird, not somebody poisoning an entire flock or destroying birds through habitat destruction. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/66 "2010-06-15T13:58:19Z")
Try conking him on the noggin and shooting him into space. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/67 "2010-06-15T15:59:57Z")
I thought we weren’t supposed to encourage illegal behavior here. I doubt you would hear many instances of people being fined for killing crows because it’s nit big news. Also one has to be caught doing it, I don’t know the OP’s luck but if everyone else does something illegal and then I do it, I’ll be the one who gets caught. But all that aside, the main reason to drop the “shoot it” suggestions is because the OP has stated she does not want to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/68 "2010-06-16T00:41:16Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > … If it’s possible to maim the bird with a pellet gun then it’s probably against the law to shoot them with one. That’s why I suggested a Crossman 760. It’s too weak to maim crows, but not too weak to cause them enough pain to teach them to stay away. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/69 "2010-06-16T03:59:06Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > But all that aside, the main reason to drop the “shoot it” suggestions is because the OP has stated she does not want to do that. And we don’t want to encourage a murder. ---
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/70 "2010-06-16T11:25:05Z")
Get a dog or a cat. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/71 "2010-06-18T04:03:16Z")
> [@gladtobeblazed](#): > > Damn, he should have just killed all of the little bastards. go out in the back yard, point at each one successively and then shoot the first one you pointed at with a paint ball. See how good the crow learning curve is. Plan B, radio controlled helicopter. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/72 "2010-06-18T05:02:32Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > And we don’t want to encourage a murder. Would nuking them from orbit be murder? Just to be sure, you know. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/73 "2010-06-18T06:10:20Z")
How about a sprinkler on a timer? They are probably not clever enough to figure out that it was your setting up the equipment that resulted in their shower. Me? I’d get a repeating pellet rifle (assuming such things exist) and shoot through an open window - while the prey is in the direct sunlight and I in the (interior) shade - don’t shoot when the light makes you visible to the little bastards. If any DO see you and give you grief - well, I did say “repeating”, didn’t I? If you have the stomach for it, let the carcasses sit where they fall - maybe they’ll be an object lesson for the remainder of them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/74 "2010-06-19T01:41:44Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > go out in the back yard, point at each one successively and then shoot the first one you pointed at with a paint ball. See how good the crow learning curve is.. Dude, I had problems hitting a crow with a fucking **12ga,** I don’t think Annie Oakly could hit one with a paintball gun. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/75 "2010-06-19T02:41:36Z")
There are several commercial products that claim to repel crows, but they might just attract pigeons. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/76 "2010-06-19T03:00:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Dude, I had problems hitting a crow with a fucking **12ga,** I don’t think Annie Oakly could hit one with a paintball gun. Crows gotta sleep sometime. Waits in bushes with night vision paint ball gun in the Bill Murray/gopher tradition. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712/77 "2010-06-19T09:18:12Z")
I remember when some crows were sitting on the roof playing a game. This game involved waiting for the cat to relax on the nice warm driveway, spread out and sunning… then a crow would jump off the roof, divebomb the cat, pull up about 3 feet away and go **CAW!!!** (wherein the poor cat would flip the fuck out) before flying back up to its mates who were giggling in their own crow-like way. They did it until the cat just said fuck it and went somewhere else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-crow-has-taken-over-my-back-yard/542712.md?page=3)