HOW ABOUT THE 
CROW? 
(Continued from, page 627) 
ver lining on the cloud of game de¬ 
struction would be just a bit brighter 
if such were only the case. It would 
also be a trifle brighter if the sight of 
a flock of crows winging their way 
through the purple haze of an early 
autumn landscape would make the 
average hunter thrill with excitement 
and emotion. The reason it doesn’t do 
so is partly due, no doubt, to the fact 
that the crow is not classed as a legiti¬ 
mate game bird. Anyhow, shooting 
crows is good sport for a man who loves 
the outdoors, and its joys may and 
should be associated just as much with 
the autumnal blaze of golden rod, a 
harvest moon and ripening clusters of 
grapes as is grouse or woodcock shoot¬ 
ing. True, it doesn’t lend quite the thrill 
and excitement that these latter do, 
but it has a certain charm associated 
with perennial youth. It reminds me 
of “my salad days,” when I was green 
in judgment. And then, too, the crows 
are with us all the year round, and 
there is no law on them at any time 
and any place; so there is no reason 
why the man who has an itching trig¬ 
ger-finger every so often can’t have 
some good sport at any season of the 
year. 
It is also a fact worth remembering 
that about the only enemy a crow has 
is man, and that’s not enough. So it 
is up to man to make up for the lack 
of natural enemies of which about the 
only one of any importance is the great 
horned owl, and occasionally one of the 
hawks. 
Much good may be done in reducing 
the ranks of the crow by a little co¬ 
operation among the shooting members 
of any community. Regular crow shoots 
may be organized on Saturday after¬ 
noons and holidays and prizes offered. 
June and July are particularly good 
months to arrange such shoots, as these 
are the months during which crows are 
particularly active in killing young 
birds and destroying eggs. 
The bounty system has also proven 
effective at times. The only trouble 
with this system has been that the 
bounties offered have as a rule been too 
small to compensate for the amount of 
work and often skill required to bag a 
single crow. 
Trapping, too, has sometimes proved 
effective, by slipping a No. 1 trap un¬ 
der the lining of a nest where eggs 
have been stolen and in which a few 
dummy eggs have been placed and the 
place made to look as natural as pos¬ 
sible. 
Shooting, however, has been found to 
be the most effective means of destroy¬ 
ing this black devil.” A twelve-gauge 
gun is the most efficient weapon for 
this purpose, and No. 7 or No. 7V 2 is 
recommended as being the best size 
shot. A few decoys placed in a corn¬ 
field and the use of a crow call often 
help to attract the crows within easy 
shooting- range. 
All our game needs is a little prac¬ 
tical protection, and one of the best 
ways to accomplish this is to start right 
in on getting rid of the crows. 
Don’t forget to let Forest and 
Stream know how many crows you 
have accounted for. 
“The crow is often responsible for 
the scarcity of ruffed grouse in certain 
sections.”— Game Breeder, June, 1923. 
“Success in breeding game birds de¬ 
pends largely upon the control of their 
numerous enemies. The birds will rap¬ 
idly increase in numbers when they are 
not decimated by predacious animals, 
and they will become extinct on areas 
where their enemies are superabundant 
and uncontrolled. It has been proved 
that the shooting of only a few birds 
is too much on areas where vermin 
abounds and the birds are not properly 
piotected, and we have learned that it 
is necessary to artificially breed and 
liberate large numbers of pheasants 
in order to provide any shooting on 
areas where the game has no practical 
protection.”—“Game Enemies,” Game 
Breeder, March, 1923. 
Regarding the natural enemies of 
quail, the Game Breeder for June, 1922, 
says: ‘Crows, owls and bluejays are 
good seconds to the Cooper’s and sharp- 
shinned hawks.” 
“The crow has been listed by the 
New 1 ork Conservation Commission as 
undesirable and classed as vermin. In 
a letter to officers of fish and game 
clubs throughout the state, Conserva¬ 
tion Commissioner Macdonald states: 
Crows, in addition to the damage that 
they do in the farmer’s cornfields, de¬ 
stroy more birds of all kinds, more 
birds’ eggs and young poultry than 
any other bird on the ‘black list,’ and 
the aggregate damage done by the vast 
army of crows in tremendous.” 
“In a certain locality in Manitoba 
observers noted that the crows killed 
thousands of young prairie chickens 
each summer.”— Game Breeder, July, 
1922. 
Crows destroy very large numbers of 
warblers, which very valuable birds 
live entirely on injurious insects. 
MY CANINE COMRADES 
(Continued from page 617) 
permit Joe to communicate with me. 
A dispicable and cowardly act. This I 
learned years afterward from a drug¬ 
gist in Tampa who at that time lived in 
Cedar Key and knew the facts in the 
case. He also said that Boss, whom 
he knew well, was known all over that 
part of Florida as a wonderful bird 
dog, and that he owned one of his 
puppies which he named “Jet,” as it 
was as black as Boss, and he turned out 
to be a fine field dog. 
When residing in Oconomowoc, Wis¬ 
consin, from 1868-78, I owned a num¬ 
ber of dogs of various breeds, but 
mostly hunting dogs. They exhibited 
various phases of character and dispo¬ 
sition, temperament and intelligence, 
with inherent traits and congenital in¬ 
stincts, some of whom I will notice 
more particularly. 
JACK 
**JACK” was a large liver and white 
pointer, with a good pedigree, and 
well broken on prairie chickens and 
shaip-tail grouse. He was staunch, 
fast and a wide ranger. Once, late in 
September, a shooting chum with his 
Gordon setter “Crip,” and I with Jack, 
went to the oak openings of western 
Wisconsin for a few days with the 
sharp-tail grouse. We stopped with a 
farmer, a friend of my companion, who 
owned a “wonderful” bird dog, a cross 
between a setter and a shepherd dog, 
and his owner assured us that he had 
plenty of good bird sense, and that he 
would not swap him for both of our 
dogs. 
As we were about to start afield 
early the morning after our arrival the 
fai mer s dog seemed to be dazed and 
bewildered, and suddenly fell in a fit, 
frothing freely at the mouth, and after 
a short convulsion was on his feet 
again, but went blundering along with 
the other dogs. In the field he paid 
no attention to his master and did not 
notice our dogs who were working fine- 
ly, pointing, backing and quartering 
the ground. My friend and I were in 
fine fettle and in a few hours had 
made a good bag, for the birds were 
plentiful. Although it was just a little 
past noon, we concluded to quit for the 
day, as the weather was warm and 
dry lor the season and the dogs seemed 
tired. 
The next morning the sick dog 
seemed to be quite deaf, and as he was 
not fit to hunt the farmer said he 
would stay at home to watch him. The 
dog was lying down, frothing freely at 
the mouth and snapping at flies. I 
spoke to him, but he took no heed. I 
then snapped my finger and beckoned 
Page 637 
