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With minor population damage, crow hunt confounds birders
In 2009, the winning number and new record was 39. About as well known as gray squirrel and bullfrog hunting — both legal quarries in the state with their own seasons and bag limits — hunting for crows is almost at the whim of those who choose to pursue these highly intelligent, large black birds. There is no bag limit and hunters can shoot them a half-hour before sunrise and half-hour after sunset daylight Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, except April 11 to June 30 for nesting and chick-raising. The Nantucket Hunting Association began the contest 15 years ago as a way to protect the populations of game birds and songbirds on the island, said Nantucket Hunting Association president Steve Holdgate. “Our thought process was that crows attack and eat hatchlings of things that are way down like bobwhite, quail and song birds,” said Holdgate who added that they hold the contest when all the other hunting seasons are closed or winding down. “It turned into a fun contest within the club and we set it up so members can hunt with non-members. So only one hunter needs to be a member. It can be single hunters or teams of two.” This year’s contest raised the hackles of birders and amateur naturalists, who discovered in late January, much to their dismay, what they view as a distressing practice with no clear purpose other than to kill as many crows as possible in two days. After learning that the crow-hunting contest was in its second day, island bird expert Edie Ray investigated the origins of crow hunting. “I don’t think there’s anything to stop it, it’s perfectly legal, which I said in my letter [to the editor] and it’s just a matter of choice,” said Ray. “I think what bothers me is it’s a sport to go and kill these things. It’s not for people who are hungry. I think it bothers me that it’s fun to go kill a bunch of things and then get a prize for it.” Tom O’Shea, assistant director of the Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife said that crow hunting is federally regulated and individual states can strengthen these laws with their own. In this state, the season is only closed for 75 days in the spring to allow the crows to mate and fledge their chicks. But there is a reason for such a loose and open hunt with no bag limit, said O’Shea. “Probably because of the nature of crow hunting historically where crows had been problematic for farmers,” he said. “There wasn’t a concern population-wise that the take of crows would have any detrimental impact.” O’Shea said that according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, crow populations in this region increased steadily from 1966 until 1999 when the West Nile Virus invaded the area and reduced their numbers by 45 percent through 2008. The regional population has since stabilized. On Nantucket, the most accurate reading of the island crow population health, the annual Christmas Bird Count, found 704 American crows in the 2009 count and 530 in the 2008 count. With these numbers and the dwindling impact of West Nile Virus in mind, O’Shea said he is not too worried about crows in general surviving the hunt and a few hunters’ quest for the Al Silva Golden Crow Award on Nantucket. “They are so intelligent that when they are hunted in a particular locality, they become very wise to the threat of hunters and they will typically avoid areas that are hunted,” said O’Shea. “They even learn to differentiate what certain hunters look like and they apparently can recognize each other’s individual calls.” I |
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