Case of mistaken identity!!

[only1harry]

So I know this guy (in "Tim mode now") who also owns a Condor and he was telling me how he thought he was shooting at a Grackle at first 40yds out on top of a tree, but then he realized it was a bigger bird and looked like a crow.  He said it was getting close to 6:30 and was getting dark when was ready to give up trying to get a squirrel when he saw something landing on top of one of his trees 39-40yds out according to the A/O on his scope.  The birds were on the other side of the tall tree and were behind many leaves.  He finally made out the beak which looked bigger than a Grackle's and he was almost certain it was a crow.  These birds were quiet not making any noise so maybe they were getting ready to roost up on that tree for the night.  There were a lot of leaves in the way and he could only make out some of their black body but once in a while he 'd catch a glimse of the head/beak when it turned its head.  

He loaded a 21gr Kodiak in his Condor and took the shot through a small opening in the leaves, aiming up a little from where he thought the center of the body was.  He then heard a thump like hitting fur, and a crow like sound.  The 2nd bird that was better concealed flew around for a few seconds cawing and then took off.  This other bird looked bigger than a crow however and the caawing did not sound exactly like a crow's but more like a goose type of sound.  The first bird he had shot at the top of the 65-70ft tall tree, took a while to hit the ground as it was coming in contact with every branch on the way down and for a while he thought it was tangled up in the tree somewhere because he didn't hear or see it fall.  This tree was behind some other trees and it was too dark at the base of the trees to see anything, plus the tree trunk was like 33+yds out.  To his amazement he found a raven with a wing span of 3ft, maybe more, about 35 paces out.  This raven was approximately 3/4 the length of his shrouded Condor!

He knew it was a raven by the larger size of its beak which was a good 2.5" inches, had much larger talons than a crow, and its wingspan was at least 3ft long.  The pellet had gone straight through its chest as he could make out the little .22 hole on each wing.  He said if he could see a little more of the bird perhaps out in the open, he would not have taken the shot.  Just goes to show you how important it is to identify your prey before squeezing the trigger.  Hunting in low light conditions does not help either, but I bet many people would probably mistaken a raven for a crow 40yds out..  When they are that far out they don't look much different.  When you see a raven up close like 15-20yds then you can tell they are (approximately 50%) bigger.
The guy e-mailed me some pics and I wanted to share them with you.

[Timmyj1959@yahoo.com]

Man I hear Ya Harry!! Im always following the LETTER of the law. Unfortunatly,,, some Folks are not as law abiding as myself,, very unfortunate,,,,, gives us "Good Uns" a black eye. Tell your "Friend",,, darn nice huntin!!! Nice lookin gun too!! Now,,,, If I can get me hands on a DNR Reg. book for Alabama tommorow,,,,,Cause,, I want to be completly legal here. Ya would not believe the game here!!!!!!!!! Stand by,,,, He He!!  Tim.

[only1harry]

You are right Tim.  There will always be a few people out there disobeying the laws.  It's inevitable..but sometimes it's a case of truly mistaken identity and unintentional.

Wow I 'm looking at my post now and it 's repetitive almost throughout.  That's what happens when you 're typing fast while the wife is yelling every minute: "your dinner is getting cold! what are you doing down there?" :-)  Typing skills and proof reading goes out the window when the wife is on the war path, hehe.  

I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next Tim.  I 'm sure with your arsenal of up to 300fpe airguns we will see some interesting game this hunting season.

Crow season opens here the day after tomorrow.  I hope I don't accidentally mistaken one for a raven.  We never had ravens here before, but I started seeing them in the spring for the first time.  They are continuing to hang around, dangerously close...

[shadow]

Wrong bird nice shootin hehehe. Thank's for the pics's  Harry and tell your friend nice work. We should always be be sure of what sits in our crosshairs and is it legal to take, those darn big black birds can fool you though.:) Ed

[Jaymo]

Are ravens any good to eat? I've never seen one in person. We have lots of crows, but they keep their distance to just outside rimfire or air gun range.  I look at animals and wonder what are the best ways to cook them.

[only1harry]

I think Jeff has eaten crow.  I have no idea how the raven tastes.  Probably not too bad.  I would think they eat a lot of carrion like crows.  That kind of turns me off.

[longislandhunter]

Beautiful pic on that raven Harry...  

I don't think I've run across a raven in the wild cause that looks much bigger n the crows I've seen.  

Even though it was a case of mistaken identity the shooter still made a heck of a shot.....

As for eating crow,,, yup, I certainly did give it a try....  I read a whole bunch of articles on crow recipes and figured I'd give the bird a try.  I gotta say,,, it was very good  :)    As a result,,,, every time I get one now it goes into the game bag  :)

As for the carrion part,,, well, that certainly is true but I don't let it bother me...  Crabs and lobsters clean up all the dead things in the ocean and boy do they taste good.  Bears will consume any dead critters layin around,,, and I aint passin up no bear steaks  :)

Anyway,, give crow a try sometime, it's really very good.....

Jeff

[gamo2hammerli]

Looks like a crow to me.....but then I still cannot tell a raven from a crow....even if they both hit me in the head at the same time. Tell your friend he had an excellent shot btw....

[miked6762]

Me either. Other than size, what is the difference between a crow and a raven? I always just thought that they were the same.

[fatback]

Wow... Nice shooting !! what a big bird. your friend is a great shot too... have you been giving him pointers
love the Condor

[only1harry]

Thanks Jeff, I 'm sure ravens taste probably just as good as crows.

Stanley & Mike:
There are small differences.  The beak is longer and upper part of the raven't beak (bill?) usually curves a little more.  
Here 's a couple of pics of crows I 've taken and these are large crows.. I 've taken smaller.  This raven's length when held with wings open in front of you is 3-3.5ft long.  No crow comes close to that.

[gamo2hammerli]

Thanks for the pics....I can almost see the difference......  Thanks for your descriptions of them also.

[only1harry]

No problem, always happy to educate :)  

The pics also do it some injustice.  The head was down from the rest of the body so it looks smaller.  When the head & neck are the same length and width as your Talon/Condor pistol grip, then you know you got something else other than a crow :)  Actually when you see them flying, you kind of tend to look twice because they resemble something between a turkey vulcher and a hawk.  There are 3-4 raven species in North America.  This is most likely what is called the 'common raven', but they all look pretty much the same from some pictures I 've seen.