This year for the first time the crows have descended on one of my European pear trees and almost completely gotten to all of the fruit. Incredibly thorough.
They have one other to get to and just now i saw one of the fruits from that tree on the ground with the crow trademark.
I don’t suppose anyone can recommend any repellent techniques short of one of those floppy airbag guys.
Shotgun a possibility? If not what about netting? I’ve thrown rocks before and they found a better place to go steal from (my neighbors cattle eat corn). I did not have to kill them but the old timers told me there was flocks of thousands in their lives and they had to be killed to get any crops here.
One thing about crows, if you don’t want to shoot them they sure are easy to net out of trees. Just droop a good net (american netting), over the tree and don’t even bother tying it to the tree and the crows will leave your pears alone, if my experience is a guide.
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One of the trees is a big mutha.
If I could ever get the net on I’d never get it off in one piece.
I have a couple of 28x28 nets and they were a bear to work with.
I hate to be the guy that keeps knocking down suggestions but I’m afraid the neighborhood and the wife would not accept a shotgun solution.
The weird thing is that last year I didn’t have a problem.
Now I’m worried they’re going to find the Asian pears.
Maybe that Avian Control would have some effect.
Anyone here give a positive review yet?
I wonder if crows would even care about the taste.
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Thanks, Alan … see reply to clark above.
Are you allowed to set off firecrackers where you are? Crows are smart as far as birds go. Maybe scaring them out of their feathers a few times will convince them to go elsewhere.
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If the trees are to big, I can understand the difficulty but if a 28’X28’ net is a bear to work with you must either be using mono-filament or doing something else wrong. Woven netting doesn’t snag too much and usually can be pulled free from snags without ripping the net.
Yes. It’s not woven. It would definitely rip. It’s the kind that you can drape over a frame but if anything grows through or gets caught in it when taking it off, it’s all over.
Firecrackers are not an option here. We’re a couple hundred feet from the nearest neighbor but it’s wide open, sound would travel, and the local authorities just wouldn’t understand.
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If you cant use a shotgun use a pellet gun. They are quiet and lethal for birds.
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Either firecrackers are legal, or they’re not. If they’re unlawful where you are, they are not an option. Buy or borrow a pellet gun as @speedster said. If you kill one and hang it in the tree the others should stay away.
Order an appropriate net or nets for next year.
If you don’t find any other option suitable, about the only solution would be to camp out in the tree and play loud music while flapping your arms around, or hire someone to do it for you. 
Are scare-crows aptly named?
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Alan,
Crows here are pretty apprehensive of people and they might work at that but I suspect you would have to move it around. To bad you could not give them a good shotgun blast wearing an old hat and then place that hat on your scarecrow. Rock salt carries a lot of persuasion with crows I imagine.
Last year was a big harvest year for the pears here, and most damage came from squirrels and woodpeckers in daytime and raccoon(s) at night. By the time I had squirrels barriers in place, which also affected coon activity, I thought that things would now be OK while waiting for the rest of the pears to ripen, but one day when arriving home I saw about 30 pears on the ground with beak holes poked in each of them. The next day while at home I heard cawing as several crows were just showing up to resume their pear poking. I scared them away, got out the ladder and a stack of tan colored plastic grocery bags saved for such a time as this, and enclosed almost every pear or pear cluster that I could safely reach. None of the many bagged pears were bothered byany critter over the next few weeks as they all finished ripening inside the bags. They are cheap, safe, and work. What’s not to like?
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Bubba, I got lucky and shot a crow that did not completely fall from the tree. It snagged about 8’ in the tree upside down. I had read that hanging a dead crow in a tree will keep them away. Its been 3 yrs., there are NO crows within a mile of our property, ever! Crows are extremely intelligent and get used to sound makers fast. I’ve never used a scarecrow but if they flop around in the wind they might work
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Oh boy.
Sure are a lot of “shoot the bastards” solutions and I’d love to be able to do that but I can’t.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no moral compunctions about it.
But my wife does and she could make things very, um, uncomfortable if I tried to blast any away myself.
However, it does sound like a possible business opportunity for someone, doesn’t it?
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Shoot first and answer questions later. Lol
I see your point about the wife situation. Maybe wait until she goes shopping and then take care of business. Dispose of the evidence before she gets back home. Lol. I’m just kidding, don’t want to get you in trouble with the wife.
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Perhaps you could try hanging a fake crow from your tree.
The idea of hanging a dead crow in a tree has been passed down for many generations. I’ve heard it from a lot of people and expect there is some truth in it.
On the old forum, there was a guy who swore hanging a fake owl on a fishing line from a tall tree (so that it would blow in the wind) would keep the song birds (the ones which eat fruit) away. He claimed it worked 10 times better than the fake owls which have the moving heads. I’ve yet to try this method, but I may try it next year.
Those fake crows look alive. Maybe they’d be more of an attractant.
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How about bagging some of your fruit, and sharing the rest with the crows? How about a motion sensitive sprinkler?