Yes, you can shoot crows in Texas, but only within a narrow legal framework. The main path is a federal depredation order that lets private citizens kill American crows without a federal permit when the birds are causing serious damage to crops, livestock, or property, creating a health hazard, or threatening a protected species. Texas state law mirrors that exception for nongame birds. Outside those conditions, killing a crow is a federal offense.
When Shooting a Crow Is Legal
The federal depredation order at 50 CFR Section 21.150 is the primary authority. It lets you take American crows, fish crows, and northwestern crows without a federal permit in three situations:
- The crows are causing serious injury to agricultural or horticultural crops or to livestock feed.
- They are creating a health hazard or damaging structures or other property.
- They threaten a species the federal government, a state, or a tribe recognizes as endangered, threatened, or a candidate species.
The word that does the work in that regulation is “serious.” A few crows picking at a backyard garden likely doesn’t qualify. A flock stripping a grain field, or roosting in numbers that foul buildings with droppings, almost certainly does.1eCFR. 50 CFR Part 21 Subpart D – Provisions for Depredating, Overabundant, or Otherwise Injurious Birds
Texas law lines up with the federal rule. Parks and Wildlife Code Section 64.002 generally protects nongame birds, but states that no permit is required to control crows when they are damaging trees, crops, livestock, or wildlife, or when their numbers create a health hazard or other nuisance.2State of Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife Code Section 64.002 – Protection of Nongame Birds The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department reads the statute the same way.3Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Protected Wildlife Species in Texas
Texas has not established a formal crow hunting season. Federal regulations allow states to set one of up to 124 days, but without that framework in place here, almost all legal crow shooting in Texas happens under the depredation authority above.4eCFR. 50 CFR 20.133 – Hunting Regulations for Crows
Try Nonlethal Methods First
This is where people most often fall out of compliance. The depredation order requires you to attempt nonlethal control each calendar year before you resort to shooting. The regulation gives examples: netting, flagging, trained raptors, propane cannons, distress call recordings. You don’t have to prove the nonlethal methods worked. You do have to show you tried. Grabbing a shotgun on the first day crows appear in your field puts you on the wrong side of the rule.1eCFR. 50 CFR Part 21 Subpart D – Provisions for Depredating, Overabundant, or Otherwise Injurious Birds
What You Can Shoot With
Firearms are allowed under the depredation order, but you have to use nontoxic shot or nontoxic bullets. Approved nontoxic materials include steel, bismuth-tin, and tungsten-matrix, among others, all required to contain less than 1 percent residual lead. Air rifles and air pistols are exempt from the nontoxic ammunition requirement.1eCFR. 50 CFR Part 21 Subpart D – Provisions for Depredating, Overabundant, or Otherwise Injurious Birds
Do You Need a Hunting License?
Texas Parks and Wildlife Code Section 42.002 requires residents to hold a valid hunting license before hunting any bird or animal in the state.5State of Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife Code Section 42.002 – Resident License Required; Exemptions A resident hunting license costs $25; a non-resident general hunting license is $315.6Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Hunting Licenses
Controlling crows under the Section 64.002(c) depredation exception is treated as something distinct from hunting. The statute says plainly that no permit is required to control crows committing depredations or constituting a nuisance.2State of Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife Code Section 64.002 – Protection of Nongame Birds So a farmer shooting crows that are actively destroying a crop is covered by the state exemption. Anyone going out specifically to shoot crows for sport should carry a hunting license.
Because crows are nongame birds, you do not need a Migratory Game Bird Endorsement or Harvest Information Program certification; those apply only to migratory game birds like doves and waterfowl.7Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. License, Permit and Endorsement Requirements – Migratory Game Bird Anyone born on or after September 1, 1971, must complete a hunter education course before hunting with firearms or archery equipment in Texas.8Cornell Law School. 31 Texas Admin Code 51.80 – Mandatory Hunter Education
The Annual Report You Probably Didn’t Know About
Anyone who takes crows under the federal depredation order has to file an annual report with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on FWS Form 3-2436. The report is due by January 31 of the following year and must include the number of birds taken and any nontarget migratory birds accidentally captured. You also have to allow federal, state, tribal, or territorial wildlife law enforcement officers unrestricted access to your property during control operations at reasonable times, and answer their questions about what you’re doing.1eCFR. 50 CFR Part 21 Subpart D – Provisions for Depredating, Overabundant, or Otherwise Injurious Birds
Skipping the report isn’t just a paperwork problem. It means you didn’t fully comply with the depredation order you were relying on to make the shooting legal in the first place.
What to Do With the Carcasses
You can possess, transport, and dispose of crows killed under the depredation order, and you can transfer them to authorized research or educational institutions. Selling any part of a crow taken this way is prohibited. If you aren’t transferring the birds to an institution, you must burn or bury them, and burial has to be at least one mile from the nesting area of any species recognized as endangered or threatened by the federal government, a state, or a tribe.1eCFR. 50 CFR Part 21 Subpart D – Provisions for Depredating, Overabundant, or Otherwise Injurious Birds
City and Town Firearms Rules Still Apply
Even when wildlife law clearly lets you shoot, local firearms rules can make pulling the trigger a crime. Texas Penal Code Section 42.12 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to recklessly discharge a firearm inside the city limits of any municipality with a population of 100,000 or more, and preserves the authority of smaller cities to pass their own discharge ordinances.9State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 42.12 – Discharge of Firearm in Certain Municipalities Many Texas towns well below that population threshold still ban discharging firearms within city limits. Check your local ordinance before shooting anywhere near a populated area.
Don’t Shoot a Raven by Mistake
American crows are common across Texas, but common ravens and Chihuahuan ravens also live here, particularly in the western half of the state. Ravens are not covered by the depredation order. Shooting one on the belief that it was a crow can still land you a federal violation.
American crows are noticeably smaller than common ravens and have fan-shaped tails rather than the wedge-shaped tail a raven shows in flight. Chihuahuan ravens are harder to call because they’re closer in size to crows, but their heavier bill and nasal bristles help separate them. In areas where the species overlap, confirm what you’re looking at before you shoot.
Penalties for Getting It Wrong
Killing a crow outside the legal framework carries real consequences. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it illegal to kill, capture, sell, or possess any migratory bird, including American crows, without authorization.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 703 – Taking, Killing, or Possessing Migratory Birds Unlawful A standard violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $15,000, up to six months in jail, or both. Knowingly taking a migratory bird with intent to sell it is a felony carrying up to $2,000 in fines and two years in prison. Guns, traps, vehicles, and other equipment used in the violation can be seized and forfeited to the federal government.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 707 – Violations and Penalties; Forfeitures
State penalties stack on top. Violating the nongame bird protections in Chapter 64 of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code can bring additional fines and license revocation. A single illegal shoot can trigger both federal and state charges.