One of the things that I really enjoy about living out in the country - when the varmints invade I get to fight back!
Crows are fast learners - if they see one of their compadres get a taste of hot lead they will keep their distance for a good long time.
Yup, except it’s illegal to shoot one right now - season is August 20 through March 18 on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. They weren’t coming around in the winter or spring/March, when it was still legal then - nothing they consider tasty was growing in the garden that early!
My dad tells me a story from when he was a boy - always says “crows can count to ‘one’”. If dad walked to the spring house by himself, the crows would not come - they knew he was in the spring house. If he and his brother would go to the spring house & then his brother would walk back to the house, the crows would come back to whatever they were eating & my dad would blast them. He was a ‘barefoot boy with cheeks of tan’ back in the Depression Years when shooting crows was something many farm boys would do.
What are the chances of you putting a couple of the traps over the pond, without any poison, and feed the fish ?