Mention of bird hunting might conjure up images of hunters and their dogs huddling in freezing duck blinds or pounding the brush in hopes of kicking up pheasants. But crow hunting is a thing in Wyoming too.

“It’s about the sport of it,” Dan Kinneman of Riverton told Cowboy State Daily.

He started crow hunting when he was 14 and is about to turn 85. He’s never tried cooking and eating crows or known anybody who has.

Instead, shooting crows is essentially nuisance bird control, as they’re known to wreak havoc on agricultural crops.

“All the ranchers will let you hunt crows. I’ve never been refused access to hunt crows. They all hate them,” he said.

In Wyoming, crow hunting season runs from Nov. 1 to Feb. 28. No license is required, and there’s no bag limit. Hunters can shoot all the crows they want to.

It’s a ball for hunting dogs too, Kinneman said.

“My yellow Labrador retriever, he doesn’t care whether it’s a crow or duck. In fact, he likes crow hunting more than duck hunting, because there’s more action,” he said.

Don’t Expect It To Be Easy

Kinneman said that in the days of his youth, crow hunting was as simple as driving around and “shooting them out of trees with rifles.”

However, as the number of people and buildings potentially in the paths of bullets grew, such practices fell out of favor. Crow hunting became more regulated.

And it evolved to resemble hunting other birds, such as waterfowl.

Meaning, hunters started setting out decoys, hiding in blinds and using calls to tempt crows to within shotgun range.

Kinneman is no stranger to hunting of all types. He’s taken numerous species of big game in Wyoming and elsewhere. And in July 2005, he shot a prairie dog near Rock Springs from well over a mile away.

He hit the prairie dog from 2,157 yards away. A mile is 1,760 yards. 

But bird hunting has always been his favorite.

“It’s my life,” he said.

He has a huge collection of duck, goose and dove decoys. And two tubs full of crow decoys.

The uninitiated might think that going out and blasting crows would be a slam dunk.

That isn’t so, Kinneman said. He likes crow hunting for the challenge of it.

“Hunting crows is hard. They are a lot smarter than ducks and geese,” he said.

Pick Up After Yourself

Even though he doesn’t eat crows, Kinneman said he never just left them littering the ground where he shot them.

“I never let them lay out there. I always picked them up and disposed of the carcasses,” he said.

That’s good ethics and it shows respect for the ranchers, he said.

“Leaving them (dead crows) out there would be no different than just leaving all of your empty shotgun shells out there,” he said.

“You have to pick up after yourself, or the ranchers won’t let you back onto their land,” he added.

Slow Year

At his age, Kinneman isn’t sure how much longer he’ll be able to get out crow hunting. And this year has been a total bust.

“I love doing it. But this year there are no crows,” he said.

The Riverton area is along major crow migration routes.  

Picking a good hunting spot is a matter of “finding a flyway” that the crows are on and then setting up a spread of decoys and a blind along the route.

But with an unusually warm winter, the crow flyways have been practically empty, he said.

Migrations Are Off Everywhere

Avid birdwatcher Lucas Fralick of Laramie said that warm, dry conditions much of this winter have knocked bird migrations out of whack.

“I do know that because of the weather, migrations are off all over the place,” he said.

One of his favorite species is the dark-eyed junco, a “small, sparrow-like bird,” he said.

They usually winter in the Laramie area and leave right around March. This year, they were gone by November, he said.

“They’re a cold-weather bird,” he said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.

A convicted California child molester who was set to walk free this week was instead turned over to law enforcement after a new arrest warrant was issued in Placer County, state officials confirmed.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said that at approximately 7:30 a.m., David Allen Funston, 64, was transferred to law enforcement authorities after Placer County filed new criminal charges and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Funston had been granted parole Tuesday and was scheduled for release later this week.

CDCR said Funston was sentenced in 1999 to life with the possibility of parole in connection with sexual abuse of children, including kidnapping and lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age.

Funston is accused of kidnapping and molesting a child in Roseville in 1996, according to Placer County prosecutors.

Funston was convicted in 1999 of kidnapping and child molestation involving multiple victims. He was originally sentenced to three life terms in prison. However, under California’s Elderly Parole Program, he was granted parole suitability and scheduled for release from CDCR custody.

The Placer County District Attorney’s Office said it refiled charges against Funston stemming from the 1996 case within the state’s statute of limitations.

He was found suitable for parole at a hearing before the Board of Parole Hearings on Sept. 24, 2025.

On Jan. 9, 2026, Gov. Gavin Newsom referred the case back to the Board of Parole Hearings for an en banc review, in which a majority of appointed commissioners reconsider the prior parole decision. On Feb. 18, 2026, the board reaffirmed its recommendation that Funston receive parole.

Funston qualified for consideration under California’s statutory Elderly Parole Program, which allows individuals to be considered for release once they reach age 50 and have served at least 20 consecutive years of incarceration.

California GOP Chair Corrin Rankin said the last-minute arrest does not resolve what she described as broader failures in state policy.

ICE ARRESTS ALLEGED CHILD SEX OFFENDER RELEASED UNDER CONNECTICUT SANCTUARY LAWS

“This last-minute warrant doesn’t fix the problem — it exposes it. California Democrats, led by Gavin Newsom, built a parole system that was ready and willing to release a violent child predator back into our community. Newsom signed the laws that created these loopholes, appointed the people who uphold them, and the Democratic majority in the legislature continues to prioritize the well-being of criminals over victims,” Rankin said.

The former prosecutor who helped put Funston behind bars also weighed in after news of the arrest.

“God bless Placer County DA for charging David Funston for crimes committed by this serial child predator,” the former prosecutor said. “Let’s remember that @CAgovernor signed the law allowing this to happen. But Placer DA stepped in to stop this insanity.”

For victims, the controversy remains deeply personal.

One of Funston’s victims, identified as Amelia, voiced outrage this week after learning the parole board had approved his release.

“I’m disgusted with the fact that they would even believe anything that he would happen to say,” Amelia told “The Ingraham Angle.” “I don’t believe that people like that change.”

Amelia said Funston’s abuse has had lasting consequences on her life, including ongoing trauma and difficulty conceiving.

KENTUCKY CHILD KILLER WALKS FREE ON ‘GOOD BEHAVIOR’, GETS ARRESTED AGAIN WITHIN DAYS

“I would love to have a child, and this is what this man took from me. And I feel like, personally, that’s very hurtful,” she said. “I have trauma. I don’t trust anybody. I don’t trust anything.”

She also expressed concern for younger family members if Funston were to return to the Sacramento area.

“If he gets out, who knows if he’ll do it again?” Amelia said. “I was told that he fantasizes still about children… why would you let this man out? When he gets out, how do you not know if he will continue?”

Funston reportedly told the parole board he was “disgusted and ashamed” of his past behavior and “truly sorry” for the harm he caused. Amelia rejected that apology.

Funston’s impending release had drawn sharp criticism from Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper and District Attorney Thien Ho, who warned he remained a danger to the community and sought intervention to stop his release.

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It remains unclear when Funston will make his first court appearance in Placer County.

Fox News’ Taylor Penley contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.

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