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The magpie inhabits structurally rich cultural landscapes with meadows, hedgerows, bushes and scattered groups of trees. Originally a bird of semi-open agricultural land, it has increasingly adapted to settlement edges, parks and gardens. More than half of the European breeding population now lives in urban or suburban habitats. Territories of four to six hectares are defended year-round, and pairs usually stay together for life.

Among native birds, the magpie is considered exceptionally intelligent. It passes the mirror self-recognition test and shows self-directed behaviour otherwise documented only in a few vertebrates. Relative to body size, its nidopallium caudolaterale is comparable in extent to the prefrontal cortex of great apes. These cognitive abilities are visible in everyday behaviour: pronounced social interaction, food caching and rapid learning from encounters with humans, all of which make magpies demanding quarry.

For practical hunting, the Deutsche Jagdverband (DJV) recommends Lockjagd (decoy hunting) as the principal method, often combined with a Krähenhütte hide as a covered shooting position. In some federal states, trap hunting using the Norwegian or Nordic crow trap is additionally permitted. Magpie hunting is embedded in Niederwild-Hege, small-game management: it aims to reduce predation pressure on ground-nesting birds and leverets and to support vulnerable species of the open countryside. Binding hunting seasons and permissible methods depend on the respective state hunting law.