Teal Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 Absolute magic, I ran a larsen for 5 days when I was over in Ireland last week and managed to catch a total of 24 magpies. A bit of a recce and it's easy to see the big family groups at this time of year. Larsens aren't only good in the spring/summer and each magpie taken out now is one less to deal with then. Using a half rabbit (half for the call bird) and a quarter in each compartment. I started with one call bird- one of this years young stock - worth over wintering as it has settled, and caught 2 swiftly, set up a 2nd larsen, I was catching 4 a day about, and took 7 magpies out of a 50 yard radius. I set up a 3rd larsen but the magpies were now thinning out a bit and placement could perhaps have been better, but managed to get between 3-6 for remaining days, bringing up the total of 24. If i'd had more time I am sure I could have mopped up a few more to bring up 30 and get close to 40. So if you've got one, give it a whirl. Cheers, Will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reg Booty Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 Hello Teal Being quite new to Airgunning this may seem a bit of a stoooooopid question but here goes...... Doesn't the larsen trap take out the fun of hunting either crows or magpies...... Awaiting a barrage of replies B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teal Posted September 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 Hi Reg- you are right it does take the "fun" out of it. The land where I was running the traps, I did not have the time, or will to stalk or lie in wait for magpies. They are also notoriously difficult to make any significant dent in their numbers by shooting, due to them being territorial. They are very efficient and of course are working allowing you to do something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted September 28, 2005 Report Share Posted September 28, 2005 Teal is dead right, whilst the Larsen is catching Maggies, you can be doing something else, like Pigeon Shooting. For anybody that wants to make a Larsen trap, look at this link, should be a doddle for all you guys ready willing and able to make your own rotary's. http://www.thefieldsportsdebate.co.uk/Foru...id=1893#pid1893 Double H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjimmer Posted October 9, 2005 Report Share Posted October 9, 2005 Larsen trapping is as much fun as anything. The first spring I did it, I got 300 magpies and 90 crows in 2 months. March is a little early, the weather is too cruel on the callbirds. April and May will do all the protecting that other nesting birds need. In an experiment, carried out by sporting people, there was an 80% increase in songbirds after the first year of controlling corvids with Larsens. After other predators, such as hawks, had increased because of the extra food supply, that increase levelled out to a sustained 30%. I challenged Countryfile to monitor the affectiveness of Larsens in increasing the number of songbirds in a control area, but they never answered!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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