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Crows advice needed


fenboy
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My worse nightmare has come true and one of my farmers has asked me to try and put a dent in the farms crow / rook problem .

Now being honest though I shoot the occasional one or two while pigeon shooting , I have always viewed them as a "waste of a cartridge"

 

So any advice on shooting crows from those of you who do this on a regular basis .

How many decoys do you use , I dont have any and they seem chuffing expensive !

 

I do have a flapper / rotory I could employ , so tips please !!!

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If its a nightmare and too expensive on shells and deeks, sub contract it out, I'm sure ther will be plenty of takers :good: Alternatively, give it a go, its a cracking sport. Get a can of matt black spray and paint over a few pigeon shell decoys, or cut some silouettes out of ply, corelex even stiff cardboard will do, stick them up with a bit of wire. Theres plenty of guides in the craft section. The hide needs to be really good, preferably with a overhead covering and blended in perfectly, face viel is a must and zero movement until you fire. As soon as you have 4-5 real birds, get rid of the deeks. A rotary works well on some occassions and not others. A flapper does too. Some say facing another bird seems to be best.

Get out there, you will be hooked :good:

Edited by turbo33
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I love the challenge of shooting crows!

 

I use half dozen decoys scattered quite randomly facing different directions,but not too close to each other because if you watch real ones they like their own space. Whatever you use as a hide make sure its really good and you stay absolutely still until the last minute because their eyesight is second to none. Something else to try is to take rubbish with you (egg shells,crisp packets etc) and place this with your decoys as this will draw them in.

 

And finally-get yourself a crow caller.The Primos power crow caller is superb once you master which notes to use.

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Crows, Crows everywhere. I see what your farmer was on about now.

I was out and about over the week-end (in the Fens) and the numbers are growing day on day.

I stopped the car close to a field with over 200 in it.....busy road & I could believe they would not lift when I got out ten yards from them.

Not my thing Fenboy but others see them as black gold and would love to bag big numbers.....just a thought!

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Great sport and whack em hard, especially the carrions before they start eating all the songbird and ground nesting bird eggs. A simple floater brings them in and the more dead you get out as decoys the better, a simple piece of fencing wire with a sharpened end pushed up through the base of the skull works fine. You will need a good hide, them crows have keen eyes and try and get out early.

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Dont forget that a flock of crows are called Rooks-crows are usually solitary birds and only flock together in small family groups before/after breeding or in bad weather-Rooks can actually be usefull so discuss the matter with the farmer.

 

If you read my original post its the farmer who has asked me to shoot them , but you are correct they are rooks not crows , if they are black I tend to call them all crows !.

 

I have also shot on a farm previously where I was asked not to shoot the rooks , and I did put it to my farmer that some say they do more good than harm , but he still wants them shot .

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