shawn9914 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 When is the time to shoot young rooks (branchers) is it mid may Also what time scale do you get where they are in the branches before taking flight is it a few hrs or a few days as dont want to miss this period Will I need to go and check the rookery daily Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Long time since we did that but usually my retired farmer friend would keep a daily eye and then give us all a call when there appeared to be a fair number out of nest on branches being fed. I think this was around mid May. I know the young rooks in the rookery across the road from my study window are still in the nests and being fed. Making a hell of a noise during the day. We would circle the rookery and walk in shooting with shotguns but I would say that slip in before light to a ready made blind with an air rifle would work very well. My retired friends wife would breast out all the young rooks and we would have 'crow pie'. To be honest it was very bland meat and needed a fair bit of added 'flavour' but we always politely said thanks, drank a few beers and looked forward to next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuddster Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) used to be the end of the first week in may around Northumberland when I started shooting-this year I will be targetting lone crow nests to hit the carrions hard. I'd urge all shooters to destroy carrion nests when given the chance. f. Edited April 9, 2018 by Fuddster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) 46 minutes ago, Fuddster said: used to be the end of the first week in may around Northumberland when I started shooting-this year I will be targetting lone crow nests to hit the carrions hard. I'd urge all shooters to destroy carrion nests when given the chance. f. Plus one on that. My view is leave the young rooks if your not going to eat them. Yes, rooks can do a lot of damage particularly to ripening laid corn but also some farmers are happy for them to forage grass land and stubbles for harmful grubs. I'm not soft on rooks when they are doing harm. Had many plus 100 days, including one 1 hundred HOUR session, witnessed, 106 cartridges fired and a 16 gauge at that. Carrions destroy at every chance. Edited April 9, 2018 by Walker570 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Totally agree with leaving them alone as there is evidence to suggest that they are actually useful sometimes - used to shoot hundreds every year but don't seem to have the heart for it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn9914 Posted April 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 the farmer has specifically asked me to reduce the numbers due to getting out of hand so if I don't do it he will ring someone who will then that's another person on my permission and I am the only one on there at this time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telf Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 do as the farmer asks or risk loosing the perm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 1 hour ago, shawn9914 said: the farmer has specifically asked me to reduce the numbers due to getting out of hand so if I don't do it he will ring someone who will then that's another person on my permission and I am the only one on there at this time Spot on.As I said above, if they are getting out of hand you need to do the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 You don’t need to sneak about to bag a good number of branchers; they’re not going anywhere as they can’t fly anywhere, or maybe just as far as the next branch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOXHUNTER1 Posted April 12, 2018 Report Share Posted April 12, 2018 I always used to shoot on 12th May give or take a week depending on the weather . Some years they are early in good weather and late if its been cold and wet ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longstrider Posted April 15, 2018 Report Share Posted April 15, 2018 Dependant on the conditions it's usually around the first week of May that we find it worthwhile to get on the branchers. One with an air rifle for the branchers themselves and one with a shotgun for the parents as they wheel around shouting at us. My farmers are always glad to see a heap of 'black birds' on the ground at the end of a day. Out of interest, one of my farmers sat and watched the rooks on his Spring wheat last year. Each bird would work it's way along a row of drill picking out the spearing plants and then eating the seed. They would each eat about 25 yards-worth of a row before moving off. Multiply that sort of damage by the number of rooks you can see on an undisturbed field and you can see that it doesn't take long to have to have lost a few acres worth of drilling. No wonder he's glad to see them on the ground in a heap ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proudly Posted April 17, 2018 Report Share Posted April 17, 2018 I have a wood on my permission that we shoot every year. Its the only time we can put a dent in the crows as they’ve become notoriously difficult to decoy. I’ll be up every few days towards the month checking for when they leave the nests. Really need to find a way to attack the adult birds though as there are thousands in this area. We had one day decoying when we shot 86, our shooting was appalling that day but they just kept coming in. Never had a day like it since... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 years ago we shot out 85 nests.farmer gave us the carts as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmytree Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 On 17/04/2018 at 03:07, Proudly said: I have a wood on my permission that we shoot every year. Its the only time we can put a dent in the crows as they’ve become notoriously difficult to decoy. I’ll be up every few days towards the month checking for when they leave the nests. Really need to find a way to attack the adult birds though as there are thousands in this area. We had one day decoying when we shot 86, our shooting was appalling that day but they just kept coming in. Never had a day like it since... Surely thats rooks not crows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proudly Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 Rooks yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmytree Posted May 2, 2018 Report Share Posted May 2, 2018 On 09/04/2018 at 23:57, bruno22rf said: Totally agree with leaving them alone as there is evidence to suggest that they are actually useful sometimes - used to shoot hundreds every year but don't seem to have the heart for it now. Like you Bruno I've shot branchers in the past but rarely do now. Most of my farmers like the good that rooks can do. They can get out of hand though so I have no problem with a cull when needed.Now I'm older (and maybe getting soft) I dislike the idea of shooting birds that can't fly and are still being fed by the parents. It's akin to shooting pheasant poults while they're still in a pen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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