Location of larssen trap

[BenBhoy]

Hello

We're going to put couple larssen's out in next week. Livestock farm with a large wood. 

Are there any particular locations on a farm that work better than other's? Just where see them most often, under trees etc?

TIA 

[matone]

As near as possible to where you`re seeing activity is best but out of sight of people is another consideration that you have to take into account.

[wymberley]

1 hour ago, matone said:

As near as possible to where you`re seeing activity is best but out of sight of people is another consideration that you have to take into account.

Also, not in with the livestock and make sure that the decoys can be seen from above, ie, not obscured by tree foliage.

[Bigbob]

If no catching move it about , you will hit a pairs territory and should start catching when they pair up  sometimes it helps to raise it up a bit so the other birds cant sit above it ( i think being lower than a call bird threatens them ) ?.

[Teal]

I caught a lot of magpies and crows last year relative to the size of area I was trapping (over 110 combined on 80 acres). I suspect I cleared out a lot of the surrounding ground also. Most convenient bait (not saying the best) was a set of dummy eggs. No mess, and no need to replace them. This year I've just started catching, and will be interesting to see what total I get to, certainly there don't seem to be anywhere near the same numbers of magpies about.

As above if you're not catching after a couple of days move the trap, doesn't even have to be a big move. If you've not got a call bird, get one. It's a different ball game to try and catch the first in my experience.

[BenBhoy]

11 minutes ago, Teal said:

I caught a lot of magpies and crows last year relative to the size of area I was trapping (over 110 combined on 80 acres). I suspect I cleared out a lot of the surrounding ground also. Most convenient bait (not saying the best) was a set of dummy eggs. No mess, and no need to replace them. This year I've just started catching, and will be interesting to see what total I get to, certainly there don't seem to be anywhere near the same numbers of magpies about.

As above if you're not catching after a couple of days move the trap, doesn't even have to be a big move. If you've not got a call bird, get one. It's a different ball game to try and catch the first in my experience.

Over what time scale?

[Teal]

It was about two months, I just checked and last year I started early April and finished towards end of May. This year a friend had a call bird earlier so I've just made a start. I started with one trap last year and finished with 3 running, which did help. 

I have one of the circular Solway type (can't remember if I bought it from them or a similar one from competitor) - multi-catch larsen crow traps. It is quite expensive, and was good for magpies, but came into its own with carrions. They were the ones that surprised me most, I was seeing a lot of magpies before starting trapping, but I actually caught more carrions than magpies. I genuinely would have had no idea there were that number of carrion crows about.

I think to an extent it does depend who else is trapping in local area. Last year my friend in village (who got me the call bird) had a really poor year for trapping by his standards. So I guess even though a mile apart we were taking out birds from the same territories.

[Scully]

Very much agree with effectiveness regarding the call bird and moving traps about; maggies are very territorial and won’t hesitate to try to get to an intruder. 

[JDog]

Many years ago when I had young children to look after for the morning I used to plonk them in the car along with a Larsen trap and a captive and clipped Carrion crow. The idea was to look for Crow and Magpie nests under which I would place the trap and retreat to the car. The kids and I would try to guess how long it would take to catch a corvid. The record was less than five minutes. The process was then repeated.

[Cranfield]

Definitely place them away from public view, over the years I have had birds released and traps smashed.
It gets a bit tiresome after a while.

[Konnie]

Over the last 2 years I have had 2 traps in the farm yard, no more than 20m apart but out of sight of each other and they don't half chat to each other bringing others in.

Possibly worth a try if you are running 2 traps in a wooded area. 

[bumpy22]

once they stop catching move the trap. even if the opposite side of hedge or 50 yards further away you will be surprised how they star catching again

[Teal]

@BenBhoy how are you getting on? Finding with the crows the trap in the open is definitely catching better, again it's the round trap that's doing the business for them. Caught 42 crows so far, and all only 4 of them were in traditional top entry trap. To the point I'm not running a crow in one at the minute, but have both my traditional ones on magpies ((but I've just about cleared them all now).

[Clodhopper]

4 hours ago, Teal said:

@BenBhoy how are you getting on? Finding with the crows the trap in the open is definitely catching better, again it's the round trap that's doing the business for them. Caught 42 crows so far, and all only 4 of them were in traditional top entry trap. To the point I'm not running a crow in one at the minute, but have both my traditional ones on magpies ((but I've just about cleared them all now).

We are really struggling to get our first crow this year, the magpies are going nicely. We have tried all the usual methods of regular movement, siting under favourite trees/ nest building sites etc but they are not yet playing ball. All the traps are traditional wooden types with a mixture of side and top entry. On your evidence it sounds like a round one may be worth a go.

 

 

 

 

[BenBhoy]

13 hours ago, Teal said:

@BenBhoy how are you getting on? Finding with the crows the trap in the open is definitely catching better, again it's the round trap that's doing the business for them. Caught 42 crows so far, and all only 4 of them were in traditional top entry trap. To the point I'm not running a crow in one at the minute, but have both my traditional ones on magpies ((but I've just about cleared them all now).

Only have top entry ones here, 3 of them. So far caught 21 magpie, 11 crows. But I have spent about 12 hours (over couple weeks) shooting crows & currently on 78. 

I may invest in round trap for next spring; any recommendation?

[Novice]

I heartily recommend the larsen mate clam shell style traps if you're looking to mix things up a bit. 

In fact, I'd say in terms of catching, putting your call bird into a small to medium weldmesh dog crate with a couple of the larsen mates alongside will catch more than a traditional larsen. More room for the call bird to move about in too, so better from a welfare perspective. Only problem is it's a bit more to move about.

I'd say I probably have a catch rate of 2-1 larsen mates over the larsens themselves. Very useful bit if kit. A couple of eggs in a false nest helps to get them to commit too. 

[Teal]

On 17/04/2019 at 23:33, BenBhoy said:

Only have top entry ones here, 3 of them. So far caught 21 magpie, 11 crows. But I have spent about 12 hours (over couple weeks) shooting crows & currently on 78. 

I may invest in round trap for next spring; any recommendation?

Very good! They all seem to be made to a very similar spec. I bought the solway one, as it was pre-assembled and when including delivery it was the cheapest at the time. It's about a £100 though. I did appreciate the extra space for the crow call bird compared with some of the traps, I think important for their welfare.

Haven't yet used larsen mate, I know they are a lot cheaper. Sound good I may invest in one myself for next year - provided the whole licencing thing gets sorted out. What a mess.

[BenBhoy]

39 minutes ago, Teal said:

Very good! They all seem to be made to a very similar spec. I bought the solway one, as it was pre-assembled and when including delivery it was the cheapest at the time. It's about a £100 though. I did appreciate the extra space for the crow call bird compared with some of the traps, I think important for their welfare.

Haven't yet used larsen mate, I know they are a lot cheaper. Sound good I may invest in one myself for next year - provided the whole licencing thing gets sorted out. What a mess.

Absolute joke isn't it mate. I despair with the powers that be in this country.

[Westley]

Of course all 'live catch' birds will simply be moved elsewhere, prior to release.