Rook Shooting

[Fisherman Mike]

Well its rook shooting time again and heres a little bit of advice for any budding rook shooters.

 

I have had access to 3 rookeries over the last 20 or so years and taken hundreds of fledgling rooks.

 

Here are my tips for a successful shoot.

 

1. Do a reccy of the rookery with a pair of binoculars before your intended shooting day. This will help you establish the age of the young birds. Dont be tempted to shoot any young which are still on the nest however well developed they might seem. They will simply fall into the nest and be lost.

 

2. The birds you want are those which have left the nest and climbed to the outer thin branches and are exercising their wing muscles and building up strength for the Fledging. On average I have observed that they will do this for about a week to 7 days before leaving the nest proper. These birds at this stage are called Flappers or in some areas of the Country Branchers. Dont be tempted to take shots at birds which are directly over the nest as they will simply fall back into it when shot.

 

3. I always use a Air rifle with a telescopic sight to shoot my rooks, you can use a shotgun but the object for me is to cull and take the meat for the table. I dont want to spend too much time picking No.7 shot from the birds breasts. If you want to kill one or two adults while shooting then a shotgun is ideal as the parents will often circle overhead cawing insecently and are easy targets. If you make an early start ( Before light) and conceal yourself at the base of the rookery you can take several flappers with a silenced airrifle without all the fuss and noise. Try and target the birds at the ends of the branches as these will generally fall clear of the denser foliage and not get caught up. There is nothing worse than shooting a young rook and then seeing it stuck up in the tree for the next few weeks.

 

4. As tempting as it is dont be tempted to clean out your rookery, spare some birds for the seasons ahead. I generally take no more than 30 % of the birds from any rookery this way there will be rooks a plenty for the seasons ahead. Finally never be tempted to unload your 12 g blind into the underside of any Rook or Crow nest even if it apears abandoned. They are often used by other species of birds, Hawks, falcons, Owls etc all of which are protected.

 

Happy Hunting,

 

FM.

[tody27]

Very good info FM :yp:

 

I have been rook shooting for the past 10 years with my dad. We go to the same rookery each year, at around this time (went yesterday). We usually shoot 10-20; which is enough to make some rook pate, provide good sport and sustain the population for the coming year.

 

tody

[mack]

I have been asked to thin the numbers down on a rookery on my shoot. I am not experienced in this so would welcome some advice. I understand that taking branchers is the idea. Does it matter whether you go early morning or evening?

Is there any difference in effectiveness when using shotgun or air rifle? What are the best techniques for using either one? If there are no branchers at the moment is it because they are still in the nest or or they on the wing (there are some small birds flying around).

 

And finally...what does Rook Pie really taste like???

[Fisherman Mike]

Mack,

 

If the branchers or flappers are about then you could cull any time during the day.

 

Only trouble is be prepared for a unholy racket from the adult birds when you start the cull.

 

I generally use an air rifle because it is quieter, but saying that the adult birds will see you coming during daylight hours and kick up a fuss anyway.

When I do use a shot gun I prefer to use a 20g with 25g of No. 7.

 

You will find that young branchers or flappers which are not ready to leave the nest will climb out of it onto the branches for exercise during the day, flap about and expect to be fed by the parents during this time and then climb back into the nest at night. This is why you often find young rooks not quite ready to fledge which have fallen from the platform.

 

The branchers which are almost ready to fly will spend more time out of the nest on the very edge of the branches and look fully formed but slightly smaller than the adult and without the bold face patches. Once they leave the nest proper they dont normally hang around the rookery but take to the fields.

 

You should be able to tell at any time during the day if Young are in the nest by observing the parent birds returning to the nest and listening to the response from the chicks. On average one parent should return every 10 to 15 minutes or so when the chicks are being fed. Their vocal range changes the older they get and with a few weeks experience of listening to the deepening pitch of the young rooks call you will be able to gauge a rough age.

 

Rook pie on its own without the breasts being marinated can be bitter and pretty bland. Not to everybodies taste, but I Like it.

 

 

FM

[mack]

Cheers for that. I can certainly tell that they are feeding their young at the moment, by the behaviour you described.

 

I have noticed over the last few days that there is a flight line out of the rookery, over two fields, between two large trees and onto the fields beyond. The local farmers are turning there cows out onto pasture at the moment and the rooks seem to immediately target the pasture that cows have just left. Must be the flies and grubs etc attracted by the pats. I though I have was to hide up between the two trees and throw a couple of crow deeks down and get them on their way out and back in from the pastures.

Is this a method that will work with rooks/crows? Do they behave similar to pigeons or would I have to watch out for other behaviour? What deeks and pattern are effective to pull em in?

 

Also, I know little about the species, do you have any good info on them, eg breeding season, habits, preferred diet, do both parents feed the young, etc etc

 

Thanks again for any advice,

Ill let you know how I get on.

Mack

[Fisherman Mike]

Mack,

 

Visit www.birdguides.com and click on The online bird guides menu. Or www.garden-birds.co.uk

 

Both are great sites for most species of British bird Info.

 

It is actually not easy to decoy rooks to a particular pasture but you should have some success by setting up some rook decoys in the fields they are using though I suspect that like pigeon they will eventually move on when they are unsettled by the gun.

 

That said if they are a feeding line they are incredibly vigilent parents and can appear almost suicidal when the chicks are at risk.

 

I have 6 rook deeks which are only standard crow deeks with the bold face patch painted on. They do settle in amongst them to feed. I have shot from a good hide with a silenced airrifle and took 18 in one afternoon. If I had used a 12g it could have been 200 but I am sure the birds would have moved on before reaching anything like this number.

 

Rooks feeding in pasture at this time of year are infact doing nothing but good for the farmer as they will be eating leather jackets ( The Crane fly lava which eats grass roots) wireworms, earthworms and other agricultural pests. It is only when rooks pull up sprouting seed or grain that they do any real damage. They very rarely, if at all eat carrion like Crows will and are not normally a taker of fledglings or eggs.

 

Good luck.

 

FM.