CORVID DECOYING

[rosspti 2]

Just thought I'd post up this pic of my bag from today.

 

Finished up with 3 pigeons, 6 rooks, 34 jackdaws, & 1 cock pheasant (not pictured).

44 birds for 79 cartridges.

 

I use Eley VIP 32 gram 6s in fibre wad.

 

There's not really a special place on this site dedicated to corvid decoying, so if you wanna post up your stories here please feel free. Id like to know the record corvid bag - mine is 54 between 2 of us (all rooks).

[foxdropper 17,092]

Good bag there mate .For serious decoying of corvids you need 1] a bait within gun range 2] a flapper and call to get birds within range .

A combination of the two is my favourite .Sorry no pics but we have killed 104 assorted corvids near a maize silage clamp using the maize as the draw and two rooks on a pigeon magnet .

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Tell ye what; I'm in posession of a photograph which I've actually been expressly forbidden to publish - this due to the man who gave it to me not being the owner of it - but it impressed me none the less.

 

It features a 12 bore and one of those Eagle Owl decoys? And you should see the f*cking pile of black corvids below!

 

I mean, I always considered those particular dekes a bit of a joke? Soon changed my tune after seeing that photo!

[Guest little_lloyd]

I was chatting to an old keeper at a wedding weeks back now and we where drinking our way into the night talking about shooting mostly and he told me if your decoying crows on a windy day wrap a bit of a black bag on the fence and the crows come down and mob it, I have not had a go at it yet but i will when the right day come my way.

 

Mind you he was probbaly f****d out of his face

 

I set a few deycoys on the edge of the wood with a dead pidgeon or what ever i can shoot first, Blast a few tunes on the caller and they come in from all direction and fall in all directions

[rosspti 2]

Thanks for the posts so far.

 

I use crow decoys to get started - then obviously nothing beats dead birds. I also use wire cradles to stand the dead ones off the ground and make them much more visible - and also use an "acme" crow call.

 

Below is a highly artistic impression of a good day that a friend and I had. It was about June time. There were 2 fields of growing barley which had quite large flat patches that the wind and rooks had laid and the rooks were mobbing this field to get at the grain. We and our decoys would have been lost in there and also running all over the corn would have damaged the crop - so we set up on a simple field of cut silage that was between the 2 corn fields. The rooks were also landing on this to get at grubs, etc - and more importantly were flighting along it between the 2 corn fields.

 

We set up with the wind behind us as shown in my piccy. To begin with we were only fooling the young rooks with our decoys and calls - but not getting the big, old & wise birds in. That gave me the idea of using young dead birds as decoys and having a plastic kestrel (with outstretched wings) fly over the rooks (suspended from a bamboo cane with twine). It worked, and the older birds went into defensive overdrive - and we bagged 54 in total.

[harrycatcat 31]

That gave me the idea of using young dead birds as decoys and having a plastic kestrel (with outstretched wings) fly over the rooks (suspended from a bamboo cane with twine). It worked, and the older birds went into defensive overdrive - and we bagged 54 in total.

 

 

 

Very crafty, I like it !!!!

[old man 0]

The best day i have had shooting rooks was on a dry but blustery winters afternoon after i had spent the morning out after a few rabbits with the ferrets. I was ferreting a ground set next to a big wood when a rook flew over my head, seeing the rabbits were few and far between i had a shot at the rook it folded and landed in the center of the ground set, not long after that i packed up, put the rabbits and the rook in the boot and headed home, when i was nearly home i saw a field that was black with rooks a quick phone call to the farmer and before i new it i was walking across the field with one dead rook a bag of cartridges and my gun, i sat in the corner of the field under a big oak tree put the rook out as a decoy and waited for the rooks to return. In a two hour period i shot 57, not bad for the minimum kit.

[rosspti 2]

Was supposed to be having a go ferretting a hedge yesterday that is JAM PACKED with rabbits, but my buddy was too busy lambing so he pointed me to a hot tip for some decoying.

 

A field of "emerald rape" which has now been completely grazed off by sheep that have now been moved on to pastures new. It was basically mud with little rape stubbles 2 or 3 inches high. He said he had seen a lot of rooks around the field lately so I trudged off to have a look. When I arrived, a black swarm of corvids launched off the field - which I thought was promising.

 

I set up and then from about 11:00 to 15:00 I shot 17 rooks, 15 jackdaws & 1 feral pigeon. 33 birds for 55 cartridges. 32 gram Eley VIPS (UK size 6). Thoroughly enjoyed myself and was chuffed with how well they were responding to my decoys & my crow calling... and my shooting. Sometimes everything comes together - it was fab seeing as nothing had been further from my mind when I woke up that morning.

 

At 3pm my friend turned up. It's his farm, and as he had been busy with the flock he had missed out on a good little session. Once he had set up his hide, I sat in mine and did the calling and spotting for him and pretty much left the shooting to him. He had 8 in an hour.

 

We were both delighted with the day, as was his Dad who had some free pest control.

[Ste* 0]

Good bag of birds there mate welldone.