Decoying woodies and crows.

[dicko]

Has anbody got any thoughts on getting crows to settle on a decoy pattern. Sam Vimes and myself were out yesterday on some fresh drill with a few crow deeks but couldn't get much to settle. Jackdaws were coming in but were reluctant to land. We also thought the crows were putting them off by calling to them. Does anyone know of any good patterns or tactics for corvids over deeks? Would a dead rabbit or a crow call help? We eventually resorted to the shotgun and ended up with 20 pigoens and 4 crows.

[Kev. (Cambs.)]

They don't settle long enough for rifles, always use the shooty myself.

If you have access to their roost, you can try for a dawn raid using rifles (observing all safety of course - i.e. make sure you've got a safe back drop / fallout zone)

Have a look at the following, yank based, but they got some good ideas.

http://www.crowbusters.com/

[John Henry 1]

Try an opened rabbit and a Maggie decoy near as a confidence bird.
Cheers

[gnipper]

Got 7 pigeons before just sneaking through the woods which is how i normally bag a few. In february when all the shotgun boys are out i find a quiet spot and wait for them to come to me
I usually find that decoys only attract the birds and bring them nearer which is good with a shotgun but not if you need them to land.
Cheers gnipper

[Girl Wiv A Gun]

I tackled the crows a few moths ago and also found it very difficult. I put out some food scraps as bait and a couple of deeks but once you have shot and killed one bird, it seems to put anything else off for ages, as they all circle round the dead bird for ages cawing loudly. They seem to warn other birds from landing.

I too reckon the only way to get a good bag of crows is with a shotty. They are far too clever.

[nbrooks]

I've used a dead rabbit presented belly up, and a crow decoy.

It worked!

Neil

[swamprat]

Can't get the corvids on my shoot to come down for either decoys or bait. In the end did some extensive recon and discovered a 'sitty' tree. I set up a hide within range and got seven, which was my first ever success with them.

Recon is vital. You have to watch their behaviour and tailor your shooting to match.

Also seek out flight lines. I've not tried it yet, but reading up on the subject (The Pigeon Shooter by John Batley) finding flight lines appears to be vital for the woodies. Put decoys under a flight line, NOT where you've seen them feeding.

Early morning, when everything is flying from it's night roost in search of food, is a good time to decoy.

Calling them can be hit and miss. Couldn't get corvids to come to my calls, but watched a guy giving a talk on the subject in the BASC arena at the Midland Game Fair, and his demonstration with various callers, taught me that I'd been calling at too high a pitch, which mimics the crow's alarm call. Calling takes a lot of practice it seems.

[lkeay]

ive been told that all decoys should be faceing into the wind cause birds lose there balance if the wind blows from behind them,worth a try though i suspect!