skany Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Hi guys Im after some advice on what decoys to use & how to set up for good results on crows! Ive got a big chunk of land that has shed loads of crows everyhwere & i have heard people have great resuts doing this! is it best to use a hide or get your cammo on & get in tight to a hedge! I normally shoot a few with the rifle but its not really a effective way of controling them! any tips advice would be great! idealy a back pack full of gear at most equipment wise:-) cheers Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJR Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Not really a shooting solution but if you want to reduce large number of crows then a crow trap is the way to go. Otherwise Rabbit carcases work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6.5shooter Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Andy, Once you start you will be instantly hooked!! I grow quite a bit of wheat every year and decoy them at seed planting time and just after cutting. I have never decoyed them on grassland but I assume my technique should work for grass aswell. Especially when the slurry is spread I keep a rifle in the tractor with me to shoot them whilst spreading, this is excellent as the buggers just land beside you to pick the worms! Anyway back to the shotgun, I usually set crow decoys about a dozen of them inside a 150yard square patch roughly in no particular pattern. I use a carrousel and or a flapper and set dead crows on these two items connected to a battery and let them work their magic! I use an electronic caller the odd time (NI) resident and occasionally a blow caller. However the decoys work well on their own. I set up netting along a hedgerow and cover myself well! I set this all up before daybreak and be in position to blast them out of the sky! Make sure you have plenty of cartridges because if like me you will be lucky using this technique and youre barrels wont cool! I have shot 40 in an hour once and then there are misses so it gets pretty hectic! I use a beretta silver pigeon with 1/2 and 3/4 choke firing 61/2 shells! Good luck! Let us know how you get on!! Garry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybrock Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 I have shot a lot of crows over gutted rabbits with crow decoys in the area. Be aware that using crow calls to entice crows close by to shoot is illegal. Thats only applies to electronic calls, mouth calls are Ok, if you have a lot of crows to control a ladder trap is worth considering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skany Posted February 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 thanks Guys they do use traps but to be honest they dont scratch the surface when they are about!there is loooooooads! the farm dose a lot o free range chickens & the crows around the coups is insane! Can anyone recomend a type of decoy? I have rotary i made for pigeons so im sure a crow wont mind a go on:-P(is there a suitable decoy for this untill i get a kill?) i was aware that u cant electronicaly call them but thanks anyhows im sure may people are very un aware of this! also how on earth do uset up netting to stand behind? surely the crows will just see u thru it?(if its anything like the crap bit i have ?) any pointers/links to what hardware as id like to get tooled up for next week if possible:-) cheers again guys Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemasis243 Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 thanks Guys they do use traps but to be honest they dont scratch the surface when they are about!there is loooooooads! the farm dose a lot o free range chickens & the crows around the coups is insane! Can anyone recomend a type of decoy? I have rotary i made for pigeons so im sure a crow wont mind a go on:-P(is there a suitable decoy for this untill i get a kill?) i was aware that u cant electronicaly call them but thanks anyhows im sure may people are very un aware of this! also how on earth do uset up netting to stand behind? surely the crows will just see u thru it?(if its anything like the crap bit i have ?) any pointers/links to what hardware as id like to get tooled up for next week if possible:-) cheers again guys Andy I always use a hide, same as pigeons,look for a flightline and set up with wind comming from behind you, birds will turn into the wind and hover before they land, one word of caution, dont leave a dead crow on its back as it start a riot and thats the last thing you want, I tend to keep the decoys quiet close to the hide,better if you wish to make sure of the second shot on the second bird, I even have had decoys on fence posts by the side of the hide,which helps, also put the odd pigeon decoy out in the field as well . Another tip is to use some house cleaning spray on your decoys, make them shine, when you shoot a crow his feathers are really shinny, this works well, you wont get many takers if your deoys are muddy and dull. Lets us know how you get on, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skany Posted February 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 im on it lol just bought 5m stealth net & poles & flocked decoys to start me off lol think i nee a head viel & gloves next on the list! is a hand call worth having? cheers ANdy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybrock Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 im on it lol just bought 5m stealth net & poles & flocked decoys to start me off lol think i nee a head viel & gloves next on the list! is a hand call worth having? cheers ANdy Andy, For what they cost a hand call is worth trying, a good high pitch rabbit distress call will also get their attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hancock Posted February 28, 2012 Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 Watch them mob a flappy winged battery owl. A couple a hundred metres apart will keep them going and allow you to pick off two areas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZ Varminter Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 I know it is illegal to use electronic callers on crows but I may have missed something here but what the fubar is the difference in using an electronic caller and a hand caller?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybrock Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 I know it is illegal to use electronic callers on crows but I may have missed something here but what the fubar is the difference in using an electronic caller and a hand caller?! It's comes under several wildlife acts like this one http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/PDF/waca1981_part1.pdf I think it's aim is to stop the actual recording of real bird sounds and using them to attract other birds to shoot. A hand call is only mimicking bird sounds. You can use electronic calls to attract birds for the purpose of photographing them if you wish, you can also use electronic sounds to scare birds from specific areas like airports etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyH Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 ....I normally shoot a few with the rifle but its not really a effective way of controling them!.... cheers Andy More interesting though.... I have a shotgun (everyone should) but hardly use it; rifles are my thing, and though I've shot a few long-range crows (best 340 yards with a 22-250) I want to get more. Interested in this thread since I'm about to get a couple of flocked decoys, maybe an owl too, so as to get crows into position and (I hope) make them hang about long enough to be shot. Like everyone says, they are canny and seem to detect you from hundreds of yards off - if you're carrying a gun... A friend told me years ago about something he'd tried - spreading a few eggshells around a small patch. Apparently crows like this. But he'd also place one or two housebricks on end, next to the shells and between his position a couple of hundred yards off, and where the crows would land. He reckoned a high-velocity frangible bullet hitting the brick created a Claymore mine effect, zapping crows with high velocity brick particles! Haven't tried it myself - yet. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skany Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 More interesting though.... I have a shotgun (everyone should) but hardly use it; rifles are my thing, and though I've shot a few long-range crows (best 340 yards with a 22-250) I want to get more. Interested in this thread since I'm about to get a couple of flocked decoys, maybe an owl too, so as to get crows into position and (I hope) make them hang about long enough to be shot. Like everyone says, they are canny and seem to detect you from hundreds of yards off - if you're carrying a gun... A friend told me years ago about something he'd tried - spreading a few eggshells around a small patch. Apparently crows like this. But he'd also place one or two housebricks on end, next to the shells and between his position a couple of hundred yards off, and where the crows would land. He reckoned a high-velocity frangible bullet hitting the brick created a Claymore mine effect, zapping crows with high velocity brick particles! Haven't tried it myself - yet. Tony Hi tony Im the same mate I just want to use the huge amount of crows as good excuse to get more miles out of the shotie:-) the best day i had up this farm was 12 or 13 with 4 being over 500yds! now im lucky to get 2-3 as they bug out when i drive in with the truck! i shall set up with a rifle as well to see if its worth doing:-) cheers Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyw Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 a stuffed fox works well set out from a hedgline 30yds from your hide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finman Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 im on it lol just bought 5m stealth net & poles & flocked decoys to start me off lol think i nee a head viel & gloves next on the list! is a hand call worth having? cheers ANdy I've had good luck with decoying crows a few times now. It is a good excuse to get out with the shotgun when the pigeon season is not on and gives me enormous pleasure to wallop them black-feathered murderers! What I found works well is a number of flocked crows on the ground and a couple of pigeon decoys to spice up the mix. Once I've shot one or two, I put them on a flapper pole and that seems to bring them with less caution than the decoys. I use a hand call (one of primos crow calls and an acme one, both work really really well! I even have them with and use them all the time when shooting pigeons as well), it turns them from miles away. Obviously, a well constructed hide, camouflaged face, head and hands, even a camouflaged gun all add up to a successful day out for crows. good luck, Finman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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