Rifle Shooting Corvids

liamnjs

Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any wiley tricks they use to outwit crows and maggies? We are over-run at the moment and I need to break out every trick in the book. The trapping regime will obviously be the cornerstone and is starting in earnest but I will be mopping up with the 17 HMR and every trick helps!
 
Does anyone have any wiley tricks they use to outwit crows and maggies? We are over-run at the moment and I need to break out every trick in the book. The trapping regime will obviously be the cornerstone and is starting in earnest but I will be mopping up with the 17 HMR and every trick helps!
branchers in april...
17 rem @ 350+ yds





[Admin note: 'branchers' = young birds, NOT birds sat on branches!!!]
 
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Ill shoot a rabbit or pigeon through a gateway or hedge gap and leave it where it falls then just take a peep at it every time i pass on my rounds , if you can hit the rabbit you can hit what evers feeding on it and you already know its safe . dont shoot branchers with a rifle youll kill someone
 
Pigeon magnet with 2 dead crows on, get apx 5 - 10 of the best crow decoys (the ones that have a material coating on them) get in a hide and off you go. Between 2 of us over 3 trips in the summer last year we shot apx 350. Also if you decided that you wanted to take some photos of the crows whilst flying past you could invest in a digital caller with crow call to bring them closer for the photo...apprently they work very well :norty:
 
A trick tought to me by an old keeper (in his eighties) is set up a hide, get a couple of friends to walk out to the hide with you and then leave you there 20 mins later and walk away, crows can't count too good and think everybody has left, this worked realy well dealing with crows taking eggs in the pheasant laying pens and on the spring lambs, especially if they have a food source there (Dead animal, eggs or even feed troughs) it worked for me!
failing that, i use a digital U-CALLER to great effect

Tikkat3
 
Early in a hide with a big eagle owl decoy on a fence post or wall top . Get out now , before the leaf bursts , find nests then go back and shoot her off when shes sitting its better to wait till they hatch as she will leave eggs but not chicks if you miss her first time . See if you cn find a roost site as their still together now and youll kill loads if you can find one
 
get a stuffed fox, a dead crow and a crow callbox.

place the stuffed fox out with the dead crow under it and set the callbox going.

Great sport!
 
branchers in april...
17 rem @ 350+ yds

Are you right in the head? Woman killed in Wick when I was younger after someone shooting hoodies in tree's 2 miles away, sure there has been more cases since...

Dead rabbit in the middle of the field pegged down, take trips past with .222, string up dead crow on fence with the wings splayed. Ooo they hate to see there own dead.
 
I think many are too quick to jump here, anyone with an ounce of common will recognise straight away, shooting "branchers", means those young (crows in this instance), that are in the in between stage of full flight capability, hence the term "Branchers", this does not have anything to do with employing rifled arms to shoot stuff perched on a branch. just a little bit of history, terminology wise.
 
I think many are too quick to jump here, anyone with an ounce of common will recognise straight away, shooting "branchers", means those young (crows in this instance), that are in the in between stage of full flight capability, hence the term "Branchers", this does not have anything to do with employing rifled arms to shoot stuff perched on a branch. just a little bit of history, terminology wise.

Young 'uns on the ground then? Sorry I may have been one of the ones to jump on the band wagon... Just met quiet a few folk in the recent years shooting birds in trees with rifles.
 
Young 'uns on the ground then? Sorry I may have been one of the ones to jump on the band wagon... Just met quiet a few folk in the recent years shooting birds in trees with rifles.
It's just that some of us old farts tend to use some odd old terms, not easily recognised by others,:), branchers you will recognise straight away by their struggles to hop/fly from branch to branch, most often ending in a semi controlled crash landing in the field, then the parents land right with them, usually enabling a full tally to be knocked over.:D, specially if it's some thing like that suggested earlier. I used to join a group who would visit ALL of the local roosts during the period of dusk or dawn, & expend around two hundred 12 bore on each go around.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll be giving a few of those ago. I must admit the 17 Rem at branchers one certainly raised an eye brow, but I suppose if we go with Finnbear's charitable interpretation then it's not a problem. In the past I have shot branchers with an air rifle, and took the term to mean young corvids (usually rooks rather than crows or magpies) that had not yet fledged, found sitting on branches. Never occured to me to shoot them on the ground.
 
egale owl decoy with a dead crow hanging from under it sends them wild by all acounts but i have never tryed it before but i dont think you can beat blowing them up with a small centre fire as they are sat out on the plough shouting at you
 
I've removed all the off topic goose posts and the handbags.

j0e_bl0ggs said:
OK I await my ban now....

Don't worry, I can see your point. You made a post which was misunderstood and instead of asking what you meant they jumped on you.

Guys if something isn't clear please ask for clarification before gathering the lynch mob! I have amended the post so it is clear exactly what was meant by 'branchers'.

Alex
 
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I've removed all the off topic goose posts and the handbags.

Don't worry, I can see your point. You made a post which was misunderstood and instead of asking what you meant they jumped on you.

Guys if something isn't clear please ask for clarification before gathering the lynch mob! I have amended the post so it is clear exactly what was meant by 'branchers'.

Alex

I do agree that it is important that the fieldsports community does not eat its own young, so to speak, but I think it is also very important we are mindful of how we express ourselves. Especially doing the job I do in a very publicly strutinised capacity it is easy to become over sensitive to this. Those trawling these sites for rhetorical ammunition will not stick around to ask for clarification. Remember the infamous Independent article concerning lamping some years back? It quoted forum posts verbatim with no context at all. We all need to be aware of this.

In that vein I am still not sure Joe Bloggs' post has been understood. I don't think he is suggesting these branchers are shot with a centrefire at all, on the ground or otherwise, but rather these are two distinct strategies- branchers in April (which I have always shot with an air rifle and tend to be sitting on branches, hence the name!) and long range centrefire control at other times of the year. Correct me if I am wrong.

Joe have you found targetting these youngsters to have a significant impact in controlling populations? The powers that be frown on my using methods that could be construed as sport, so would be interested in the results you have had.
 
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