owl decoying for crows

[jmilam08 193]

the other day trying the medium size owl decoy and primos power crow call.

[stubby 175]

so what am I doing wrong, Ive tried plastic crow deeks, Ive tried a decoy fox, and yes, Ive tried a large owl decoy, yet the buggers still stay at height, laughing as they fly past

 

 

where did you put your owl?

[rizla1 122]

well done mate, tell us your secret iv tryed it with a little owl and they dont take any notice of it,

[Bobba_fett 117]

its coz he was using a crow caller

[jmilam08 193]

so what am I doing wrong, Ive tried plastic crow deeks, Ive tried a decoy fox, and yes, Ive tried a large owl decoy, yet the buggers still stay at height, laughing as they fly past

 

 

where did you put your owl?

 

I normally set the decoy up about 20 yards from my hide just out in the open field with a rook or pigeon laying belly up wings out and attach a bit of the guts hangin down from the beak of owl,and then i normaly put a magpie decoy sort of side on to this and then one magpie in a nearby tree.I did move the owl this time up a tree with the magpie when it went quiet and this is where i got most my shots off.

ill start off with 5 to 10 minutes blowing the call without shooting then put the call away and hopefully let the crows and rooks do the rest of the noise.

This always seems to work for me iv had alot of good days out this year with just the owl two magpies.

[stubby 175]

yup, Ive got the same crow call, and a really good magpie call, I think Ill try the middle of field approach, have a few dead maggies in the freezer too, so I'll give it another go, have a new permission that has 100's of crows flying over

tried this on another permish with no luck

 

[jmilam08 193]

yup, Ive got the same crow call, and a really good magpie call, I think Ill try the middle of field approach, have a few dead maggies in the freezer too, so I'll give it another go, have a new permission that has 100's of crows flying over

tried this on another permish with no luck

 

Iv been using that call everyday now just messing around in my garden and taking it out walking the dogs to a local rookery for quite a long time now and the best tone iv found to blow in it is one really long drawn out deep blow with a closed hand over the rubber end,then towards end of vocal open hand to give it a more high pitch noise,they really seem to turn back around and dive down on the owl and maggies with this tone of call.

Not saying its bulletproof but it works for me.

[stubby 175]

well, found my home made lofting poles, so am going to take the owl out tomorrow and give it a go, Ill post if I have any success

[jmilam08 193]

Just came across this post again stubby while looking for more tips on crow and maggie bashing,how's it been goin with the decoys and home made lofters stubby?

[stubby 175]

well went out last week, had made 2x crow and 1x magpie hanging decoy, so put those up a tree right under the crows flightline, at around 26ft high, then placed the owl on the pole, with a dead magpie fixed at its feet (glued a screw-in eye at feet) for attaching birds, at around 20ft high, this was on a saturday morning, now crows must be more inteligent than we/I though, as 5 days a week, you'll get 200 plus crows flying over my permission towards the local landfill site where they feed, on weekends its shut, no lorries,no diggers moving, and I reckon the crows know that no lorries means no fresh rubbish which means no food, as on that saturday morning, only about 20 crows hanging around.

anyway, the ones that were around did take an interest, and on a few occassions swooped in for slow fly-bys, not mobbing, but good enough, probably a better shooter would have bagged the few that were there, but me,no

although I did ruffle some wing feathers on one, and then gave a few caws on the call for him to turn around and head back something Ive never seen a crow do,

all in all, it was a good learning curve for me, and proves Im setting up in a good position, so once we get some dry days here, I'll be back over there mid week to see if the numbers change, and hopefully my aim

 

was also trying out a gun mounted video camera, it seems to work ok, picture a bit fuzzy when firing, but reckon it'll do the job next time, the short video below just shows picture quaility, firing was into thin air

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A33eh_Bwbw

[jmilam08 193]

That sounds a good idea what uve done with the owl.iv never tried it at a decent height yet usually just sticking it on top of a bush or a branch off a tree low down.the owl and setup I'm using now has been wised up to so I'm out tommorow trying out some new stuff,hopefully something works.

What did u make your lofting poles from if you don't mind me asking.

I'll post an update with the shooting results tommorow.

[stubby 175]

we were throwing away an old garden gazebo, and the metal tubes all lock into each other, or push in at least, Ive got 7 x poles 4ft long each, so use that to get the crow deeks up high, then put the owl on say 5 poles, brace against a branch and push the bottom into the soil, leaving the owl on the green poles, blends in ok, was a bit windy last week and took around 20 minutes to loft the crows back down, I have a large funnel that I tape to the top poles, easier to locate the crow deeks bottom piece of rod

 

 

[moley 115]

chuck most of that crap away stubby, owl decoy on your poles up a single tree with a dead jackdaw, make sure you break its wings so they move better in the wind or put a piece of black rag or bin bag under the owl, get yourself well hidden and blown like hell on your caller, sound like your dying, the jackies and carrion crows will come, rooks are a bit more jumpy, i have shot hundereds of crows using this method, its works best the first few weeks the young fledge but will work year round,