Out for a shoot - that was just a good walk!

[markha 99]

Well I got up nice and early this morning, fired out a few emails, had breakfast and put the gunbs in the car and headed over to permission number 2, 520 acres of rolling, very open ground with minimal tree cover.

 

I bumped in to the farmer and had a quick chat about the crows and the newborn lambs, he mentioned hed just put one in a ditch that was killed by the crows early this morning.

 

On went the muck boots and then the job of covering as much of my skin as possible, as all the birds roiund this way get spooked by anything at all, even a car driving down a country lane will see the crows fly 2 or 3 miles away before stopping and youd have to wait about 45 mins before the crows sent a scout out to check its all clear.

 

So this business of all the corvids spooking easily doesnt do me any favours in trying to kill them!

I have tried everything going, I have been in drainage ditches static for hours, carefully hidden with a rifle trained on a dead lamb and they sometimes take the bait, but mostly they dont, (no remarks about field craft lads, as I know my trade well).

 

Today was going to be such a day, acres with new born lambs bouncing around, but not many corvids about at all, just the odd couple, who keep trying to get closer to the newborns but forced back by the ewes.

With the very light winds the crows were flapping hard to stay airborn, so they stayed as high and well out of range of the shotgun, this was the normal scene IM greeted with, 2-6 crows all bothering newborns, I can see them 500yds away through my Vortex bins, so I start to move forward, using the drainage ditches for cover, they are around wasite deep and tend to have a bit of tree cover close by, slowly and surely, even the protective ewes dont bolt , they just carry on munching with their new borns 10 feet away, so I know im moving well and in a non threatning manner to the sheep.

But just as normal I get within 150yds and the crows will just up sticks and fly away, perhaps only stopping once they have covered 3/4 mile.

Its just so fustrating

 

So I get I head back to my van, load up and head for the other end of the farm, where I spy about 20 crows just strutting about in a field. They are about 400yds away and about 30yds above me, so you can guess the ground is a gentle uphill slope to them.

 

This time I think Ill take the s410 and the shotgun, I know im not going to get that close as they spook so easy, but I figure on using the dead ground and stream bed to make my way up, closing about 250 yds easily.

So I put the plan in to action, slowly get out of drivers door; the van shields me from the crows view, I slowly creep round to the tailgate, open, reach in, get guns, slowly close tail gate, All good so far, then I lock it with the remote, aaaaaaah bugger clunk go the locks! Off fly 3 crows

 

Im motionless, dressed head to toe in olive green, harkila coat with the hood up, urban camo beany, green fleece neck warmer pulled up to my eyes- all thats visible is a slit of skin for my eyes, green plastic overtrousers and a pair of muckboots....Im sillhueted in front of a white concrete agri building, with a shotgun in one hand, a rifle over my back in a static pose, like a rabbit in the headlights and thinking that any second now the rest of the crows are going to fly off.

What happened next was just sheer comedy; Farmer comes roaring up the track on his quad with a trailer on the back, slides to a stop right in front of me and starts grinning like a lunatic and basically thinks I look well funny, half stooped all in green with guns and pockets bulging with shells, he then revs the flippin quad up doing a dohnut and shouts no crows yet then Elma and fukinn races off!!!!! All the time Im watching the rest of the crows fly gently away

 

Enough is enough, so yet again I pack up and decide to go up to the other farm to see if they have newborns in the field.

I arrive at the farm, no livestock in any of the fields, but I see farmers wive and follow her in to the barn as we have a quick chat, shes feeding all the tiny lambs, I get a pic for my girl on my phone as she loves cuddly things and I know it might cheer her up if shes having a bad day in the office.

 

 

So the only thing I shot today was some new borns with my camera

 

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[ftm 3,357]

now thats what i call a bad day at the office mate .good write up tho at least its real life drama

[rossi_j 99]

Its not all about the bag, I just love getting out, as they say a bad day in the field is better than a good day in the office

 

Nice read

 

.atb. .ste.

[pianoman 3,587]

Never mind Mark old lad. That's how it goes sometimes. At least getting out and about and showing the landowner you are taking your shooting and his livestock's welfare seriously is good for working relations with him; and you'll never know till you go as to how the day turns out. Could be good, could be shit; but never a waste of time.

 

Spa from me for your enthusiasm and a big AWWWW for the little fellows in the pic!

 

ATB mate

 

Simon

 

PS> What about baiting the blackwinged buggers with a shot rabbit? Bet you'll bag a few magpies if nothing else!

Edited March 17, 2011 by pianoman

[davyt63 1,845]

hi marka

its defo your field craft

 

on a serious note!

 

a nice read that buddy, corvid s are very difficult to shoot in my experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this pic was taken last week,and i took the appraoch in daylight,and waded through branches and thorns.to get about 10yds from the three main nesting trees,same as you only the whites of my eyes showing,but it got results

 

 

now you can go before sun up and wait for them to rise with decoys,or you can go in daylight,scare a few away and once you have concealed your self,and wait for them to come back

but if they are already nervous in day light i would go and ambush them as the sun rises

 

we experienced it last week end,every time we got close in the truck they just flew off,very frustrating.

but then in a few weeks you will beable to take the fletchlings of the branches

 

i hope some of this info has helped you make up your mind! on how you will approach them on your next visit,good luck buddy.

dont forget these are very clever birds

 

PS.

as i type this reply,they are making a racket out side my house,25yds away

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

regards

 

Davy

[markha 99]

Glad you enjoyed the read, thought it was about time I posted, Thanks for SP Simon and thanks for your thoughts Davey.

 

Basically the roosts are not on this 550 acres! There is another farm about 2km away with a dense plot of trees and this is where I can hear all the crow chatter and bickering from, I have walked all over my permission and not found one roost.

 

This is what the ground cover is typically like, this is just a small section, but it all pretty much the same:

 

 

As you say Davey sitting in wait is the only way to go, I have baited these buggers with pheasant, rabbit and big tins of baked beans tipped over the ground, they are very, very wary.

 

I think it will just have to be a trip over to the other farm to see if I can get permission there, with all the noise from the corvids they must either be treegugging hippies, stone deaf or have gone raving mad by now

 

The only issue I have is that the amount of permissions I now have is mounting up, and I dont want stacks of land to shoot on, as this means Im getting phone calls to come over and sort things out, basically I dont want to be stretched and then end up losing permissions/ bad feeling because I can't get there.

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Hey get a Brian Clough style coat, crawl round on all fours and go Baaa a lot!

Edited March 17, 2011 by secretagentmole

[markha 99]

So I was out again yesterday with 3 things on my mind:

1/Retrieve the turret cap off my Bushnel scope after I left it on a fence post the other day.

 

2/ Zero my new scope - Hawke SR12 6-18x44, I saw this on fleabay the other day for £79.99 and thought what a bargain!

 

3/Sort out the crows again on my 'nemesis' permission.

 

 

Well the rain cleared on the coastal side of the mountains about 11.30, but the winds will still pretty gusty, the forecast for the mountain tops was 60-70mph, so not a great day in the hills

 

I planned on the main weather front holding up on the windward side of the hills as is the case % off the time. However this was the other 20% time and as I passed to the leeside of the mountains it was even worse, Gusts at ground level to perhaps 30mph and very fine rain mixed in with it, now this is not what we call bad weather up here in the mountains, its only bad when the winds are 60mph plus and the rain strips the paint off the house and the telephone lines whistle at breaking point, Oh and there are power cuts every few hours, I kid you not. I have seen a half mile section of power line brought down by winds in the valley road on a yearly basis.

I digress>

 

So not bad weather as we know it up here, but bloody shit weather for zeroing a rifle and trying to shoot crows with a shotgun, I stuck with my plan anyway.

 

So parked up and went hunting for the turret cap, 15 seconds and the jobs done.

 

On to zeroing the new scope. I had allready centered both the elevation and windage.

 

So to say I was surprised at my first shot at the target at 25m was an understatement, as it was litteraly only 15mm out to the left on windage and elevation was spot on! So a few clicks and after 30 or so pellets at the 'shoot n c' 2" target I was a happy hunter, It did take a while as the winds were gusting from 5 to 25mph and as you can guess not the greatest for it.

So on to testing at different ranges, I stuck another 2" target on a post 50m away, and from a shot off the bipod the drop that chairgun gave me was spot on. 14x magnification and 5 tie bars holdover on the SR12 reticle, plus 2 - 3 windage tiebars to the right for the 15-20 odd mph gusts at 3/4 value and I have to say the reticle and charigun info were not far off at all, especially considering the damn wind, so at 50yds I was getting 2" groupings at best with some shots very wide of the mark due to wind.

 

So job number 2 99% complete and a double check of zero in more favourable conditions is needed.

 

On to job number 3, the bloody crows! Now I had a good old search with the bins last week, and did spot a couple of large nests in use, so armed with the shotgun and a couple of 'overkill/nest busters/fox shells of Lyalvale Express 36g AAA I checked for a safe shot and fired one shell in to each nest from about 20m, this had the desired effect of no more nest contents and lots of debris flying in the wind I was happy that I had got atleast some part job done on these b*****d nest robbing thieves.

 

Now the wind was picking up as the front moved through and the rain was getting a bit much too, So I decided to cal it a day and after packing the shooting kit I was heading back home when plan B formed...

 

Now I knew where the damn corvids were mainly coming from, about 2 clicks North of my permission, this was where they always headed back to once they spotted any vehicle approaching, so with the bins I had already had a good luck and identified where this was.

So plan B was a detour to the farm where the crows planned their raids from. Well what can I say? I was shocked at how easy this problem is going to be, No longer were they twitchy about vehicles, or even my pink face grining manicly at them They didnt give a ruddy toss! I could have sat there right then with the air rifle and dispatched the lot, Trouble was no written permission

 

I waited for about half an hour, and had allready written a short introduction on the back of one of my calling cards when a quad bike turned up, a quick introduction and hand shake and straight to the point " So I bet you want these cleared just as much as the other farmers who's lambs are being taken" Turns out the guy was one of the farm hands and gave me a verbal go ahead right there, I declined however as I wanted to speak to the landowner, he was away untill today and he now has my card and contact details.

 

So all in all another possible permission and a chance at last to thin these crows.

 

I counted atleast 30 nests and didnt bother to count the crows, lets just say its going to rain black feathers when I get the go ahead

 

[davyt63 1,845]

hi Marka

what a result! finding your cap! and finding new permission!

 

well done buddy

 

regards

 

davy

[Sweeney-Todd 208]

Hi Mark.

 

Excellent posts mate, congratulations on all counts.

Hope that farmer confirms permission for you soon.

Them Black Buckers wont know whats hit them

 

Look forward to your post.

 

SP incomming

 

ATB.

 

 

Bill.

[Ideation 8,216]

If you want the farmer to really love you and get in his good books, why not spend an afternoon constructing a trap. Larson maybe.

[markha 99]

Cheers to you all for your comments lads and thanks for the slag point Bill

 

Well the phone call came this morning, the landowner is more than happy for me to come over and clear the rookery with the air rifle, as I suggested, basically its all so close to a road and shotgun may get me a spot of bother (do gooders driving past seeing man with gun by road etc) plus he has 3 Weimaraners that he doesn't want spooking by the shotgun going off on rapid fire!

 

So tomorrow morning its off to have some static shooting and clear as many as possible

[gurtwurz 792]

hi mark, great post mate

 

so how did you get on with the static hunting buddy, did you get out this morning?

 

looking forwards to reading how you get on pal,

 

all the best, wurz

Edited April 6, 2011 by gurtwurz

[zini 1,939]

Come on Mark we are all sat here waiting for the results

 

How did you get on buddy?

 

If you dont ask you dont get

 

ATB

 

Si.

[markha 99]

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