Best decoy for hunting magpies

[smecky 52]

Any suggestions???

[paulus 26]

dead rabbit

[Buster321c 1,010]

I put an owl decoy out with either a shot rabbit ( guts showing , slit open ) or a magpie at its feet n works wonders for me .

[Millet 4,497]

A live maggie in a cage for a call bird like used in a larsen..will take some beating

[zx10mike 137]

of course you mean a decoy as keeping a wild animal in a cage knowingly gets biiiiiiiig fines if your seen.nothing against it personally but its considered bad form by some.atb mike

[darren watson 14]

eggs. i've head of people making fake nests and putting an egg in it, and possibly a cracked egg next to it. i think you can also buy rubber eggs for this purpose.

[Big bald beautiful 1,231]

Ferret in a wire topped rabbit run, water bowl, food etc and ive seen maggies land on the top of wire to have a go

[PeakOil 352]

In my experience it depends on the settings. Rural an owl with a rabbit / squirrel, belly fur showing and guts out. In an urban area try a dog bowl with some food in, or takeaway cartons / wrappers that corvids will be used to picking through to find scraps.

[pianoman 3,587]

All of the Above!

 

I've used a dead rabbit I've either shot or picked up as a road kill.

 

A baby Owl deek works a treat too. Put it on a pole and up into the hedgrows or sit it on a log. A well concealed sniping position will usually get you two or a few more but they are as smart as hell and they soon work out all is not well with a certain area; food or no food.

 

Simon

[markha 99]

All of the above plus anything that stinks, mackerel, pilchards etc all good aromatic baits, oh and have used baked beans to good effect in the past

[jackinbox99 41]

Mince / dead rabbit / eggs (one broken) will all usually get a magpie in. Also the old shaking a half full matchbox trick works. Once you have killed one magpie, just leave it lying there and within minutes there will be loads of other ones come in to see whats going on, making a hell of a racket in the process.

[Elliott 436]

My little owl decoy is the business, always seems to work a treat. Little tip though if you opt for the little owl - make sure you give the corvids a rest after you've had a successful session. They certainly aren't daft and persistant decoying, especially from the same position, can put them off altogether and you'll end up losing the effectiveness of your set up. Here's the result of my last decoying session (img 1) and the hide I created on the fringe of a small woodland (img 2). That was around a month ago and its just about ready for another go

 

A good time to decoy is around nest building time, just before Spring when they become very territorial. During the Summer I find the first birds that spot the decoy are the Swallows who then begin to mob it. You can hear them 'tweet' as they swoop. This is always great because their commotion catches the attention of the crows and magpies who subsiquently follow and make the set up look even more convincing.

 

If you can, another trick I use, is to place a dead magpie below the little owl decoy (img 3). In my experience, no sooner do I return to the hide when the magpies go crazy! Very effective trick!

 

Image 1

 

 

Image 2

 

 

Image 3

 

 

ATB

Edited September 7, 2011 by Elliott

[tonyponty 6]

intersting where did you get the owl decoy from ..cheers tony.

[zx10mike 137]

My little owl decoy is the business, always seems to work a treat. Little tip though if you opt for the little owl - make sure you give the corvids a rest after you've had a successful session. They certainly aren't daft and persistant decoying, especially from the same position, can put them off altogether and you'll end up losing the effectiveness of your set up. Here's the result of my last decoying session (img 1) and the hide I created on the fringe of a small woodland (img 2). That was around a month ago and its just about ready for another go

 

A good time to decoy is around nest building time, just before Spring when they become very territorial. During the Summer I find the first birds that spot the decoy are the Swallows who then begin to mob it. You can hear them 'tweet' as they swoop. This is always great because their commotion catches the attention of the crows and magpies who subsiquently follow and make the set up look even more convincing.

 

If you can, another trick I use, is to place a dead magpie below the little owl decoy (img 3). In my experience, no sooner do I return to the hide when the magpies go crazy! Very effective trick!

 

Image 1

 

 

Image 2

 

 

Image 3

 

 

ATB

 

i think that is the best air rifle money can buy and the decoy advice is great but the hide looks as much use as a chocolate fire gaurd if you fidgit as much as me that is.there never going to spot you through those big holes :tongue2: atb mike

[Elliott 436]

i think that is the best air rifle money can buy and the decoy advice is great but the hide looks as much use as a chocolate fire gaurd if you fidgit as much as me that is.there never going to spot you through those big holes :tongue2: atb mike

 

Its suprising how effective such a simple hide is when set behind a dark background such as this small woodland. What you also can't tell is that the ground slopes down and I lay between three closely planted conifers with the rifle on the bipod. The decoy is 30 yards away. This is the view from the decoy (pic 1) and the view from inside the hide (pic 2)

 

Pic 1

 

 

Pic 2