So, a big problem with Decoying standing crops, is the fact that the birds can't see your decoys until they are almost on top of them.
As a cure for this, I bought 4x 2.10 metre plastic covered metal tube carden canes from b&q (hardware/gardening store) and cut these in half, giving me 8x 1.05 metres.
I also bought 2x 1 metre lengths of 20x20mm light angle iron, and 8x 1" dia jubilee hose clips.
Then I cut the angle iron into 8x lengths each piece of 25cm and use these on the bottoms, attached to the tube with a single hose clip each. These will then push into the ground, giving a stable footing for the stake.
Then at the top, I used silicone glue to fit a decoy stake into the top of each and allowed this to dry.
Now when I have standing crops, I can have 8 decoys stood out of the crop where all the birds can see them, drawing them in to see the bigger pattern, and hopefully to a range I can shoot them at :)
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
I often shoot in tall crops such as sunflower during the fall. Simply collect a couple tree branches that stand 3 or 4 feet higher than surrounding crop when stuck into the ground. Perch a few deeks atop these as in my region half dozen decoys will usually suffice. Setup is quick and easy.
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
In some areas where the dead crows fall into high weeds or in crop rows that are high like corn or milo the crows still see them from the air! You are only looking at it from ground level, if you get up in the air say 20 to 25 yards it is a completely different sight picture. Once you get several dozen or more on the ground they naturally see them easier.
Bob, Problem here is the standing crops only have "tram lines" where the tractors have been. With the tram lines I only have a 12" wide space to put my decoys in, so unless they come in to the crop along the tram lines, they don't see them until they are already in range (where I could shoot them anyway) but getting them interested enough to come in range is what I'm attempting to do. With barley standing 3-3 1/2 foot high, it means the decoys are pretty much hidden from view to all angles except directly along the tram lines. There is so much barley and wheat about at the moment, they have a plethora of fields to choose. The biggest problem is, most of the flattened areas where they feed are in places I can't get to. So I have to try and decoy them away from there and to a range where I can shoot them
-- Edited by Redditch on Sunday 2nd of August 2015 03:27:19 AM
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
Standing crops right up to the hedge of the field, and the area I need to get to is the opposite side of the field to the gate, with a deep ditch, barbed wire, and a hawthorn hedge all around it :(
I would do more damage than the corvids and pigeons are doing if I tried getting there
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
Have you tried a mouth call along with the plan to get your decoys high up or something? Fence mounted maybe?
I would love to fence mount decoys...but luckily i can use other ideas and -let me tell you this much-they WORK! Wish i had MORE crows now...in season that is...
Wish our trees were shorter like the southern plains then I could try slinging them into the trees like BobA. does...but the system I use works so...
Yep, I always bang a few in fences where I can, BUT, no way as the only access to get within 100 metres of the flattened spot, is either through that field, or through another field, both planted with standing barley to the edges so no track around :(
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
If it were me in your situation I would wait for a breeze (5-10 mph) that is headed towards that field 100 meters away. I have called crows with a hand held crow call that you blow manually up to 175 yards down wind from my blind. So long as they don't arrive all at once you might get at them with this method.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
Ohhh I've tried calling, getting under flight lines etc. problem is there are so many fields available at the moment, one shot and they tend to sdisappera miles away. So flight lining doesn't really work at the moment. It's more decoy and wait, but getting at the correct spit to decoy them is the problem.
There are also many flight lines, as the area is covered in forests and copses where they roost, plus then they go to the fans to feed on the cattle feed in the barns :(
Very frustrating time waiting for the harvests. Once the harvests are here, then usually get 1-3 days of good shooting per field, before they move to pastures new
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
That makes it tougher to field hunt them if they have feed everywhere. Even if they favor some fields over others you make a good point about "one shot and they are all gone" this is when I just flyway hunt them. You can kill a slug of crows in 2-2 1/2 hours if your in the right spot.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
That makes it tougher to field hunt them if they have feed everywhere. Even if they favor some fields over others you make a good point about "one shot and they are all gone" this is when I just flyway hunt them. You can kill a slug of crows in 2-2 1/2 hours if your in the right spot.
Getting in the right spot is a big problem here. Not allowed to shoot with 150 metres of a rookery, so, with multiple fields to chose from, the take off on different routes as soon as you fire on one :(
lit makes life very difficult here, myriads of small fields, some you have permission, on, some you don't, and they can be miles apart, and surrounding fields with food you can't shoot because someone else has permission.
Ohhh, and then you have the poachers,they come without permission, set up and fire at everything within 200 metres, and educate the crows to decoy patterns :(
Then disappear to someone else's permission, having destroyed any chance of a good score
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
Around here one needs to drive 2 hours for any decent crow shooting and if there are too few there or none at all well you get the picture..you don't have it too bad. Anyways fall is coming soon so you wont have too much of the problem you address here...?
On morning flyway shoots I am further out away from the roost, anywhere from 7 to 10 miles. In the late afternoon the closest I will get to a known roost 1/4 mile but most of the spots are between 1 mile and one and a quarter miles from the roost. We (I think) have many more crows in some of our roosts out here. Most are between 30 to 40 thousand birds, but some range from 60 to 100,000 or more.
On larger flyways leading to a roost of 60,000 or more the shooting can last for several hours. If it is a nice clear day the shooting is not bad or the first 1 1/2 hours but the bulk of the birds get shot that last hour when the move is really on! When you have bad weather they move sooner and are more spread out coming in just a few at a time.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
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