Crow Busters Forum

crow laddie · Member

Pick up the dead birds or not?

crow laddie · Member

sorry about the accidental second post, pressed the refresh button....

8fishermen · Guru

Most folks leave the lay. They act as additional decoys. The more the merrier. Some folks that hunt very educated birds report better results by picking up the dead.

8fishermen · Guru

The double post thing happened to me earlier. Ever time I tried to fix it another thread would appear. Someone must have deleted them. Still having strange things happen with posts.

Pat B · Senior Member

Depends where I am. Some places I hide them. Other places they are left on the ground. The local wildlife cleans them up whether they are hid or not. Coyotes, foxes, skunks, eagles, etc eat them up. Sometimes they are gone the next day.

Pat

Mainehunt · Guru

I put sticks up their hind ends and make decoys out of them. Then throw them into the woods as coyote bait. Kev

nhcrowshooter · Guru

Dead birds make great decoys when laying in the proper place. Tying two together by their feet with some twine and throwing them up in a tree limb can really bring them in. Be sure to keep the dead one's positioned so the live ones are approaching you from downwind. Also pick up and move any dead ones closer that fell beyond where you want to be shooting as they will short stop many of the incomers.

M12Shooter · Guru

I most often leave dead crows where they fall. Only pick up those on some private land or when I don't want to advertize. Nature is a very efficient janitor biggrin

Ted

RP · Newbie

Always pick them up or they spook off new flights

Redditch · Guru

I tidy them up and put a stick under there necks every 2-3 birds or if there is a lull in shooting, as even a head wrong, one on its back, or one wing stuck out will spook them here
At the end of the day I pile all the shot birds up and put them in a heap in the hedge by a gate, and next morning the fox has taken them all and buried them for his larder

crow laddie · Member

Thanks all for the advice, but what do you guys do with the crows as the hunting is going on? Leave them while shooting or should i run out as soon as there is a lull in the shooting to pick them up?

Old Artilleryman · Guru

NHCS:

In the category of "what happens next?" I know Popowski (pp. 111-112 of his book) used the "tie two together by the neck and toss them up in the tree" technique, as you said. I'm sure to try it if I'm fortunate to get two crows . Also, I'm sure this works just fine during the winter when there is no foliage.

Just wondering what happens to them (other than rotting). Are they cleaned up by their brethern, or by hawks/owls? i.e., are they hanging around a long time or do they disappear quickly? Don't particularly care, except if it bothers the landowner to have carcasses hanging in the trees.

I have this image of Germany during the early 70s. I can remember in Germany, that GIs who were "short" used to tie a pair of boots together and toss them into the "short-timers' boot tree" and it looked pretty strange with a hundred pairs of boots up there. A couple of pair of crows would look something like that.

nhcrowshooter · Guru

OA, I don't like to leave any dead crows easily visible after I leave. If you toss a couple tied together up in a tree their removal is quite simple, shoot the leg/limb area when you leave. Generally one shot brings them back down to earth.

Old Artilleryman · Guru

NHCS:

Ah yes, the simple solution usually works best biggrin .

Lone Star Phil · Senior Member

We try to keep the dead crows around the electronic caller and decoys in a kill zone, say a circle with a diameter of a hundred feet. And I carry black string with loops on the ends to use by securing the necks of two dead crows and hurling as high into a tree near our decoys as mentioned by others in this string - we believe the presence of these sentries is an effective technique. During lulls in shooting, dispatch any hoppers efficiently and retrieve them and other dead ones that have fallen outside the immediate kill zone and add them to the kill zone. You don't want anything outside the kill zone that will distract the attention of in-bound crows.

Mainehunt · Guru

M12Shooter wrote:
I most often leave dead crows where they fall. Only pick up those on some private land or when I don't want to advertize. Nature is a very efficient janitor

Ted

I agree< last winter we put over a hundred dead crows in one pile, 2 days later the only thing left was 9 wings.

I also tie two together with string at their heads and throw them up in the trees. Did it yesterday with 3 pairs and it helped draw in others. one shot at the spot where the strings go over the branch and it cuts the string or the branch or both.

Kev

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Highlander · Senior Member

I have this image of Germany during the early 70s. I can remember in Germany, that GIs who were "short" used to tie a pair of boots together and toss them into the "short-timers' boot tree" and it looked pretty strange with a hundred pairs of boots up there. A couple of pair of crows would look something like that.

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Craig
Out here in Washington the drug dealers tie a pair of shoes or sneakers together and throw them oner the phone, cable or electric wires so people will know where the crack houses are. When I see any in this area I pull them down with three six foot wooden poles that snap together for doing tree work, I snap the hook end on the poles and yank the shoes down and throw them way, I always carry my Colt 1911 Combat Commander - 45 auto just in-case any one has a dfference of oppinion. I just seen two pairs hanging by my sister inlaws place last saturday, Next saturday when I go over ther they'll be gone as well.

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Highlander wrote:
I have this image of Germany during the early 70s. I can remember in Germany, that GIs who were "short" used to tie a pair of boots together and toss them into the "short-timers' boot tree" and it looked pretty strange with a hundred pairs of boots up there. A couple of pair of crows would look something like that.

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Craig
Out here in Washington the drug dealers tie a pair of shoes or sneakers together and throw them oner the phone, cable or electric wires so people will know where the crack houses are. When I see any in this area I pull them down with three six foot wooden poles that snap together for doing tree work, I snap the hook end on the poles and yank the shoes down and throw them way, I always carry my Colt 1911 Combat Commander - 45 auto just in-case any one has a dfference of oppinion. I just seen two pairs hanging by my sister inlaws place last saturday, Next saturday when I go over ther they'll be gone as well.

Highlander:

This practice of yours seems hazardous on at least two levels, cable height and ground level. Please be cautious during your efforts to improve the neighborhood.

Redditch · Guru

I tidy the crows every 2-3 shot birds, or when there is a pause in the shooting

SkeeterTheCrowHunter · Member

We pick ours up as soon as we can.