Crow Busters Forum

Veteran Member

Owl Decoy

Jtg1551 · Newbie

I haven't had much luck with mine either.

Zeddicus · Senior Member

Place the owl slightly leaning backwards so the eyes are visible. Put a dead crow at the owls feet. Pluck it a bit and scatter the feathers around. You can use hot glu to add feathers (female duck) to the owl to give it a more tealistic look. Don't shoot the first crow to arrive, it'll atract its mates. Then shoot!!! Good luck! :)

Mainehunt · Guru

I have never had much luck with an owl decoy. I've shot a few each time over the owl, but never had a real good shoot over one.

M12Shooter · Guru

Owls deeks have worked for me in the past. More of an "attention getter" IMO than anything else. Get it up high just above surrounding vegitation. Don't be afraid to put your owl on a fence post in open counrty if this is how you hunt. I have only had luck with these in the spring/summer breeding season as well. Good luck!

Ted

Veteran Member

Thanks
I have always hunted with the owl deke in the winter and the owl is always looking away from me.
I will try the owl again in the summer.

nhcrowshooter · Guru

Zeddicus wrote:
Place the owl slightly leaning backwards so the eyes are visible. Put a dead crow at the owls feet. Pluck it a bit and scatter the feathers around. You can use hot glu to add feathers (female duck) to the owl to give it a more tealistic look. Don't shoot the first crow to arrive, it'll atract its mates. Then shoot!!! Good luck! :)

ALWAYS shoot the first crow that arrives, Owl decoy or not.

BUZZ · Senior Member

Never miss the first crow to arrive.........

smile

gearly65 · Senior Member

I have never saw a difference with or without it. I don't use it 99% of the time.

rune-hammer · Member

Thank you!

By the way, the video is not mine and I have not nearly been that successful myself, but I try to set everything up in pretty much the same way. Hunting season for crows is over since a few days ago here in Finland unless you apply for an extended permit, but magpies are legal to the end of the month. Now if I would just get my .22 back from the gunsmith.....

To search for more scandinavian videos and images you can use the words "kråkjakt", "kråkejakt", "uvbulvan", "berguv bulvan", "huuhkajan kuva" and "varisjahti" :)

*added som more search words:

-- Edited by rune-hammer on Friday 15th of March 2013 01:07:49 PM

Mainehunt · Guru

rune-hammer wrote:
Thank you!

By the way, the video is not mine and I have not nearly been that successful myself, but I try to set everything up pretty much the same way. Hunting season for crows is over since a few days ago here in Finland unless you apply for an extended permit, but magpies are legal to the end of the month. Now if I would just get my .22 back from the gunsmith.....

To search for more scandinavian videos you can use the words kråkjakt, kråkejakt and varisjahti :)

Cool. Just started my search for uvbluvan and the other weird spelled word. biggrin

Are you in Finland right now? One of my crow shooting buddies, Pentti, (682X) is of Finnish heritage. What time is there now? It's 10am here in Maine.

-- Edited by Mainehunt on Friday 15th of March 2013 01:01:10 PM

rune-hammer · Member

The recommended way of using an owl decoy in scandinavia is setting it in a place where it is seen from far away, depending on where you hunt this might be easy or hard to accomplish. It is not unusual that some to put the owl on a pole up in the highest tree in the area, well above, sometimes as high as maybe 10 to 20 feet above the treetop. The more lifelike the decoy is, the better, best are stuffed eagle-owls (bubo bubo). The pros almost never use plastic owl decoys without modification, usually feathers are added and the angle of the head modified and the eyes replaced with glass-eyes.

The easiest way to get a decent owl decoy is to buy an owl in a garden supply store, those are meant for garden decoration and will set you back around 10 dollars :) Decoys sold for hunting are usually way more expensive. I made my own in papier-mâché. The plastic decoy can then be pimped as desired, but if the plastic decoy seems to work as-is, why change it? It does not necessarily have to be authentic looking to be effective, just make a google image search for "uvbulvan" or "berguv bulvan" and you'll see quite a freakshow :D

I think that choosing the right time and location for the hunt is the most important, being out and having the decoy set up before sunrise is pretty much mandatory.

If you are doing it right this is how it should look like

Mainehunt · Guru

rune-hammer,

Excellent video, it sure makes one see how it can work.

Thanks for posting that and WELCOME to crowbusters.

rune-hammer · Member

Mainehunt wrote:
Are you in Finland right now? One of my crow shooting buddies, Pentti, (682X) is of Finnish heritage. What time is there now? It's 10am here in Maine.

Yup, I'm in Finland, it is 16:09 right now so the weekend just started :) Cool, I speak both swedish an finnish because i live in the coastal region in Finland, with Sweden just across the pond :D

Mike27 · Senior Member

rune,

That was some heavy mobbing. I was waiting for a one shot double. I was yelling at my monitor to shoot already.

Welcome

Mike

crazy 4 crows · Veteran Member

excellent video

Bob · Guru

Rune-Hammer,

It looks like they are hunting fish crows in that video.

Thanks for posting.

Bob A.

M12Shooter · Guru

Try a topic search on this forum. Lots of good info on owl deeks in the past.

Ted

Mainehunt · Guru

Mike27 wrote:
rune,
That was some heavy mobbing. I was waiting for a one shot double. I was yelling at my monitor to shoot already.
Welcome
Mike

Mike, Me too! biggrin there were a few times where if they had shot at just the right time, they could have had a triple.

M12Shooter · Guru

Mainehunt wrote:
Mike27 wrote:
rune,
That was some heavy mobbing. I was waiting for a one shot double. I was yelling at my monitor to shoot already.
Welcome
Mike
Mike, Me too! there were a few times where if they had shot at just the right time, they could have had a triple.

IMO when using an owl, waiting until a bunch of crow gather and start to mob is the wrong action to take. I shoot every crow that comes into range. Letting them boil up over the deek befor shooting will educate way more than are killed. Just my 2 cents worth...

Ted

Mainehunt · Guru

Ted,

I completely agree. I would much rather have a hunt where they come in 2 or 3 at a time. I like to see over a hundred circling over my blind, but after a couple quick shots, the rest leave without much chance of them returning that day.

jonthepain · Guru

i've taken this one out a few times, but i seem to do better with no dekes at all.

plus i hate carrying stuff...

-- Edited by jonthepain on Tuesday 19th of March 2013 11:46:57 PM

Mainehunt · Guru

jonthepain wrote:
i've taken this one out a few times, but i seem to do better with no dekes at all.

plus i hate carrying stuff...

-- Edited by jonthepain on Tuesday 19th of March 2013 11:46:57 PM

I like the "bloody carcass" on the crow.