seen 4 last friday couldnt get a shot off tho

minktrapper wrote: »

Seriously though they are very scarce around here.

Don't complain, you can have them from my area if you want.
My father shoots at least 5 a week this time of year. He gets them early morning, we have found a good flight line on the way too a farm yard. They land on a old willow tree which is half dead, There feeding on pit maze they seam to love it. We can't shoot the roost it's beside a housing estate.

minktrapper wrote: »

What is the best way of finding their roost. If it is possible or is it just luck if you find it.

If you know where the larger woods are in your area you can go there in the afternoon. As dusk approaches they will begin to arrive in ones and two's and later in larger groups.

If well hidden in the woods they will not see you and when you fire and they don't know where the shot came from they will quickly return.

If nothing comes in then you know you have the wrong wood......you can try a different wood another evening.

In some woods rooks will roost, others have magpies and other have greycrows. They will not roost together mixed ..they tend to keep apart.

In a wood we used to shoot which is very long and narrow....about 3 miles long.......the rooks roosted at the beginning, the greycrows in the middle and the magpies were at the very end.

If you check a wood that has nothing coming in and it's very large then check the opposite end some other night.

A word of caution:
if you are roost shooting for greycrows and they begin to come in don't just shoot everything arriving.....hawks will also roost in the same wood and owls will frequently hover through....as it's dusk and the light is fading double check anything arriving, making 100% sure it's a greycrow, before you take a pop at it.

Despite being thoroughly satisfying, a shotgun is a waste of time compared to the larsen trap imo.
But as I said the trap isn't much fun.

hit a spot this evening just half hour before dark came good few grey backs came in to roost was hard enough to get shots off but managed to knock 3 grey backs out of it ,was looking at another spot on way home and spotted where theres a good number of magpies coming in to roost so will be hiting that very soon now .

J.R. wrote: »

The beauty of this type of shooting is that nearly every cartridge can count......a box of cartridges could easily end up with 25 greycrows / magpies.

Remaining motionless is the trick as they will spot movement and hear talking immediately. If you are well camouflaged (birds can see colour) , especially with your face and hands covered so that no skin shines out, and you are positioned beside a tree they will find it impossible to see you.

Even when a shot is fired....wait until they perch to be sure of a kill........they will rise and fly around but if they cannot see you they will perch again. If you can line up 2 /3 perched near each other or in a line then one shot can be very productive.

Three or four lads in a wood of an evening can account for serious numbers.

Do not hit the wood night after night......they will leave.....about once a fortnight is okay. The trick is to have enough woods to go to to keep the locations rotated.

thats it i only managed a few shots branches took alot of the shot but got 3 was happy enough, i wont hit that spot now for a while was watching this evening and most of counted about 15 magpies coming into a spot they didnt hold there long but will hit it tommoro evening and see what happens .