Your owl wan...

alan123

Any tips on using the owl decoy? Ive tried it with crows with little success. What about a pigeon set up, would you include an owl in a hedge to pull in a few crows or would it scare off the pigeons??

bunny shooter

using rifle or shotgun ?

alan123

shotgun.

bunny shooter

tried owl decoys myself. both large one and smaller one with flapping wings.....

not much luck with either one to be honest

magpie decoy and some bread or a dead rabbit carcass slit open and they will flock into it...........especially early in the morning........

alan123

A two foot owl will make a nice gift for the baby. As if I didnt have enough useless stuff around the house as it is!!!

bunny shooter

gave my big owl to me dad he has it in the garden to keep away noisy starlings they hate it !!!!!

J.R.

Alan 123,

I used the large owl on numerous occasions with mixed results.

The first time we used it we set it up over the hide about two fields away from where crows were feeding. Some scout crows approached and began to caw frantically. Flock after flock approached, coming right over the hide. As the shooting continued more and more came in - no fear of the shots - they were just frantic to mob the owl.......one of our best days crow shooting!

When we used it again we set in out in the field with decoys around it as if trying to mob it. It was alright that day ...nothing spectacular!

On the third occasion we set the owl out in the field with a toy fur rabbit and had crow and magpie decoys on nearby bushes as if ready to mob. The crows completely ignored it ....even went out of their way to avoid it as soon as they saw it! Not one crow would cross the field that day even though we were on their flightpath....so we took it down after half an hour.

As you can see ...mixed results. On all occasions we had well built hides and were very well camouflaged, using a Lockvogel crow call. We can't pinpoint the reason for such success on the first day.

We intend to use it more this year to give it a true test and discover best method, if any.

Will keep you posted if we discover a reliable decoy pattern and set up.

Manic Moran

Not being much of an ornithologist, but can I surmise from this thread that crows and owls don't like each other?

What's the merit to hunting crow? Pest control?

NTM

alan123

Thanks JR, let me know if you pinpoint the secret to the owl. The theory is Manic that the crows see the owl as a threat and are attracted to it to mob it and drive it away. Crows and rabbit make up the shoting at this time of year while everything else is out of season. They are also deemed pests.

J.R.

This guy in the States seems to have no problem attracting crows to the owl decoy

Victor

With the 'dead' rabbit, were the crows spooked into thinking "this guy means business"?

20m from my bedroom window is a large oak, one of 100+ mature trees. The magpies seem to be dominant in the area. One morning at 4:30am, the crows came along to try to take over the oak. Boy was there a racket. I think the neighbourhood would have appreciated a shotgun or two.

bunny shooter

As you probably know crows eat carrion e.g. dead things.....

dead rabbit is like McDonald's take away to them.

Magpies eat carrion too...........

Hence there is an element of competiton..........

Crows normally 'gang up' on the competition e.g. magpies, owls birds of prey and mob them...........................

Could have been a fox too...............crows and magpies mob foxes too !!!!!!!!!!

Clare gunner

Your two last pics say somthing wrong! The crows are too symertrical in their layout and too evenly spaced from the owl.Crows are cheeky and will close the distance onto the owl no bother.Plus which way was the wind blowing?Crows tend to land into the wind and then walk to their target.
Same with piegon decoys,you have to set them right otherwise no piegon will come near them.It is a learnt experiance,not somthing scientific.The more you do on decoy set outs the more experianced you will become to the wrongness of the decoy set up.
The rabbit scene,good idea except the bunny is white!!Not very many white rabbits about,so it could freak the crows away.

J.R.

Some interesting observations, Clare Gunner.

The crows were placed around the owl as an experiment ...we had seen crows attempting to mob a buzzard in a field a fews days previous and this was the set up we witnessed and just copied it. There was no wind the day the decoys were set up...just still air so it didn't matter what direction the crows were facing.

The 'white rabbit' does look unnatural, I must admit, but it is an absolute cracker at drawing greycrows into a decoy pattern. We always use it when decoying either crows, magpies or pigeon, placing it close to the hedge away from the main pattern. The greycrows, if it the vicinity, begin to call as soon as they spot it, often a great distance away. They come straight in with no fear or wariness. I'm not sure how it works ....must be easy for them to see at long distance, but they come right in. I also have same 'rabbit' in brown natural colour fur but it's not as effective at all! Seening that it worked with greycrow decoys we decided to give it a bash with the owl decoy.

We will continue to experiment with the owl this season and hopefully come across a pattern / setup that works again & again.

P.S. the greycrow is a black crow decoy with the body painted in 'slate grey'..we made three of them & they're worth their weight in gold...often used them on the magnet as well with quite a degree if success.

Clare gunner

Other thing could be is the "kill" with the owl?Owls generally carry off their prey,and it is unusual for them to hunt by day,or to take very large prey by day as well. Belive it or not crows could be suss enough of somthing like that.As an owl flying with a rabbit would have a job defending itself against crows they would be waiting for it to fly so they could mob to deprive it of its's prey.So maybe an owl sitting with a large prey in an open field was too suss for the local crows?

bunny shooter

JR you can buy grey crow decoys from Casale 2000 Ltd in Cashel, Co. Tipp. tel. (062) 63106