magpie decoy...taxidermist advice

[ChakChek]

This is mainly for any taxydermist people on the forum, or anyone who has tried it...

i do alot of vermin control on a local estate and need to get rid of magpies which are driving the owner mad.

I have a plastic magpie decoy, but was wondering if anyone knows of anywhere i can read how to skin and stuff a dead magpie so that its wings are open to use as a decoy.

had a look on some webstie and they are going for £70 to work on a floater decoy rig.

anyhelp would be good

cheers :rolleyes:

[OutFlying]

Couldn't you just freeze one, then as you catch more - just freeze another ?

[BrianM]

yes or i find a plastic little owl brings the buggers in ,, ( the flapper kind)

[Redeye]

Could you not just gut it soak it in folmaldehyde which I believe you can still get from your local chemist. And pack it with cotton wool. This should keep one going for a good while.
Other than that just get a larsen i killed 50 last summer with one trap alone.

[KeithGlasgow]

Using a sharp scalpel, cut the skin along the keel of the breast bone towards the vent, about 3" or 4". Don't cut too deep, especially in the region of the stomach. Gently peel back the skin, or rather, using the scalpel sever the 'film' between the skin and the flesh, until the whole of the breast meat is exposed. Using your fingers and thumb, push up the birds knees (btn femur/tibia) and sever the knee joint. Skin down to the tail and around the vent area - be carefull, the skin can be quite thin. Don't cut through the base of the tail or you might loose the tail feathers. Skin up the back, again being carefull, until you reach the wings. Sever these where they meet the body. Skin up the neck and over the head to the beak (that bit I've made sound simple- it's not) Don't pull the neck skin hard, or you'll finish up with 2 skins - honest. Be carefull around the ear holes and eye sockets. Continue over the top of the head until the beak is reached. Clean the skull of any meat and wash out the brain. Gently pull out the wing bones as far as you can and clean all meat off the humerus and ulna region, being careful not to cut the base of the secondaries. Clean any meat or fat still adhering to the skin. And I forgot, clean the meat off the leg bones. Rub plenty of Borax (from you chemist) into the skin. Make an artificial body; 1. Carve it out of turf, styrafoam, or the blue dense foam for insulation. 2. Or bind one using woodwool and thread. Make it slightly smaller than the original. Make a neck for the body, and leave the wire slighty longer so as it can go through the skull. Make leg and wing wires. Reassemble everything, pushing the leg and wing wires through the artificial body, and clenching them, so they don't come out. Sew up the skin (after you've put it on the body). Insert glass eyes (from Snowdonia Taxidermy Studios, somewhere on the net). Leave it to dry for a few days, lightly binding any out of place feathers etc.

When you hear your magpies calling, you'll swear they are laughing! - I think, a larsen might just be a simpler option.

Keith.

[HunterPaul]

get a larson trap... and you will have far more success at clearing them, fun to shoot maybe but, if you need to clear them, larson my son....

[ChakChek]

cheers for the help and advice guys

i was gunna get a larsen last spring, but because of what happened to my finger i couldnt and i dont wanna go setting any until next spring when they are fighting over territories

Brian, does the owl decoy work? iv read about it but iv never really seen it as something that would work very well