CORVID TRAP

[BFC 007]

Recently purchased a corvid trap from the TRAP MAN in lancashire,does anyone have any baiting tips or suggestions? Has anyone got 1 of these?

[BFC 007]

posted this in the wrong index....soz

[Finnish]

Have you got any pics of one???

[BFC 007]

not on the pc mate but if you goto THE TRAPMAN.CO.UK its on there
its the one with a door on either end

[ColdZero]

a fenn trap? to be successful you need a live corvid in the trap already, and then a rabbit with its guts showing is the best bait. But any meat will do...roadkill etc. Not sure if you mean fenn trap, but i'm sure it works in the same way.

[Chris S]

if you put anything in a fenn trap cold0 you will see there guts,
you mean a larsson trap you will need a live bird this is the hard bit i would go and get a young bird just before it leaves the nest done this with a magpie got very tame and great for catching others in a trap.

[Jack Merlin]

If you have snow, now is the time to try to trap a live corvid. They should be hungry. Bait it with a dead rabbit or pigeon and make it look as much as possible like a natural kill with scattered feathers or fur and blood on the snow. Other than that, beg a bait bird off a friendly gamekeeper.

[ColdZero]

yeah...:oops:

[BFC 007]

thanx for that jack merlin,been using a couple of day old chicks & bread at the moment

[Jack Merlin]

If they will go for that, I agree, use it for bait.

Most corvids are pretty suspicious so they prefer to eat what they expect to find. Obviously, trapping is easier when they are hungry, so during frosts and snow is a good time!

[Shaun Byrne]

You could also try a plastic little owl in the decoy section, crows cant help but attack them.

[Gos212]

Hi 007,

I use the very same trap and find that chicken eggs work OK too. The keepers on the estate near me use nothing but eggs in their Larsen traps.

Even with a live decoy in it and a 3 course meal you'll find that they are very suspicious of the trap cos its something new.

I think I had it for a few weeks before they went in.

I had to tyrap the rabbit bait to the wire mesh 'cos the weasels kept pulling it out !

[ColdZero]

if you are gonna use eggs, try making a nest, might sound stupid but its more natural to them, just bits of grass and twigs will do.

[BFC 007]

found a pheasant on side of road today & put that in the cage,plucked a few feathers out & scattered them
guts on show-just a matter of time before my saker gets a rook in her feet :wink:

[ColdZero]

just a matter of time before my saker gets a rook in her feet Wink

what???

[BFC 007]

TRYING TO GET HER CHASING ROOKS !!!

[ColdZero]

well i gathered that...but i was hoping i misunderstood about you using bagged game.

[BFC 007]

its not bagged game-gonna be dead game !!!

[OhMyGod]

007 If you are going to throw up dead rooks for your bird, they prefer them fresh as opposed to ones killed a couple hours previously.

I would also put rook wings on my lure

If you want your saker to take them You will have to get her very fit.

It's better getting her entered on young ones which will be the first birds to breed each year. Think you will struggle to go out and catch some now if your bird has not taken them before, but deffinately not impossible.

If I were in a country where I could use baggies, this is where I would use them, to build up the birds confidence on hardcore winter rooks. You don't want your bird to go off them before she has even taken any.

I would like to catch about 10 before missing any to keep her on them with utter determination.

I wouldn't be tempted to slip near trees as your saker may break feathers if she's aggressive.

[BFC 007]

HI OMG-sakers been out the hack pen since middle of january,im getting 35-40 passes on the lure from her in a single bout,i place a dead rook at range of 2-300 metres which she attacks eagerly but if i try & slip her at a real one she shows interest then ignores it.
like u say,wait for the spring rooks
cheers

[OhMyGod]

Seriously mate. Don't ruin her before she is going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once you have slipped her and she is not taking them she will be sooo put off.!!

Like I said mate. If I were in a country where I could use b's legally I would use them in this instance. You want to aim for ten strait kills without a single miss.

The young uns will be hear VERY shortly.

You can fly her more than once per day but if you fly her soo hard that she is exausted you will need to wait a couple days for glycogen to rebuild.

Somtimes it's better to do a few passes and let her think she has caught you out early instead of just throwing it up. try and let her catch it in the same style as you usually pass to make her chase it harder really using her muscles to the max output. It's not always good to fly till exausted, but just a bit before so she catches you out with good speed so she knows she's brill.

What did she do last year

[OhMyGod]

Get real close to them at first. Slip from a car and find different rookerys to slip from. Not the same one. You will only really get a couple good slips per rookery per month so you'll have to look around abit for loads of places

[BFC 007]

What did she do last year
she is last years bird mate untouched until january
ive been doing excatly how you have advised,letting her catch it on good downwind stoops every now & then which makes her do the same next time around
ive also been round local farmers & i have permission on 5-6 farms,not sure of the acreage but they all join up with each other so if the flight goes off im able to track down on foot without driving round roads trying to get to the next farm or wherever to find her

[OhMyGod]

One of the best places to get your bird entered on rooks is a landfill. because they will always go into the hole in an evening just as the site closes, and bird control and everyone else is gone home. If your bird is 100 ft above the rook before it has even seen it your bird will dominate it from the start, and will probably make a kill.

She will need to have good footing to take rooks well.

Farms that join up are good for the reasons you said earlier, but bad in the way that rooks will get used to you, your vehicle your bird in no time and they all call to each other from great distance and pass on the messege you are coming. better to find totally different spots, few miles away. and only go to each a couple times a month.