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We've never managed to have a good day on crows with the Crow but today the sun is shining
in crowsville and there's plenty of corvids in the air.
As normal, Andy has had his beady eye of the flight lines and what these birds are up to.
He has seen the numbers build over the past week and today is the day to put all that
prep to the test.
Just over the back of this shore we have got here, he has just cut about 50 acres of silage
and he has got quite a lot of crows and jackdaws going on there so I am going to stick a few
crow decoys out and see if I can decoy a few of those in for something to do this afternoon.
They tend to follow this hedge line down and make for the fields over the back there.
So the plan is hopefully to get under them and shoot a few of them.
They are not in the grass are they, what is interesting in the silage?
No, they after the leatherjackets, a lot of leatherjackets and any earthworms they can
get, but is mainly leatherjackets they are after.
Some people have a problem with shooting jackdaws but, like many arable farmers, Andy sees the
damage they do in their never-ending quest for grubs.
We have put our corn in and it is so slow in getting going and the crows are just finding
a row and the jackdaws and they are just going up and there are quite a few farmers round
here they have had to redrill where the jackdaws have been down the row and dug up seeds.
Hopefully it is a way of getting a few of them.
With corvids being so cunning we have to Out Crow the crow - Andy has to have his hide
more hidden than a hide in hiding.
I have pushed my way back into the trees there.
I am not going to get, I am trying to keep it as well closed in as possible.
So I can shoot out through here.
I can shoot out through there.
I don't want the crows coming in from behind and seeing me so I want a bit of a canopy
over the back of me as well.
They have such good eyesight they really have.
The old camera man is going to have to keep going out the way a bit today I think.
The decoys are also important.
Crows, rooks and jackdaws are super sensitive to seeing their own kind in trouble or looking
a bit crumpled: fallen birds and a pattern looking less than natural will destroy your
chances.
Sometimes crows and jackdaws come in better than pigeons do, but everything has to be
right.
Full bodied crow decoys are the best.
They want to be flock coated as well.
They look so real ... as well they just want to look lifelike.
If you watch a flock of crows one minute they are all together and then there is a gap.
So I have left it a bit sparse here and I have put them a little bit tighter over there,
just to make them look as natural as possible.
Got a dozen or 20 of these out there get in the hide and see what happens.
Having set out our shop, it's time to see if we can attract some customers with our
window dressing.
Incredibly all Andy's recce-ing has paid off and the birds start decoying straight away.
It has been a good day.
This is not really something we've filmed before.
The closest we've had to a good day on the crows was with Mr Digweed.
Knowing the fallen birds will definitely interupt our flow, Crow heads out to clean up the pattern
and grab the odd runner.
Andy always does the leg work on crow days leaving the dog at home, as they could get
hurt.
I don't like bringing the dogs out as they peck the dogs that is the reason why I am
doing the running and the dogs are back in the run in the cool and I am doing the running.
Hottest day of the year and I am chasing jackdaws and crows around the field.
I suppose the answer is kill everything you shoot at, but I am not that good.
It's so satisfying when a plan comes together and we can't quite believe how well it's going.
The last time we tried crow shooting we got half a dozen on a bitterly cold day six months
ago.
We have done quite well.
Some are decoying, but we are getting some nice long shots which is quite nice.
I will be disappointed if we are not over 100 already.
A few droppers all round, but we have retrieved most of them.
Just don't know for how much longer they will keep coming.
Just hope they keep coming.
It would be nice to make 120, 130.
That will be your best day will it?
It will be at these, yes.
Today it's sunny, hot, the crows are flooding in, and Andy is shooting like a god with the
Lincoln over-and-under - even under the scrutiny of Crow-mo.
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With the sunshine, you can even see the glint of the Gamebore shot as it leaves the gun.
These birds seem to be much stronger than a pigeon, so you need the extra knock down
power of a quality cartridge.
The skies clear for a moment so it's time for another clear-up.
Andy throws in an A1 Decoys flapper to see if that makes any difference.
Yes, I just put a flapper out that is the A1 sent me to try out.
Here comes one.
Are you on it David?
Watch your head.
The birds are so keen today they are even coming in when Andy's out front.
If the pattern wasn't working at line speed before, it is now.
We started shooting at half past two and we pack up about 7 0'clock.
It was going to be earlier but time just flies when there's the remotest chance of that "one
last bird".
Andy does some calculating and it's his best day ever on the crows.
More than 200 birds, double his previous best.
It has been a great afternoon yes they have come down this headland like hoped they would
and go into this field.
They did decoy quite well.
This is the best day I have had.
Yes, it has been a good afternoon.
Some nice shots, real high stuff coming over and some decoyed well and think of the young
birds we have saved in shooting these.
They do eat a lot of eggs and chicks this time of year.
Even the jackdaws do.
People under estimate the damage jackdaws do.
It has worked really well.
So we have had a great day.
A red letter day on the crows with crow not to mention the slow-mo Crow-mo.