Swedish hunter talks about ways to fight the crows
Many useful for those who participate in the destruction of the crows, said an experienced hunter Shёkvist. His story was published in one of the issues of the Swedish hunting magazine “Svensk jakt”.
Sjökvist is a 53-year-old shooter on the stand who has repeatedly won prizes at national championships. Raven has been engaged in the destruction since childhood, especially intensively - the last 10 years. He considers shooting at these birds to be difficult and interesting.
The indispensable conditions for success are timely and thorough preparation, endurance, the right choice of the way of hunting. Sjökvist repeatedly stressed that when hunting for crows, it is not enough just to stand in the right place and wait for the birds to appear.
When shooting a bullet, the hunter fires through the mesh grid. When hunting for crows you need to be always ready, to remain still, even if you shoot at dusk at dusk. If the hunt is in the morning, it is better to take a comfortable place before dawn. Rainy, overcast weather is the best time to hunt for ravens. On a clear, cold morning, the birds fly at an altitude of 300–400 m.
Shekvist always uses impressive equipment; a pair of stuffed owl (one made of plastic, the other, of its own making, from the fur of a hare), a decoy for the crows, a tape recording of a crow's cry, stuffed crows and fox fur.
Shekvist conducted many experiments with this equipment to determine the best way to attract the crows to the distance of the correct shot. When using stuffed owl or tape recordings, it was often observed that a high flying crow was drastically reduced. Scarecrows should not be set too high; the main thing that they were noticeable to the crows. It was a good hunt when placing stuffed at a height of 3-5 m on young spruce trees.
Crows react differently to stuffed animals. Sometimes they attack a self-made stuffed hare, sometimes they react better to a stuffed plastic. Often, good results are brought by fox-skin.
Briefly about weapons: Shekvist uses a semi-automatic with two charges. Semiautomatic has a small return when shooting. Otherwise, he says, you come home with bruises on his shoulder. As for bullet shooting, Sjökvist prefers a 5.6 mm carbine for his quiet shot and good fight.
An interesting experiment is being conducted to destroy the gray ravens in Sweden. Currently, the number of annually destroyed birds is 120 thousand, while the number of hunters is 300 thousand people. It was calculated that if each member of a hunting society destroys at least two crows, the effectiveness of the fight against these pests will increase markedly.
In order to interest the hunters in the destruction of gray pests, it was decided to ring 385 ravens, 16 in each area. The hunted bird should send the ring along with a description of the place, time and circumstances of the hunt to the central union of society, located in Stockholm.
The winner of the ring is awarded a gold badge in the form of a flying crow. The cost of the badge is 1000 CZK (200 US dollars). For those who are not lucky in the production of ringed birds, but who will produce at least two hundred crows, a prize is also given upon presentation of the birds' paws. The most successful hunter is waiting for a special prize - a set of the best hunting cartridges.
Scientists believe that the experiment will make it possible to determine with great precision the migration of the black crows in the country, their habitats and the extent of damage to farming and hunting. admission essay