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Crows and Gulls

G1ZmO

G1ZmO

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I never see anything about folk shooting crows and gulls for food despite being so common.
Do they taste like kack?
 
Yup, some fool protected the dirty vicious burgers ...no idea why.
 
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I think a lot of people don’t realise that most birds are protected to some degree, even pigeons and crows. They are however covered by the terms of what’s known as the open license. The result of this is that it’s only legal to shoot them if they are causing genuine problems, ie damaging cropping etc in the case of pigeon. From a legal point of view they can’t be taken purely for food only to prevent damage. :)
 
Bionic said:
I think a lot of people don’t realise that most birds are protected to some degree, even pigeons and crows. They are however covered by the terms of what’s known as the open license. The result of this is that it’s only legal to shoot them if they are causing genuine problems, ie damaging cropping etc in the case of pigeon. From a legal point of view they can’t be taken purely for food only to prevent damage. :)
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Flying rats are fair game in my veg garden and I have enough veg to cook with thm
 
Legally there is a distinction between feral pigeons, rock doves and wood pigeons. I have never heard of anyone being convicted for shooting either feral pigeons or wood pigeons...there is the 2006 animal welfare act to prevent cruelty and animal suffering and there is the 1981 wildlife and countryside act....both acts are open to interpretation and are difficult to implement.
 
I just realised I made a typo in my earlier post, it’s general license not open licence. Feral pigeon have fewer restrictions on shooting but woodies technically should only be shot if causing damage to crops etc. I’ve also never heard of anyone being taken to task over either but the terms of the GC are something anyone who shoots should be aware of Link
 
Damage or contamination of animal feed/food crops would have been my reason for controlling wood pigeons in the past but I have eaten the evidence.:whistle:
This is an example of legislation that could cause a dramatic increase in a pest species if it where actually enforced, well thought out Westminster :rolleyes:
 
Bionic said:
I just realised I made a typo in my earlier post, it’s general license not open licence. Feral pigeon have fewer restrictions on shooting but woodies technically should only be shot if causing damage to crops etc. I’ve also never heard of anyone being taken to task over either but the terms of the GC are something anyone who shoots should be aware of Link
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Indeed in my farmer days, various farms would agree a day when all would shoot woodies , the idea being it keeps them in the air.......and by golly they taste good.
In those days I obviously shot with a shotgun, recently been using an air rifle (Weihrauch HW97K) but am reinvesting in a cheapish 12 bore for rough shooting, an ATA.
Never (excepting rats) held with shooting anything I'm not going to eat..............
 
Since I keep poultry I will shoot foxes and mink if I need to (both pretty unpalletable) but it's actually more effective to trap them near the chicken run before humanely dispatching them.
 
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Absolutely...Foxes (and crows) would sometimes takes piglets, and indeed I would shoot if possible shoot in the field/run, but that only indicated I needed to improve my stockkeeping methods/systems/management to keep them out in the first place. I did once, try a fox....and no, it was awful:poo:

Mink are vermin and aren't indigenous, much as I love mustelids:)...like muntjac....now they DO taste sublime......:thumbsup:
 
I was told that crows taste only when they are very young. You have to steal them out of the nest.

An important point is to know, that crows are more or less intelligent like dogs.
It is possible to become friends with wild crows. In the end they sit on your shoulder.
If they don't really cause damages perhaps it would be better to let them alive.

My brother told me, that crows have a develloped moral:
If a foreign crow wants to join the group, they test the newby.
The chef hides some food, but like this, that the new one can see it.
If he respects that the food is owned by some body else, he is allowed to join the club. If he steals it, they kick him out.

Crows are the most intelligent birds after the raven in our European nature.
 
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