Larson traps.

[Stuart J]

Do they work to catch crows and rooks? Large number nesting beside my house and I'm trying to reduce the numbers somewhat, with difficulty!

 

[Jerry]

Do they work to catch crows and rooks? Large number nesting beside my house and I'm trying to reduce the numbers somewhat, with difficulty!

ladder trap better for rooks. Can catch large numbers in one go.

 

[A1an]

Yep, ladder trap is the way to go.

 

[PSQ]

We've had great success with Larsens for hoodies/ carrion and magpie.

Seeing a lot more magpie around the countryside this last few years. It's a bit galling when you're trying to 'do your bit' for wild bird numbers, but see 7, 8, 9 of the egg eating beggars thriving on near neighbours land, unabated.

 

[Dry Rot]

I posted the following on another thread. Thought it might be relevant as you are also in Scotland.

The law, at least in Scotland, is designed to be complicated and (I am convinced) to trap the unwary.

For example, the regulations mention restrictions on "meat baits". That is all well and good, but in the context of Larsen traps and bird protection (designed, I believe, by the SNP) the devil is in the detail. So I asked. Was put off, so kept asking. For example, are eggs "meat"? And if eggs are not meat, what about eggs with chicks inside? By the way, if you go to the link, I suggest reading the report at bed time. Especially recommended if you suffer from insomnia.

My question is, if unfertilised eggs are not meat, is a broken egg containing a developing chick meat?

Here is the official reply:

"This is interpreted from our commissioned report here - https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/Publication 2016 - SNH Commissioned Report 933 - Assessing the nature and use of corvid cage traps in Scotland - Part 3 of 4 - Trap operation and welfare.pdf

We also consider the use of rabbit fur as meat for the purposes of trapping".

 

[ImLost]

On the flip side, are magpies easy to catch in a ladder trap?

Quite literally plagued here at the moment as we basically border a housing estate to the south, a golf course and nature reserve to the north and east and farmland to the west, where its only really pigeons that get shot. I can't keep up with larsens, but if magpies can be caught in ladder traps I'll get one built.

 

[toquark]

Larsen traps are very effective, but I never had much luck with eggs/golf balls etc. You need a call bird from, I always got mine from a keeper friend.

I gave up when the SNP legislated them to near death. However I've been polluted with corvids this spring so I'm tempted to restart.

 

[Wilksy]

On the flip side, are magpies easy to catch in a ladder trap?

Quite literally plagued here at the moment as we basically border a housing estate to the south, a golf course and nature reserve to the north and east and farmland to the west, where its only really pigeons that get shot. I can't keep up with larsens, but if magpies can be caught in ladder traps I'll get one built.

Yes if you can get one to go in you should gather the lot

 

[HolzKopf]

We used to use a ladder trap for corvids and very successful it was too, sometimes 20 or 30 at one haul and that trap was generally most successfully sited at the back of a nine acre field just in front of a shaw of roost trees. Not obvious but certainly visible from a footpath if you knew what you were looking for.

Now, thanks to Packham and the general woke climate we have scaled our trapping right down and we no longer have neighbouring farms that trap or brancher shoot at all. As I have posted before, the skies and pastures are now black with corvids. This year's General Licences are based on last year's but again have tightened somewhat. Just more aggro to deal with.

Here is a good BASC link for how pest birds should be dealt with in Scotland https://basc.org.uk/gl/scotland/

HK

 

[Try to succeed]

Do they work to catch crows and rooks? Large number nesting beside my house and I'm trying to reduce the numbers somewhat, with difficulty!

You’ll successfully catch carrions in a Larsen. As said above a ladder trap for rooks. You’re doing the wildlife a gold service every time your take a magpie or carrion in a Larsen. Can’t just leave them in one place though, catch a pair then move to next territory. With the crash in gamekeeper numbers, all us farmers should be running a few traps each!

 

[scottish-lleyn]

Always found you could catch all corvids in any trap if you had an unknown call bird i used to swap mine back and forth with the local keepers and farmers and never failed to catch crows/magpies in larsons. Rooks and jackdaws are easy to catch in a ladder trap just leave it open for a few days baited well and then go down one night and shut it up ready to catch and your away.

 

[Stuart J]

Always found you could catch all corvids in any trap if you had an unknown call bird i used to swap mine back and forth with the local keepers and farmers and never failed to catch crows/magpies in larsons. Rooks and jackdaws are easy to catch in a ladder trap just leave it open for a few days baited well and then go down one night and shut it up ready to catch and your away.

What's best as bait?

 

[scottish-lleyn]

What's best as bait?

Used to use bread or rolls or maize or just a big pile of wheat or barley works. Rooks where hassleing our silage pit one year so just put a big pile of wholecrop in the trap and they went in.

 

[Try to succeed]

Don’t suppose anyone would have a carrion spare near top end of Notts??