I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

After an effective first outing, Tom Sykes heads back to his new permission with a better plan to push the crows off the farmer's feed.

- Tom Sykes

Last month I wrote about acquiring a new permission from a neighbouring farm and how I didn’t hesitate to get stuck straight in to some crow action with an improvised strategy. I intercepted the crows on the outskirts of the buildings as they headed back to the farm after the disturbance I caused looking for potential ambush sights. Although this was effective, I wanted to get stuck into them properly by setting up in the cattle building where they wanted to feed.

This month I’m back, but this time I mean business and have an organised game plan.

The location

The cattle shed is a large building that is open on two sides with separate pens full of cows. This meant the crows were free to come as they pleased, with the open sides making it ideal for a speedy escape. One of the sides has a walkway running down the whole length of the building with bales lined down one side against a large wooden fence that separated it from a horse ménage. The ménage also had a few feeders in where the farmer had left bullocks in during the day. The barn had the most potential to be an ambush site, but there was little to no cover to conceal me and the concrete floor made it difficult to set up a conventional hide – so I had to think outside the box.