doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT. IRS points Corncrake...

Sorry, corncrake, not corncrane
http://www.birdguides.com/html/vidlib/species/Crex_crex.htm

thanks, Geno. I guess "corn fed" is always tasty, even when the "corn" in question is really wheat, which it usually is where you find corncrakes.

I personally don't find gamebirds that eat animals like snails and fish to be very tasty, but some do. I've seen rails and read about hunting them, but never have done it. Looks like a great way to find out if your waders leak...

Any body eaten rails? Do they require "special handling" like diving ducks?

Looks like an interesting bird! I googled up crex-crex, and found many articles on the corncrake/crex-crex, etc! Most of the articles mentioned that the bird is in decline in most areas that it is found, due to agricultural practices.

One article did mention that the corncrake, at least in the short term, was doing well in Russia, due to the fact that many small farms have been abandoned. Over time though, when the habitat changes from grasslands to a more timbered environment, this could spell trouble for the corncrake.

What is your take on this Geno?

We hunt Virginia Rails on the Georgia Coast. You wait for a spring tide or a nor'easter to get the water up and then pole or paddle a light boat through the Spartina Grass marshes and shoot when the birds flush. Limits are generous. They do not fly well, but are rather tasty IMHO...Geo

Cameron,

corncrakes are in great number here, probably the most widespread bird at North-West of Russia and especially, when the weather is pretty hot in summer. Just a little bit to the South around Moscow region and far an Europian quail dominates.
Most of the hunters do not like to hunt corncrakes, 'cause it runs from the dog and prefer quail to corncrakes. Probably they didn't train their dog enough for these birds, but my first dog did them just great. My present dog does concrakes pretty good as well as you can see in video.
But I have to explain a little bit the rules of hunting with pointing dogs over here. We don't need dead point from dogs here, dog has to help to hunter to flash a bird after pointing, that's why I said to my dog all the time: Go Ahead - Go ahead - Where is the bird?...