I have been looking at the gardens around my area, that I can see from the road. The ones that normally have a good stand of corn by now are bare also!

I hate to do it, but I'm thinking of cleaning up my old 16 gage shotgun that hasn't been shot in about 20 years!

Besides, I don't think crows will be on the endangered species list anytime soon.

On a more serious note, have you tried row covers to get the plants past the infancy stage? I've got to put bird netting over EVERYTHING, as like you're experiencing, they're getting worse and worse every year. I can pull it off once the plants are a couple feet high--the birds seem to leave them alone then.

Rabbits, birds, mice, anything that I can't squish between my thumb and forefinger is kept in line with whatever goose shot left over from hunting season (although those steel shells are getting expensive I might have to buy some good old fashioned lead).

Are claymores imaginative enough? Perhaps a triple strand of concertina wire thrown around the perimeter for good measure. I met some Iraqi's that could probably teach me how to rig up an RC car remote and a soda bottle full of nails to detonate on a heat signature... Well actually I can't ask them anymore (I don't think insurgents locked up in IP prisons are afforded the luxury of Skype), but they were definitely some imaginative SOB's.

My garden is secure, as are my chickens.
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Same here. Just different ways of going about it.

ultimately ecology has to serve us.If something invades our backyard, that is a war.

Now......back to the vegetables.

To be clear, I don't shoot until they give me a reason to shoot. Yes, I hunt, but, as a way to put good meat on the table not because of any harbored animosity towards those animals.

We are probably wired very differently, and I was probably raised a little differently. I come from a family who homesteaded in Colorado since the gold rush times and in my grandparents and great grandparents time, the garden and the farm were not just some "back to the earth" hobby movement. Animals who killed livestock or ripped up plants were not simply an annoyance, they were quite literally stealing food off the table that was depended on. Spending a lot of time on that homestead growing up, that's how I was brought up. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of defensive measures in place, just as I have now, but sometimes you do have to take the offense.

Course, then I grew up, and after I got out of Active Duty I got myself one of those fancy educations in, of all things, biology. I do realize there is SOME compromise to be made. So, I take as much of a "live and let live" approach as my psyche will allow. But, when I wake up and find rabbits munching on my freshly sprouted beans or blood soaked feathers, for me, it's time to take action.

My comment was also in jest. I would have thought adding an "LOL" followed by "On a more serious note," followed by an actual suggestion that didn't involve shooting birds would have been enough to make that clear. Sigh...Probably best to leave the humor for the folks over on the compost forum.

But I disagree with "If the plants are not there rule out the crow."

I have been farming a long time too and I have witnessed them digging up untreated seed many times. We used to grow 40 acres of feed corn every year.

My Dad saved his seeds so they weren't treated.

They didn't rot in the ground, the air and soil temps were very high and I didn't have any rain, I had to water my garden.

Okra, crowder peas, and everything else came up fine. So rotting is out of the picture.

I got lucky, a car hit a crow right down the road. I don't have to shoot one now, I hate killing something that I'm not going to eat. I have it hanging on a pole in the garden now. I haven't saw a crow since yesterday afternoon, except up the road! That was Dads old trick.

Yes, I know that I can still plant sweet corn now, even though it isn't recommended by Clemson EXT. They recommend Apr. 15-30. And they have a valid reason for this, Pests!

I have tried planting this late before and the worms destroyed the whole crop.

I agree, and I realize my methods are not for everyone and that everyone has their own way or doing things. As I said, no way is right or wrong, just different.

Loribee,

Don't feel bad, I don't have ANY hard feelings, and I'm not upset. If I in any ways gave the impression that I was I apologize! I didn't take anyone's comments as an attack or offensive. We better not leave the humor to the guys in the compost forum, I don't visit there and this place would be pretty dang boring without it ;).

Now back to Wertach and the poor corn!

Now that is a good idea. Solves the problem with minimal killing.

Since both the common rat and house mouse are european imports, predation on stored produce was easier to control.

I had a serious problem with raccoons digging up and eating corn from a late planting. It took 2 weeks of setting a live trap nightly to catch the two doing the damage. So far this year, I've trapped 2 groundhogs, 1 opossum, 2 raccoons, and 3 feral cats. The cats were relocated to barns in the countryside where they can do some good. The rest won't be causing problems again.

I believe in live and let live, but also recognize that opportunistic feeders like raccoons and crows and groundhogs must be stopped if I am to get any benefit from the hard work I put into my garden.