High end biological optics

[D in lv]

I recently experienced a group of ravens working over a carcass. I passed it for several days until they were pretty much gone. That morning a raven began accompanying me pretty close, 20 yards, flying ahead then waiting for me to catch up. After about a mile we reached a clearing where the raven flew across, landed on a snag about 500 yards away and began to "chortle" a sound that was a little weird. There stood a doe and fawn. Okay, ravens are really smart, but smart enough to lead hunters to the game they are after? If they are how come they don't know how to tell a buck from a doe?

 

[dennisinaz]

I always wanted a pet raven to find bucks for me!

 

[duckhunter175]

Very cool!! I've had some smart 'Camp Robbers' that came back to the same elk wallow we sat on... they would literally land on our feet and hands...and theyve been there two years in a row!

 

[HangNail]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit. Smart birds and there is nothing they don't notice in their world

 

[epoletna]

When I was on safari in East Africa buzzards would follow the Land Rover for miles. They'd be high above us, but it was obvious they correlated Land Rovers with dead animals, and they were seldom disappointed over the course of a day.

 

[Canhunter35]

I recently experienced a group of ravens working over a carcass. I passed it for several days until they were pretty much gone. That morning a raven began accompanying me pretty close, 20 yards, flying ahead then waiting for me to catch up. After about a mile we reached a clearing where the raven flew across, landed on a snag about 500 yards away and began to "chortle" a sound that was a little weird. There stood a doe and fawn. Okay, ravens are really smart, but smart enough to lead hunters to the game they are after? If they are how come they don't know how to tell a buck from a doe?

that's really cool and doesn't surprise me in the least. Did u feel bad about letting the raven go hungry?

 

[26Reload]

Ravens and crows have lead us to dead or wounded animals....but never to a buck or bull before shooting....
So....i think the "chortle" you were hearing was the raven laughing at you for being lead on a 'wild raven chase'......
But seriously...yes...they have got to use their sense of smell to find carrion to eat....why waste time searching if they can get you to shoot it for them.....

 

[robert l]

I recently experienced a group of ravens working over a carcass. I passed it for several days until they were pretty much gone. That morning a raven began accompanying me pretty close, 20 yards, flying ahead then waiting for me to catch up. After about a mile we reached a clearing where the raven flew across, landed on a snag about 500 yards away and began to "chortle" a sound that was a little weird. There stood a doe and fawn. Okay, ravens are really smart, but smart enough to lead hunters to the game they are after? If they are how come they don't know how to tell a buck from a doe?

That is cool when i was much younger i use to build houses and i had a crow which i would share my lunch with.long story short we would move to another sub division about 5 miles away and that crow would show up for lunch.he knew where to go.pretty smart for a bird brain.

 

[Ckgworks]

They can even count to 16! I couldn't find the actual article, but I found reference to it below......link and excerpt from it below. They are incredibly smart birds. The other day at work, one of the guys at work forgot a black bag of garbage in the back of his truck, he was supposed to drop it in the dumpster by his shop on the way to work......Within a few minutes of him going into the office there was three crows sitting on his truck. I can only guess they recognized the black bags as garbage.

"Crows are smart. I have seen them pluck nuts from trees and dash them on the stones below. The youngest ones dropped their nuts from the highest. The old crows would wait below for the prize. With age comes wisdom. But can they count? Maybe so.

A farmer in England found that every day he went in his blind in the field, the crows would stay away. But once he had left, they would fly into the fields and feed. He brought a friend with him one day to follow him into the blind, thinking the crows would spot one of them leaving and then come down to eat at the crops, thinking that no one was watching.


But the crows knew that a second man was still in the blind. The next day they tried it with another man, then another. The crows counted and subtracted. They knew that someone was still waiting for them in the blind. It was only after they reached 16 men that the crows lost count"

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjABegQIEBAG&usg=AOvVaw3TrduM6lzd7Yzf-cADTiHZ

 

[dennisinaz]

But seriously...yes...they have got to use their sense of smell to find carrion to eat....why waste time searching if they can get you to shoot it for them.....

Ravens have very little in the way of olfactory senses. They use their amazing eyesight to find carrion. I don't know if it is true with ravens, but buzzards can find it simply by the reflection off the flies wings as they buzz around the dead meat.

If you could train a raven to hunt for you it would be amazing the amount of game you would find.

 

[JTW24]

They can even count to 16! I couldn't find the actual article, but I found reference to it below......link and excerpt from it below. They are incredibly smart birds. The other day at work, one of the guys at work forgot a black bag of garbage in the back of his truck, he was supposed to drop it in the dumpster by his shop on the way to work......Within a few minutes of him going into the office there was three crows sitting on his truck. I can only guess they recognized the black bags as garbage.

"Crows are smart. I have seen them pluck nuts from trees and dash them on the stones below. The youngest ones dropped their nuts from the highest. The old crows would wait below for the prize. With age comes wisdom. But can they count? Maybe so.

A farmer in England found that every day he went in his blind in the field, the crows would stay away. But once he had left, they would fly into the fields and feed. He brought a friend with him one day to follow him into the blind, thinking the crows would spot one of them leaving and then come down to eat at the crops, thinking that no one was watching.


But the crows knew that a second man was still in the blind. The next day they tried it with another man, then another. The crows counted and subtracted. They knew that someone was still waiting for them in the blind. It was only after they reached 16 men that the crows lost count"

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjABegQIEBAG&usg=AOvVaw3TrduM6lzd7Yzf-cADTiHZ

I'd like to see 16 men fit into a double bull..

 

[dreamhunt]

at least there's some positive side to it all.