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Only the Curonian Spit is characterized by crow hunting for food. Crow meat has been enriching the inhabitants’ menu all year round, especially in autumn. Crow hunting is mostly practised by old fishermen and adolescents. Seeking to attract the birds, they assume various means. In order to attract and fluster the birds, they used dried fly agarics, cereal soaked in vodka, etc. Old networks were also used for traps. A caught crow was tied up with a string to a peg, above which the net was thrown over from the top. The pulling string of the net was extended to a hiding place made from sticks, where the hunters were watching for the crows. Attracted by the croaking of the tied up crow, a bigger band of crows was flying in, and after pulling the string, the net was shutting them in. The caught crows were finished off (killed or had their necks cut through).
Having the autumn season started, some hunters soused several pieces of crowmeat. Fried, boiled, stewed crows, they say, are “madly tasty”. The custom to eat the crowmeat had likely originated during the times, when hunger was quite common for inhabitants of the Spit. During the pre-War times, crowmeat had its own place in the menu of local inhabitants. Crow feathers were also used. According to O. Glagau, even beds of Nida’s hotel in the middle of XIX century were stuffed with crow feathers.
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