David.evans 5,323 Posted March 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Moxy , If you've got them numbers , pm me your address and I'll buy a house next to you and become your best mate , pal, buddy, long lost brother , ect , if you get my drift ? Lol Atb Dave Quote Link to post
DenBell 149 Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 I wish i had the choice to make, i shoot everything i can. normally only a couple one day... maybe 1 Quote Link to post
moxy 617 Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Moxy , If you've got them numbers , pm me your address and I'll buy a house next to you and become your best mate , pal, buddy, long lost brother , ect , if you get my drift ? Lol Atb Dave Join the list David. Look at the other forums. Some good lads with dogs or ferrets can exceed 100 plus per outing. Some of the gifted trappers can better that with a good set of snares or well placed traps. What about drop boxes..........? There isn't the numbers there used to be (rabbits) but they manage to sustain their numbers or recover well. An example was when the bad snow came about 3 years ago. It flattened populations in the dales as the rabbits starved or succumbed to the harsh elements. But they recovered. Even when all of the above were at them. If this thread was posted and aimed at the general forum, you would get more of an idea as to the numbers that folk achieve. Knocking a few over with the air rifle will add to lowering the numbers but only adds to the combined fieldsports / pest control tally. I was talking to a game keeper friend who said the fox numbers had dwindled on a certain area of the shoot. More than likley due to being pro active and on top of their job. But they always come back. Quote Link to post
barrywhite 282 Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 how many rats do you leave and do you shoot the baby rats .rabbits dig holes that can brake cows and horses legs . Quote Link to post
secretagentmole 1,701 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I was told by my permission owners that anything that looked like a rabbit and move like a rabbit was to be shot! But my permissions are farms and paddocks. Quote Link to post
paulus 26 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 unless multiple methods and a shite load of time are thrown at something, then at best you can do is hope to control numbers, if the area has a healthy population then it will always get repopulated quickly, foxes are territorial and killing the local population will always lead to a new population with higher numbers early on as wanderers fight for the new territory , Quote Link to post
bigmac 97kt 13,776 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 The farmer told me to shoot every thing in site ,or your off so i did and know im leaving what is left witch is very,very little he even thanked me for doing a good job at the end of the day its what the land owner wants and not you as he or she holds the final say atvbmac :thumbs: 2 Quote Link to post
Daz39 962 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Daz39 Only you can answer that , common sense, has to prevail, you know your numbers, and act accordingly Atb Dave I agree 100%, but what I meant to provoke was just that, if I take 10 when there are 100, is that ok? If I take 160 when there are 1600 is that ok? We have to put these things into context AND as said, it depends on the job we are trying to do for our Perm owners. Quote Link to post
Daz39 962 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I have to say too, your profile pick shows what, 7-8 rabbits there, did you stop becuase you had enough or because you couldn't find anymore??? HONESTLY???? :tongue2: 1 Quote Link to post
walshie 2,804 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I've yet to find a landowner who asks me to take "some" of the rabbits or foxes. But it's all about trying to keep a balance. If you blatantly go there and do a half-hearted job, the landowner will more than likely find someone who will do it properly. Quote Link to post
Ideation 8,216 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 It's funny, because I HAVE had land owners who just want control, and are quite happy to see some around, asking me to leave a certain number. Also have land owners who ask me to stop once they start breeding. . . .although I usually do on most of my land anyway, as we hit them hard enough during the season. In general if they are seeing the results of your work, they tend to be happy. And if you know your ground, you know what you can take off without irreversibly damaging it. Having said that, some places do want a total eradication, and if that's what they want, i'm happy enough to do it. A couple of years ago we took on a new farm, only about 50 acres. . . .which had a really bad rabbit problem. The first few days saw between 170-200 rabbits taken off that ground, and we hit it hard throughout that season. We're now victims of our own success there. . . . 2 years later and it's still dead. . . . . we pop back occasionally and where we were taking 30-50 a time, we struggle to make 10-15 in a day. . . . so it's not worth our effort, and we leave it. The farmer knows if he has a problem he just needs to call. One thing I do always find odd about this section. . . . there are a lot of folk who are doing 'pest control'. . .. and say that they have been asked to eradicate every rabbit from the property. And that, they say, is why they need to spend the summer whacking kits and half grown rabbits. However, they don't seem to kill much during winter. . . . . and for the most part the bags are in the single figures. . . often 1-4 rabbits for a session. Now i'm not being a dick. . . . . but there is no way that would cut the mustard on a lot of our land. Taking 3 rabbits twice a week off a few hundred acres, which has a rabbit problem. . . . doesn't make any kind of impression. Apart from the very occasional post on here, i'd say that the majority is not serious pest control, just lads having a bit of sport, so I don't see a lot of folk killing everything in sight . . . . if they wanted to do that . . . . an air rifle might not be the place to start! 3 Quote Link to post
moxy 617 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I agree with you Ideation but don't dismiss what can be achieved with an airgun. In a lot of instances for me the airgun is the start. Quote Link to post
risingfriend 1,042 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 i have a relatively small (aroun 30 acre.) stable yard and several paddocks permission, that i have shot for the last 3 years local to me and my wife stables her horse there. We have been asked to remove as many as possible and with two of us shooting it the first year we took hundreds out with just sub 12 airguns and the numbers fell rapidly, but can go anytime and always spot several out most days/evenings Second year was harder to get as good numbers as year 1 but still take half a dozen each shoot average. the yard sits in a large valley surrounded by farm land which is also shot by syndicates etc. but year on year they come back in vast numbers, we also could shoot hundreds of pigeon corvid a week if needed but dont just the occasional from time to time. So there is no need to wipe out the population but i think if we shot day and night we would still struggle to make a dent in numbers. All rabits and woodies go in the freezer and are used any corvid go to friends with ferrets etc. nothing wasted if can be helped. As long as the landowner is happy and i keep the permission then alls well 1 Quote Link to post
Daz39 962 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Hey, a thought, according the the governments pest act of 1954 - the UK is a rabbit CLEARANCE zone...... boosh, even the law says we have to shoot 'em all Quote Link to post
Stormspiel 17 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I've got a few permissions and most will be left from now until winter as the population has been controlled to a lowish level and i'm not in to wiping out for the sake of it. The exception is My brothers pad and his missus' paddocks so eradication if possible is required, If it's a rabbit, it's fair game. The Rats however get it all year round 1 Quote Link to post
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